The Creative Assembly’s next big Total War title, A Total War Saga: Troy will be releasing on August 13th. It will be exclusive to the Epic Games Store on PC for a year. However, in an interesting twist, it will be free within the first 24 hours of launch.
An official blog post explains why the title went exclusive, noting that it was “an opportunity for Troy specifically” with no plans for other games to be Epic Games Store-exclusive. “As developers we truly value our existing fans, but at the same time we want to reach new audiences and have as many people as possible experiencing the thrill of Total War for themselves. As a business that means putting Total War onto new platforms so that it can reach more players. This is part of that and in principal we’d like future Total War titles to be simultaneously available, from launch day, on as many store fronts as possible.”
It was noted that since the game wasn’t available to pre-order on Steam yet so there’s no worry for anyone to invest and then wait. Epic Games had approached Sega and The Creative Assembly for the exclusivity deal and is footing the bill for making the game free in its first 24 hours. “As mentioned, and like others in the industry, a key reason for exploring other digital stores is that we don’t want to be limited just to Steam.
“We also want to diversify our business. In fact, we want to get our games onto as many stores as possible. Long term, we want to expand where players find Total War. This deal gives us a great way to try out other platforms, such as Epic—to see what works for us and what doesn’t. It allows us to get a feel for the development required to expand to other platforms, and it’s relatively risk-free for you, too, as the game’s available for free when claimed in the first 24 hours.”
The developer also asked that regardless of how players felt, “Please keep any criticism to the studio as a whole, and don’t take it out on individual employees that you might find on various social media platforms. We get it. It’s unexpected. But they’re not going to be able to change anything, and probably weren’t the ones who made the decision regardless.”
A Total War Saga: Troy is part of the developer’s off-shoot series of the Total War franchise. It’s inspired by The Iliad and focuses on the infamous Trojan War. Players will control heroes like Achilles, Hector, Paris and even Menelaus throughout the conflict. There will also be Mythic Units like the Minotaur, Cyclops, Centaurs and more to aid the respective armies.
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