A letter to Creative Assemble and the Video Game Industry

Dear Creative Assembly,

I am a long time Total War fan. I own Shogun Total War, Medieval Total War, Rome Total War, Medieval 2 Total War, plus most of the expansions. I predicted that the Empire Total War fiasco would happen months ago, during development. I was flamed on there forums cause if it. I knew that this would happen just by looking at the old games. Rome and med2. I saw the bad releases. Creative Assembly (CA), you, have a rep for it, but this game takes the cake.

For reference purposes, note that I don't own Empire. I don't plan on it. Creative Assembly, you, have lost a customer. I don't plan on buying the game till it is in the bargain bin and the problems are fixed. I can wait 8 months. I did on Med2. Bought that one for cheap.

People are blaming CA for there problems with the game. Is it really there fault? Kinda. In a way. But who's fault is it really? I say that it is the PC game industry faults. That means everyone involved in it. That means CA, SEGA, EB Games, Walmart, you and most defiantly me.

Go to most gaming stores. Now, compare there PC games with there Console games. Notice a difference? Notice that the PC section is so small? And there aren't a lot of good titles there? A couple too many SIM games?

Then all of the good games are faulty and unplayable (Not to mention unbuyable). When you do buy a game, you have to spend hours upon hours patching the game if you bought it well after the release date. If you bought it on release, prepare yourself for an unplayable game. So them you spend all day trying to get the game to work, when a friend calls you up to tell you not to buy the game cause he just finished taking it off of torrent and will give it to you for free.

That is the problem with this industry. People will go out to buy the game fanatically on release day and wonder why CA has slapped them in the face with a bad game. Or rip it off. The ones that buy the bad game are just as bad as those that rip it off, but for different reasons. Those that rip it off are fueling the fire of securerom and steam which punish the consumer who only want to play a game. Those that buy the game fanatically fuel the Developers coffers enabling them to release another bad game. That company needs to realize its mistake and fold up like a good little boy.

Developers like movie producers must realize that we will happily spend 50 bucks on a game if the game is worth it. I will happily go to the movie theatre to see a movie if it is worth it. If it isn't, I will wait for it to get into the bargain bin to buy it. I did that for many games and movies. Some I am glad that I did.

Does complaining help at all. Yes and no. It is only good if developers and consumers actually read it. Complain to Mcdonalds and you get a free burger. Too many people complain, the restaurant gets Mystery shopped. If it fails that, the owner/manager gets in trouble. We complain here in these forums, nothing really happens. You talk with your wallet, however, CA's purse gets hurt.

Those that bought the game and are complaining. Shame on you. You should have known. Those that can actually play the game, can I come over to your house?

Sincerely,

Nathan Pedde