r/totalwar • u/DaddyTzarkan SHUT UP DAEMON • Oct 27 '23
Warhammer III Things must have been really bad if CA is already apologising for what happened today.
https://steamcommunity.com/app/1142710/discussions/0/3873718133748250755/345
u/Psychic_Hobo Oct 27 '23
Yeah, something's absolutely gone to shit. Maybe they had the layoffs already and a lot of people aren't very happy about some decisions...
Also possible that someone else suddenly found themselves in charge of the PR department and decided to take a different approach than the previous ones, with hilariously catastrophic results.
Who knows - every day's a chance for new possibilities!
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u/tucchurchnj Tucchurchnj Oct 27 '23
CA: "We've locked the last forum, and are monitoring this one more closely and absolutely not looking for new users to ban."
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u/pelpotronic Oct 27 '23
When companies start acting like this in my experience, the "competent" people are probably long gone for being too vocal or pointing out issues, not having the "can do" attitude, getting in the way, etc.
Or if they are not gone, they have probably removed themselves from the situation entirely and are observing the shit show (doing the bare minimum to keep their job, but not contributing / going the extra mile).
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u/NikeDanny Oct 27 '23
I mean, being a CM is taxing work. Youre the frontline to criticism.
And, as much as this debacle is 100% CA's fault, no doubt, the fanbase has been very fucking difficult as well. The blue Tzeentch knight was a drama to behold, and its just the tip of the Iceberg on some of the shit that has been gone down in the direct communications.
I dont blame the "good" CMs from leaving, theres almost always gonna be a negatively-filled environment ready to turn on you, no matter what you do.
This will lead to this. Burn through the good ones and youre left with riff-raff.
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u/brassbuffalo Oct 27 '23
The good CMs left because of mismanagement on CAs part. They couldn't even keep the guy writing the blogs in the pre-release hype of warhammer 3.
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u/HiphopopoptimusPrime Oct 27 '23
“The people in charge of sacking the people who have been sacked have been sacked.”
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u/SmartBoots Oct 27 '23
Holy moly Adam Freeman is the same PR guy that was in charge of EA’s Battlefield 2042 PR fiasco.
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u/tucchurchnj Tucchurchnj Oct 27 '23
Battlefield 2042 PR fiasco.
Just looked this one up, wow they didn't address much at all since the fiasco
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u/Yeomenpainter Oct 27 '23
What happened?
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u/sphinctaltickle Oct 28 '23
2042 was just handled really poorly. I might be wrong but I think this was the game where they told people to just "not buy it" if they didn't like it. I've bought every BF game since bad company 2 because I love the franchise but they messed up so much with 2042 that I didn't even accept a free game code from my friend who had a connection in EA.
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u/Scouser3008 Archaon did nothing wrong Oct 27 '23
Not quite, their head of PR came out with the "Unrealistic expectations" tweetstorm in the days after launch when the game was a complete mess but selling for £100 ultimate editions.
PartWelsh was the head of community and yeah I mean, wasn't handled great but at the same time CMs get the worst of it, they have to take all this information in, and then at the same time have to hold the company line, which is usually not very helpful for the community. It's not like they can share their real feelings on a subject.
In my experience though PartWelsh has always been respectful and polite in his discourse. The other CM who came out with that "privelege" talk should be terminated though. If I went into work and had a meltdown at our customers, I'd expect to be fired.
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u/joebonekenobi Oct 27 '23
he also was in on the bfv fiasco. he not had the best track record in being a CM for games.
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u/Togglea Oct 27 '23
Oh god, this guy is literally famous for ignoring feedback. You can't make this shit up.
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u/Pandabaton Oct 27 '23
Freeman’s definitely seen some shit, at least 2 silver chevrons.
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u/OhManTFE We want naval combat! Oct 28 '23
The right man in the wrong place can make all the difference in the world.
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u/mexylexy Oct 27 '23 edited Oct 27 '23
Holy shit, it is the same Freeman. Guys, you would not believe the nightmare called Battlefield 5 after the reveal trailer. Freeman and a bunch of other dudes had their work cut out. I feel so bad for them.
To then come on here is a testament that Freeman's professional career is designed to help the community after shit corporate decisions.
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u/sufferion Oct 27 '23
I hope like this is the kind of shit he thrives in. Like for us, the idea of trying to handle the community during a massive corporate meltdown would just be stressful as fuck, but maybe for him this is like bungee jumping, a fix for his adrenaline addiction. Maybe he’s walking around fully erect right now while barking out orders like a West Wing walk and talk
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u/LockeandDemo Can you put that head back Queek? Oct 27 '23
I knew I recognized that dude from somewhere! u/PartWelsh Honestly the language in Evangelos posts makes waaayyyy more sense now. See this thread from Twitter: https://twitter.com/PartWelsh/status/1493212318892761088
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u/Popular_Mastodon6815 Oct 27 '23
I never understand how these types of guys keep getting good jobs after totally botching at their previous one. Reminds me of the Unity CEO situation.
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Oct 27 '23
To be fair, if he’s a PR guy for that pile of shit, it was a winless scenario and nobody in the industry would have had better results. There isn’t anyway to polish that turd.
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u/Dramatic_Standard_95 Oct 27 '23 edited Oct 27 '23
Shame CA_ Freeman didn't actually apologise in the statement. However, what is telling is that this went live 24 minutes ago. CA are based in the UK and releasing at statement like this at 18:56 at least shows they understand how tone deaf the original statement was.
Edit: In addition he's apparently going to active on the forums over the weekend. Interesting.
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u/Waterbeetles Oct 27 '23
Absolutely. Working overtime this late on a friday says a lot about what's going on over there in Horsham. It's also the first time I've seen them apologise.
I can't even imagine how chaotic it is over there.
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u/Epicp0w Oct 27 '23
He didn't really apologise though, was just corporate bullshit speak
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u/Porkenstein Oct 27 '23
He apologized for the language used in the post, not for banning people.
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u/Technical_Shake_9573 Oct 27 '23
He apologized that their opinion about their own community shouldnt have been made public. Now shut UP and give us money you unpriviliged scum.
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u/akwartz Oct 27 '23
In PR, posting bad news late on a friday is called a Friday News Dump and is usually used to avoid negative attention on bad news.
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u/vinki11 Oct 27 '23
CA_Freeman, aka Adam Freeman seems to be the same PR guy from EA involved in the Battlefield 2042 PR fiasco. So I would not have any hopes regarding him
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u/knbang Oct 27 '23
Shame CA_ Freeman didn't actually apologise in the statement.
What do you mean? He clearly wrote apology in the title and apologise in a paragraph! That counts, right?!
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u/NewUserWhoDisAgain Oct 27 '23
Someone in PR woke up and went "Sorry, you did WHAT?!" And now we've got a guy pulling weekend to try to keep the furor to a dull roar.
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u/Osmodius Oct 27 '23
Seems like the initial message is something that Freeman should have read over before they released but didn't, so now he has a shit filled mess to clean up.
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u/THEDOSSBOSS99 Just Doss Oct 28 '23
With a statement as long as the original, it was definitely seen by multiple people. They hold the opinions mentioned, but just didn't realise those opinions suck. They still had the opinions, Freeman is just apologising for the wording they used to present them
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u/illapa13 Oct 27 '23
As someone who works for a really big company. He can't.
Apologizing admits wrongdoing and that's a slippery slope many large corporations will avoid apologizing unless absolutely necessary.
Credit where credit is due this is a really fast response and it shows they're trying to do the right thing at least.
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u/Adventurous_Tart_403 Oct 27 '23
What was the original statement? I can’t find it anywhere
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u/HarbingerOfRot777 Oct 28 '23
It should be on Steam disscusion. They just locked it but it was there when i checked like 3 hours ago. You mean the one where Evangelos dropped the priviliged bomb on us?
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u/gsot Oct 27 '23
Damn that first guy Evangelus or whatever committed workplace suicide in real time before our eyes and made his big boss come out to play on a Friday night.
In a company letting go of 40% of staff with difficult choices ahead it was laughable timing.
Don't let the door hit you or your imperialistic language on the way out.
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u/Dramatic_Rutabaga151 Oct 27 '23
between the lines, it was cooked by the PR team and the guy was simple the messenger....
also they are sorry they got caught, not because they think they did anything wrong... so another PR bs
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u/MisterMetal Oct 27 '23
He’s done it like four times at this point. Yet he still works there, maybe he should have been fired with extreme prejudice.
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u/Marshal_Bessieres Oct 27 '23
I mean CA is still in the wrong, but Evangellos' comment was expressed in such an amateurish manner. It sounded threatening and aggressive. The lines about no criticism without solutions allowed and privileges instead of rights sounded like they came straight from the mouth of a Disney villain. Evangellos had also caused a controversy early this year. Something about the community stop pestering them about news/the roadmap. I have a feeling he's not exactly very well-suited for public announcements.
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u/Blizzxx Oct 27 '23
The same roadmap that Evangelos verbatim said he "worked literally without any time to rest, even no time to reply to messages on discord" and it was complete shit? Lmfao
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u/Greenmanssky Oct 27 '23
Wasn't it 4 months for a jpg with like 25 words and no real details at all as well? Just planned patch numbers and DLC names
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u/knbang Oct 27 '23
He's part of CA. I don't give them a free pass because of one guy.
The same as I don't give them a free pass on the state of Warhammer 3 because one game director caused it.
Or their ridiculous price increase because one guy caused it.
CA is responsible for this. The apology isn't even an apology. This is saving face.
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u/Epicp0w Oct 27 '23
Yeah it's a farce, I'm honestly done with CA and total war after this whole thing
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u/Chazdoit Oct 28 '23
privileges
That word and "Entitlement" should never be used when addressing your paying customers, it's fine if you call me that because thats a customer to customer interaction, its a level plain field, companies should never talk down to people that way.
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u/Dramatic_Rutabaga151 Oct 27 '23
I doubt he acted by himself... it sounds more like he's merely a messenger of whatever was cooked during team meeting
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u/Yeomenpainter Oct 27 '23
You don't know that. He probably does have a lot of agency on PR given that he is the one that posted something so big at this time. At the end of the day he is the one that posted what's arguably the worst PR post I have ever seen. And that's saying something.
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u/Beautiful_Fig_3111 Oct 28 '23
He probably does have a lot of agency on PR given that he is the one that posted something so big at this time.
Kinda think so. I genuinely have trouble seeing a room of people agreeing that 'let's say to our paid customers that it's a privilege to talk on a third party platform.'
I mean, how?
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u/Rational_Engineer_84 Oct 27 '23
Queue the Ron Burgundy meme, because I don't believe you CA. This "apology" does nothing to address the most objectionable parts of the previous statement.
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u/vanBraunscher Oct 27 '23
They didn't even have the balls to quote it.
That privilege bit will stick forever. Rightfully so, I might add. I found all this hubbub, volound leaked this, steam forums boiling over that, barely noteworthy. But their response was pretty eyebrow-raising.
"Don't give 'em an inch!" is only a good strategy if you're absolutely sure that this assessment will pan out.
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u/HiphopopoptimusPrime Oct 27 '23
The right to discuss is a premium privilege. :)
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u/WX-78 Cousin Okri LL when? Oct 27 '23
Well good thing CA know their audience. They're sure it'll pan out alright. Just like Hyenas. And Pharaoh. And SoC. And Troy. And ThroB.
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Oct 27 '23
Talk is meaningless at this point, noone is going to trust anything they say anyway. They need to deliver big time in regards to future releases, even if that means digging into cash reserves in the short-term. We aren't interested in paying for their financial fuck ups.
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u/tmdgh7544 ttila cannot into settlement Oct 27 '23
I wrote a similar comment in other post but i'll write it again.
What kind of industries except gaming treat customers like this? Why we, who pay the products, should treated like this by an incompetent, lazy, and hostile company like them?
Apologe to my ass, CA.
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u/B_mod Oct 28 '23
What kind of industries except gaming treat customers like this?
Movie industry? Hostile marketing been a staple ever since that infamous Ghostbusters remake came out.
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u/Weak-Nectarine-4497 Oct 27 '23
This has been such a clear mask off moment it's hilarious.
They were one glass of whiskey away from publishing something like"Shut the fuck up and give me your money peasant."
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u/Bogdanov89 Oct 27 '23
Not even an actual apology after stating "the right to discuss is a privilege" to the people who paid up to 300$ for your buggy mess of a game.
Truly beyond shameful display.
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u/Ran12341000 Tarriff Oct 27 '23
I've never seen CA apologising till now, what a historical moment
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u/Oxu90 Oct 27 '23
They did so after Rome 2 launch and made up for it with FLC and even complitely new free campaign
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u/LordChatalot Oct 27 '23
Adding to that, they also apologized for the Norsca delay, the Thrones delay iirc, the botched early access via TW access for Bretonnia and some others as well
It doesn't happen often, especially when it comes to their communication fails, but it's also not a thing that hasn't ever happened before
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u/Scruffy_Nerfhearder Oct 27 '23
You’d have thought the company would’ve learnt the right lessons from the Rome 2 release fiasco but here we are.
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u/knbang Oct 27 '23
I read the apology. I still haven't seen them apologise.
Can you link to where you saw them doing it?
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u/Dramatic_Rutabaga151 Oct 27 '23
this is another bs statement, but it's not aggressive, only nice this time
they only feel bad they were caught
also it's not an apology in any sense
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Oct 27 '23
Hahaha I literally called this earlier today.
CA’s problem is not their workers it’s their incredibly narcissistic exec team who needs some trimming and fast.
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u/TheMagicDrPancakez Eastern Roman Empire Oct 27 '23
What the hell is even happening anymore?
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u/HarbingerOfRot777 Oct 28 '23
Idek. I havent been here for like a week and CA shat the bed again. Im not even mad now, its honestly just hilarious atp because theres no way you can keep screwing up this badly.
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Oct 27 '23
Holy shit the bloody mismanagement here from CA is truly next level. I'm eating an extra doughnut tonight.
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u/MorgrainX Oct 27 '23
That is not an apology. They are again doubling down.
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u/NikeDanny Oct 27 '23
For introducing new frustrations to you all with our post today I apologise, and
You what mate?
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u/HiphopopoptimusPrime Oct 27 '23
They calculated. They crunched the numbers.
They knew if they charged £19.99 they would lose customers. That there would be backlash. But that it would be worth it because the increased revenue would make up for the customers they lost.
They underestimated the scale of the backlash. They also didn’t factor in the damage to their brand.
Money is important but they forgot about the value of brand loyalty.
If you build it they will come.
Fuck that. If you double the ticket prices you’ll have a half empty stadium but you’ll make more money! What’s that? They’re protesting outside the ground? Quick! Put out a PR statement!
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u/Bodongs Oct 27 '23
Emprah, I really try not to get involved in the mud slinging but this is just surreal at this point. Kind of sad to watch a company who has given me so many fun hours just continue to self immolate.
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u/Mazisky Oct 27 '23
It seems like you don't get banned if you are toxic but you defend CA or the game.
Not a good look for CA steam moderation
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u/Adelitero Oct 27 '23
dude i really dont even care anymore CA is shit and ill be ditching their products for a good long while, they are incompetent the lot of them
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u/knbang Oct 27 '23
Reply from CA_FREEMAN in the thread.
I've slightly truncated the quote above just to make this reply easier to read from a visibility standpoint - but I'll help to address what I can in full below.
On calls for Custodian Teams - I want to make sure that yourself and the others who will come to view this remark see me acknowledge this aspect of the conversation even though my ultimate response will boil down to me stating back that there's no information I could share with you on that topic. Before I get into helping to share more insight around that, I just want to highlight that I'm not trying to pull the wool over your eyes by saying plenty, but the answer ultimately being as straight forward and basic as that.
Play a lot of Stellaris myself - thats a good example of a successful approach to such a task and I'm grateful to everyone thats stuck the hand up these past few months to voice this request (and I appreciate that the request has likely been going on for far longer than that, I joined the company at the end of the Summer this year so just wanted to reflect on that from my own perspective). In the event that the team ever consider taking this approach, or a similar approach that services that same expectation, I'd be confident that it would be information we'd look to bring to you all and ensure that you understood how it would affect your experience playing the game. I don't have any such announcement to bring to this thread, and I'll set the expectation that for any type of change like that, we'd find the best possible way to help share and discuss that. What I will say is that we have already reflected on ways in which we can help to better release improvements to the game, which hopefully you've seen and felt these past few months with all the hotfixes. That's not to say that we've chosen a particular direction and is our final answer on the topic, but just to help reflect that we're not ignorant of our responsibility to be responsive to addressing issues with the game and introducing changes that help to improve the experience playing.
On SoC Results/Pricing - I'm not here in a capacity to perform a business level analysis with folks, live on the forums. I can only volunteer that I haven't worked a single day where myself, my team, and the teams working in similar fields around us haven't been engaged by other members here at Creative Assembly to help parse and share the feedback we've seen from across the entire community to help best inform such conversations. The results of any such conversation are ultimately impossible for you to experience or feel the result of here in this moment, and I can only reflect with you that what matters most is action, not suggestion or promise. It takes time to present, or feel the affect of any changes that ever get made in business and it sucks that there's always a period in which it simply sucks to live in the condition before any such action takes effect. To restate what I said on the last topic - it's a whole lot of words to the same answer: nothing of value to share with you here (I don't want anyone to feel like I'm trying to disguise that)
On Communication - It's inconsistent, I hear you on that. It shouldn't take actions like today to allow you to feel like there's a better standard of dialogue back and forth. It's very stop and start, and even just here in this thread, we're all each being exposed to the different perspectives people have on the topic of Tell us more vs. Do more, stop talking. Many are quick to reflect that my engagement here feels empty, and pointless when it fails to provide the news and information that people are looking for with priority, and it's sometimes that catalyst to cause teams shutting up shop on the communication front as in moments of disquiet, this is all just fuel for a fire.
I ultimately have to help people on my team, and around the company to start to feel more comfortable being engaged in these moments, even in the face of the hostility, of the uncertainty, and with the reality that we're attempting to communicate with an audience that are each unified in what they want to hear us say but aren't in the same alignment about how much they want to hear from us in the mean time. I'm happy to do it, and I'm happy to make the decision to do it knowing that others here may disagree with it.
So no promises from me on how you'll see that standard of communication improve or change - you've had too many promises. If you start to you feel an improvement in standards of communication over the coming months and journeys ahead, or instead feel its going the other way then I hope you won't be shy in keeping me honest on that.
On future projects and how feedback informs that - It's impossible for me to make comments here, beyond volunteering that any decision thats ever made in relation to the design of new content is always done so in consideration of what's best for the game and our players. Those decisions are always informed by feedback and peoples expressions, so keep it coming. It doesn't always come out the other side in the shape that you expect it, but it's always done working from that same point of origin.
On LH's - I hear you. I won't pretend I understand the extent to which greater repositories of content exist around either Gotrek or Felix (I'm a complete Warhammer noob, enjoying learning the lore and the universe for sure!), but I'll pass that feedback along to the smarter folks who I badger on the regular to help me unpack these types of comments, and will welcome more conversation on the topic (feel free to start a new thread/link me to an existing one where that discussions happening).
On Frustrations - Actions is exactly where we recognise we'll enjoy the best part of understanding. I don't have those to bring to you today, and I don't want to excuse past behaviours, nor fail to recognise your own journey through this experience. I'm grateful to be able to end this post reflecting how much I appreciate posts like this that speak to your own personal experiences and expectations. I apologise that there's absolutely zero substance in the content above, but I'm here for the long haul so happy to start somewhere.
Thanks again for the post
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u/Manannin I was born with a heart of Lothern. Oct 27 '23
Reads like a whole lot of nothing said while trying to be meaninful, sadly. I appreciate you posting it though!
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u/knbang Oct 27 '23
I didn't want add my personal comments with his in the same post, but yeah. It's a whole bunch of nothing.
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u/shiggythor Oct 27 '23
That is someone addressing all the critism without having anything to show. He even admits at the end of the post that he is saying nothing because he has nothing to say. For that situation, its not said badly at least.
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u/DaddyTzarkan SHUT UP DAEMON Oct 27 '23
You can still wait for an apology about Shadows of Change though, when money is involved you can be sure CA will never admit doing something wrong.
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u/MalloYallow Oct 27 '23
Hey now. The right to discuss this matter is a privilege. Have you checked your privilege yet?
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u/ElMagus Oct 27 '23
I dont see any line that actually says we are sorry, other than it being titled apology, which makes it moot. In a latest reply as of this comment, he says feeback is taken and acted on, using examples of post soc bugfixes. What about the long months of nothing before that? What a joke.
In 3 words: lol, lmao even.
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u/NikeDanny Oct 27 '23
For introducing new frustrations to you all with our post today I apologise, and
I mean, its right there. Didnt you read it?
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u/DKLancer Oct 27 '23
That's more of a politician's apology where they apologize that you were offended by them being offensive but not for the actual content of what they said. It's shifting blame off of themselves and into the people who were offended by their words.
So hardly an apology.
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u/NikeDanny Oct 27 '23
Nah, Id argue against that. They take the responsibility here with their words.
"For introducing" means they obviously mean that THEY caused them. Yes, they blame themselves right here. The rest is just trying to register it on an emotional level, which is the one that matters more. They already stated rationally why it sucked, so now they are here to apologize for what they actually did to us.
In your example, youd actually read something more along the lines of "For being offended, we apologize" or more brass "I apologize that you got hurt". It has a totally different tone than "I apologize that I hurt you". One takes responsibility, one does not.
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u/claxman2000 Oct 27 '23
So that wasn’t an apology at all. It’s literally the same exact message from this morning with all the colorful language removed.
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u/DoubleVersion1599 Oct 27 '23
it takes them WEEKS to make a damn guidance on what is allowed and what not.
people stop posting on their f*** forums and move onto other games.
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u/Heresy_King Oct 27 '23
I think they just set a company best for communication. Two official messages in on day? My, we are spoiled!
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Oct 27 '23
They’re toast. This reads like they have no idea what to do anymore despite the community literally outlining what they want. This is a clear sign of people who have no business making decisions are running the show. See you in a year CA
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u/MiiIRyIKs Oct 27 '23
Really a big fat nothing statement tho, no concrete plans on being better, classic we'll have updates on all this "in a few weeks"TM and of course still no apology for really any other controversy they caused + no unbans it seems.
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u/Monollock Oct 27 '23
Apology?
I interpreted it as "We're very sorry for our entirely justified actions."
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u/LongLiveTheChief10 Dreadpirate Oct 27 '23
This is a nothing statement.
In the comments on the Pharaoh post, someone asks him 4 simple questions and he literally PRtalks his way around all of them then calls them direct answers.
Vote with your wallet. Let em fold.
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u/GangsterBoogie Oct 27 '23
To start, can we just actually get an "I'm sorry for the last few months?" Like those words specifically please
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u/knbang Oct 27 '23
Would it change anything? Why do we even care what they say at this point?
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u/J4ckiebrown Oct 27 '23
The whole thing is bizarre that there were banning people on the Steam Forums, but not taking action over on the official forms. Like what happened?
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u/michael199310 Oct 27 '23
The damage control of the damage control of the fucking nuclear explosion.
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u/MisterMetal Oct 27 '23
lol I hope the studio burns at this point. If they refunded me the cash for just game 3 and the dlc I’d forget about them forever, but now I’m actively rooting for them crash and burn.
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u/GuntertheFloppsyGoat Oct 27 '23
Maybe one of the Sega executives has got a bet with Elon Musk "I bet I can ruin a company quicker than you can!"
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u/signedpants Oct 27 '23
Honestly just go radio silence until the layoffs are over and you have a real road map going forward. Look like amateurs right now.
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u/EmuSupreme Oct 27 '23
TL;DR
The earlier post was not PR approved. I will give you corporate curated post that says the same thing.
Just another non-apology statement to pull the wool over the eyes of anyone lacking the critical thinking to see through it.
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u/Actual-Ad-5090 Oct 27 '23
Seems like the other CM was just burning the entire house before leaving
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u/houseofthedad Oct 27 '23
It's not much, but I'm happy for any communication from CA that isn't some weird, vague threat.
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u/Goodkat203 Oct 27 '23
Haha nice. Game companies need to be constantly be reminded that we pay their salaries. There are lots of other games out there. CA will either make the right choices or close.
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u/mb1zzle Oct 27 '23
Pathetic, bunch of wankers. Oh, so did you fire Bartholomew, and if so, how big was his parachute?
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Oct 27 '23
What the fuck is going on over there? Is this another CM?
Feel like they’ve got a really good programme over there, like how WW1 fighter pilots would arrive in France with only a handful of hours flying and then be given the worst planes in the squadron.
Once more unto the breach, my friend!
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u/Scruffy_Nerfhearder Oct 27 '23
I just feel bad for all the devs who work really fucking hard who are losing their jobs. Their managers are creating an endless PR shit show and then it’s the ones doing the actual work that have to suffer the consequences.
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u/Herani Oct 28 '23
I kept it at arms length since WH3 came out just expecting it to be fixed at some point and then I could come back happy.
The WH3 issues are annoying at reaching the point of me wondering if it will ever be fixed or just stay bad forever.
Hyenas I 100% thought was some esoteric inside-meme that I wasn't quite in on until I saw the trailer... CA need to restructure massively if that's what they thought was a good idea.
Now they're just outright going to war with their community declaring anyone pointing any of this out as 'unlawful'.
Is this some bizarre abused-wife marketing strategy where they're currently slapping me about and tell me it's my fault only they'll make it all up to me and treat me nice with a price cut and a banging new DLC with WH3 fixes later and have me thanking them? because that's some 7D chess respectable stuff.
Though what it seems more like is that CA are in genuine trouble business-wise and in the panic and disarray of that situation are just flailing around causing even more problems. They need to get a lid on this and for whatever is going on internally they have to stop it spilling over into the community.
- Fix WH3 battles, they've been bad since launch.
- If you have to put prices up $5 okay... but don't put lord packs up $15 to match faction DLCs. Reverse that price with a discount for the existing blunder going forward and pricing accordingly for new release.
- Overmoderating is way worse than not moderating at all. Especially on Steam forums were people expect it to be a shit show. Don't make it YOUR shit show by inserting yourself into it in a censorious manner.
- Whoever was even slightly involved in that Hyenas game from the design end should just be let go, they're an utter liability. Anyone who's played game for any length of time upon glancing at the premise of that would give you a laughed-out 'Nah...'. That the designers working on that didn't see how bad it was and took it as far as they did just means they shouldn't be anywhere near the gaming industry.
- Going forward you better have a Total War people actually want (Medieval 3, Empire/Napoleon 2) in the works and it better be flawless on release. Another thing going forward, this engine is clearly holding this franchise back at this point, it's been stretched out and is straining to the point of breaking these days. If UBES2 can have millions fighting in a simplified way, I'm sure you could develop an engine that has tens of thousands fighting in a smarter more appropriate way. Start making a ground up, modern Total War engine that can actually deliver on expectations, the current one is just going to dig you deeper going forward.
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u/Deus_Vultan Oct 27 '23
They can suck my nuts. I was wrongfully banned from the pharao forums and will never buy anything from them again.
There is no way to appeal the ban, i contacted steam support and they said they were investigating the total war mods already but they could not unban me even if it was unjust since the forums are moderated by the ca teams.
screw them.
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Oct 27 '23
Why do they keep lying about valuing feedback? If they listened to feedback they wouldn’t be in this situation. If they listened to feedback, these games wouldn’t be filled with bugs and they’d have a lot less technical debt.
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u/HarbingerOfRot777 Oct 28 '23
They love to say the " you are heard as we always listen to you " crap but it clearly doesnt fucking show
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u/ilovesharkpeople Oct 27 '23
Well, at least someone at CA realized that it's better to course correct than doubling down on a bad idea that is causing more problems than it solves.
Now, if we can get more of that in other departments in CA maybe they can turn things around with their games.
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u/Autistic_Anywhere_24 Oct 27 '23
I spent about 20mins of my lunch writing my response to the original post! Glad they did something
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u/Bum-Theory Oct 27 '23
If I was convicted of a major crime, and my choice of punishment was between being shot by a firing squad or becoming a community manager for a modern video company, I'd choose the firing squad.
Community Managers do nothing but eat bowls of shit, spewed out by people they have no control or influence of. It's gotta be the most nightmarish job on the planet, right with rescuing spelunkers or cleaning industrial chicken farm coops.
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u/gohuskies15 Oct 27 '23
CA should come out with a game dev CEO simulator, this sub apparantley would eat it up
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u/lucascorso21 Oct 27 '23
How, in the world, do they repeatedly put out these asinine posts?
Do they not have an external communications team whose job is literally just this?
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u/RyuNoKami Oct 28 '23
They were this close to actually apologizing but end up just saying: we shouldn't have used the words we used even though we meant it.
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u/mrsqueakers002 Oct 28 '23
CA staff: Sir, the people are revolting!
CA management: You said it, they stink on ice.
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u/Framnk Oct 28 '23
Those responsible for sacking the people who have just been sacked have been sacked
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u/sufferion Oct 27 '23
I think this might actually be a good thing. CA turning around and immediately trying to correct a mistake instead of just going radio silent for weeks is, hilariously, a high bar I have not seen them clear in a long time.
Maybe cancelling Hyenas and a corporate restructuring is what they needed to finally put in the work to fixing the company. Even if they seem even more disorganized, that disorganization might actually be more positive than the entrenched behaviours.
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u/HAthrowaway50 Oct 27 '23
so all the people defending the original post gonna apologize to those of us who thought it was offensive to its customer base?
Actually, i dont want an apology, just for people not to swallow abuse if it happens in the future again.
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u/Sushiki Not-Not Skaven Propagandist! Oct 27 '23
Also how much does anyone want to bet that CA_Evangelos found out he was getting sacked and decided to low key sabotage the whole shit so that the community would go at the company that is firing him xD
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u/Spttingfacts Oct 27 '23
Someone needs to tell the corporate money grabbers to fuck off and let the dev team fix the game and bring out good dlc...
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u/QualityManger Oct 27 '23 edited Oct 27 '23
From an outside perspective it seems like things are really bad internally with this company right now. Mixed messages, gaffe after PR gaffe, and all the while all of their staff are basically positioned right under the layoff guillotine waiting for it to fall. Honestly it’s a shame because there isn’t really anything else out there quite like these games for me. Hope they can figure out a path back to listening to and respecting their customers and just making great content for reasonable value because it seems GRIM right now.