14 DAY TRIAL // When developer The Creative Assembly and publisher SEGA announced that Total War: Rome 2 would launch on September 3, they also revealed the rather impressive Collector’s Edition that fans could get, complete with an onager, Roman dice and a card game.
I’m not a fan of conspiracy theories but the information deluge might also have served to mask one of the most outrageous uses of downloadable content I have seen since the feature was introduced.
The two companies are planning to give three factions, Epirus, Athens and Sparta, for free only to those who place a pre-order for Total War: Rome 2.
Presumably, the content will be exclusive to those who buy the game before launch for a while and will then also be made available for other players.
All three Greek factions come complete with their own buildings, units and campaign goals.
What makes the situation even worse is the fact that all three civilizations are loved by large groups of fans who use them to rewrite the early history of the Roman Republic.
Jumping the shark is a phrase derived from television and refers to a moment of such ludicrousness that it saps the credibility of a series or movie.
DLC might have reached this moment with Total War: Rome 2 because locking out factions for players who will buy the game on launch simply does not make sense.
SEGA and The Creative Assembly are simply punishing fans of the strategy genre and the Total War series who are not willing to keep up with all the news and who will surely miss information about the exclusive free DLC for pre-orders.
I have friends that played every game from the original Shogun to the first Rome and who expressed interest in the sequel but might never find out about the Greek lockout if I did not tell them.