Sega pulls Total War: Shogun 2 remaster after AI-upscaled art backlash
Sega and Creative Assembly said on October 15 that they are temporarily removing Total War: Shogun 2 — Complete Edition from storefronts and reinstating the original game while they investigate the problems; people who already bought Complete Edition can still play it. The remaster drew an "Overwhelmingly Negative" rating on Steam within about two days, with players pointing to 2D art that appears to have been run through an AI upscaler — garbled details, a character's face merging with his helmet — alongside unfixed old bugs, new glitches and performance that some say is worse than the original. The companies acknowledged the release fell short of both players' and their own standards and said they are working with their development partner to find the causes and improve the game, though the AI-upscaling claim remains an inference from the artwork rather than a confirmed fact.
It shows how quickly suspicion of AI-assisted art in a beloved remaster can become a reputational and commercial problem for a major publisher.