Key takeaways
- Sega pulled Total War: Shogun 2 – Complete Edition from sale, including on Steam, days after its Tuesday launch, following complaints about bugs and damaged artwork.
- Sega has not confirmed that AI was used; outlets say the hand-drawn unit cards appear to have been AI-upscaled, based on examples players posted.
- Upscaling guesses at detail that was never in the original image, which is why loose, hand-drawn faces can come out robotic or turn into scribbles.
- Owners can still access the Complete Edition, and Sega and Creative Assembly say they are working with a development partner on fixes.
Sega has taken Total War: Shogun 2 – Complete Edition off sale, Steam included, a few days after the remaster launched on a Tuesday. Players complained about bugs and about artwork that appears to have been upscaled with AI, according to PCMag and The Verge.
Sega hasn’t said AI was involved, and it hasn’t said what went wrong. That gap is where the interesting question lives: how does a tool meant to sharpen old art end up wrecking it?
What did Sega pull, and why?
Sega pulled the Complete Edition, a remaster of Shogun 2 (2011) that bundled the main game with all its DLC. The stated trouble is a launch that fell short, bugs, and artwork players say looks badly processed. Steam user reviews had turned “Overwhelmingly Negative.”
The promised upgrades were better visuals, UI scaling for 1440p and 4K, and updated controls. Sega and Creative Assembly then published a statement conceding that the launch missed both player expectations and their own standards, and agreeing that the game as it stands falls short of where it should be. They say they’re working with a development partner to find the causes and bring the game up to Total War quality standards.
How does AI upscaling break hand-drawn art?
An upscaler makes a small image bigger by inventing the pixels that were never there. Good ones invent plausible pixels. When the source is a loose, hand-drawn illustration, the guesses can go wrong in ways a photo rarely shows.
PCMag’s description of the Shogun 2 damage fits that pattern: the process removed some details and added others. A face drawn in a few confident strokes gives a model little to anchor on. It may smooth the strokes into plastic skin, or sharpen noise into new lines the artist never drew. The model has no idea it’s looking at a samurai. It only sees shapes to clean up.
That’s my explanation of the mechanism, not a finding about Sega’s tools. Nobody outside the project knows which software, if any, was used.
What did the damaged unit cards look like?
The affected art is the game’s hand-drawn unit cards, the portraits of samurai and other warrior types you see when picking troops. According to PCMag, some faces now look robotic, and some warriors look like scribbles or can’t be recognized at all. The outlet says at least a few cards are visibly affected and gives no exact count.
Those descriptions come from PCMag and from Reddit posts. Players posted examples and went after Sega and Creative Assembly. One Reddit user called the release a rushed asset flip made by outside contractors with no grasp of the original art direction. That’s one player’s accusation, not an established fact.
Some players also wondered why the results were so poor, given how capable current AI image tools are. It’s a fair question. A rushed batch run with no one checking the output would explain it, but that’s speculation until Sega says more.
The original illustrator, Roland MacDonald, reportedly reacted in an email to a player. That comment is second-hand, relayed by the player rather than given to an outlet. As quoted by PCMag:
“Obviously no human has looked at or cared about the editing of these images.”
What a proper remaster pipeline involves
A careful remaster treats the art as something to preserve, not just enlarge. Sega hasn’t described its process, so this is what I’d expect from a team that wanted to get it right, and what the evidence suggests was missing.
- Start from the best source. Original layered files or high-resolution scans beat a compressed in-game image every time.
- Test on the hardest assets first. Loose linework and faces are where upscalers fail, so they make a good canary.
- Compare against the original. Someone who knows the art direction should check each result side by side.
- Fix by hand where needed. Where a tool misses, an artist repaints or the team keeps the original.
- Ship with QA. A face that reads as a robot should be caught before players find it.
MacDonald’s reported comment, that no human cared about the editing, points at the review step. Whether a review happened is not yet reported.
Who actually made the remaster?
Reports differ. The Verge says Steam lists Mataboo as a developer alongside Creative Assembly, and that Mataboo’s website highlights its work on the game. PCMag names only Creative Assembly. Mataboo’s role is reported only by The Verge, and neither outlet says who handled the upscaling.
Headlines in an aggregator listing, attributed to Windows Central and Kotaku, say players are furious and sure that AI use was never disclosed. I couldn’t verify the disclosure claim from those snippets, so treat it as an allegation.
What to do if you own it or were about to buy
If you bought the Complete Edition, you can still access it. The original 2011 game is back on sale or about to be, depending on who you ask: The Verge reports Sega and Creative Assembly saying they will reinstate it, while PCMag says it already has been.
If you’d rather play the version people loved, the original is the safe bet. I’d hold off on buying any Complete Edition relaunch until reviews recover and Sega says what changed in the art.
If you keep the game installed and don’t want to lose it, an external drive such as the Samsung T7 Portable SSD gives you room for a local copy of the install folder. That’s a cheap precaution, and nothing in the reports asks you to take it.
For the wider industry angle, our piece on Epic Games’ AI-first pivot covers where studios are heading with these tools. Our look at YouTube Music’s AI label shows how another medium is handling disclosure.
What we still don’t know
Plenty. Sega, Creative Assembly and Mataboo haven’t confirmed that AI upscaling was used, or who decided to use it. Sega gave no technical explanation.
Also open: whether the Complete Edition returns to sale and when, whether owners get fixed assets or refunds, which bugs beyond the art will be patched, and whether Sega is changing its policy on AI-assisted asset work. PCMag calls a PC game pulled over backlash to apparent AI use a rarity, so there’s no obvious precedent to predict from.
Tools & products mentioned
- Samsung T7 Portable SSD on Amazon — Check current price
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Frequently asked questions
Why did Sega pull Total War: Shogun 2 Complete Edition?
Players complained about bugs and about unit-card artwork that appears to have been upscaled with AI. Steam reviews turned Overwhelmingly Negative, and Sega and Creative Assembly said the release fell short of their standards.
Did Sega use AI in the Shogun 2 remaster?
Sega hasn't confirmed it. Outlets say the art appears to have been AI-upscaled, based on examples players posted.
Can I still play Shogun 2 Complete Edition if I already bought it?
Yes. Players who already own the Complete Edition can still access it.
Is the original Total War: Shogun 2 still available?
Reports differ. The Verge says Sega will reinstate the 2011 original, while PCMag says it has already been put back on sale.
Will the Complete Edition come back?
Not yet reported. Sega and Creative Assembly say they're working with a development partner on improvements but haven't given a return date.
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Sources
This article was compiled from reporting by the following outlets. Links go to the original reports.
- The Verge: Sega pulls Total War: Shogun 2 remaster from sale following disastrous launch
- PCMag: Sega Yanks Total War: Shogun 2 Remaster Over Backlash to AI Upscaling
- Neowin: Sega pulls Total War: Shogun 2 remaster from sale following AI art uproar
- The Verge: Sega pulls Total War: Shogun 2 remaster from sale following disastrous launch
