I think it's just a side effect of the end of free upgrades of the Windows OS licenses. Corps and wealthy private users will just buy the Win 11 / upcoming 12 and for all who can't afford their prices MS is pointing towards Linux.

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Quoting: HighballIf they are really looking for a challenge maybe they should try pressing the devs for 1v3 match ups or other mechanisms for increasing difficulty; instead of rolling a fresh account.

As far as i understand the goal of smurfing is quite the opposite - to have an easy round of game play without being punished in your rank.
Something i can totally understand. I used to play Dota back in the days when the ranking/matchmaking also included points just for your playtime. So with many hours you unavoidably were higher matched then your actual skill level. Was the moment I turned my back to the game.

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I'm always wondering about the selection of the recommendations by GOL when it comes to sales.
For example here, the "big deal" of Europa Universalis IV at a 65% off. This is the discount that is given on steam felt every month. If you only look at the last 6 months, it's not even the best discount on GOG (which was a 80% off May 12th to 17th).

https://isthereanydeal.com/game/europauniversalisiv/history/?shop%5B%5D=epic&shop%5B%5D=gog&shop%5B%5D=humblestore&shop%5B%5D=steam&generate=Select+Stores [External Link]

I appreciate your work very much, but that makes such articles about sales useless for me, if I always have to question whether this is really a good deal now.

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Quoting: scratchiIf they want to give away free shit, just take it and play it.

Like it was since the beginning of Internet: if it costs nothing, YOU are the product.

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Quoting: LanzI just can't support Epic, even if it's free.

Same here. No big fan of the policies and scared of the shady data security stuff / rumors. In the upcoming free games is "Orwell", which is kind of ironic.

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Quoting: ElectricPrismWho buys these kinds of deals?

Does this sales strategy actually work?

Why not? This isn't like shopping at the rummage table where you end up buying something you never planned to buy, it's more like looking for games that were already on your wishlist, but not on the top of it.

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Quoting: elmapulas an artist i dont like it for the same reason im not a big fan of mods... it destroy the artistic vision.

Very odd point of view, for a variety of reasons.
1. It assumes that the modders don't have such a thing like artistic vision.
2. It assumes that the developers artistic vision is in some way superior to that of a modder.
3. It assumes that there aren't games out there with odd artistic visions, which don't suit the wishes/needs of potential gamers.

Many Mods add flavour, depth or whole new perspectives to games. I really can't see how that diminishes the intentions of the developer. In that logic adaptations of music shouldn't be a thing. Besides that, there are also a whole bunch of Mods out there that clear out the bugs of half-assed or underfunded developed games.

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I don't see the unique point, neither in the screen shots nor in the description there is something that sets it apart from Stellaris. Maybe they should go for the points that are on the wishlist of Stellaris players since ... ever, that ist actual tactical combat in space and on the ground. Or maybe asymetrical factions, or maybe you aren't the leader of the faction but the one who receives commands, or every faction has specific goals to fulfil, or a tighter story line and less sandboxy. There is room for space 4x beyond Stellaris, but not if you are so similar to what you are "inspired" by.

I am still waiting for a space game like Ascendancy.

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Quoting: GuestI hope they combine the complexity of paradox campaigns with the battlefield tactics to TW (and even expand it further).

You should look into the Crusader Wars Mod. This project let you jump from a CK3 campaign right into highly modded Atilla battles. I was blown away from the scripting when i saw videos about it on YT

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIvCLh4523Q [External Link]

A cross game mod feels like a whole new era of modding. Didn't check Linux compatibility right now.

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Quoting: TheSHEEEP

Quoting: Deleted_UserFact is, that the "accurate history Total War" community haven't got a proper game since years. Warhammer aside, both 3 Kingdoms and Troy are fantasy adaptions in some way - so i think it would be fair to get a "pure historical" TW.

Yes.
Because that community is too small for CA to focus on.
3K had a historical mode, and other than the "super generals" the normal mode was as historical as you can get with that period. Even the more strange units (like some artillery) actually existed, albeit maybe more as prototypes than actual battlefield use.
Anyway, it didn't do well, and boy did they drop that one like a hot potato.

Troy was a historical (well, mostly) game before they added the mythical creatures.
It didn't do well (EGS cash paid for that game).
Attila was historical.
It didn't do well.
Thrones Of Brittannia?
Didn't do well.
Rome Remastered?
Didn't do well - although I'm certain they invested A LOT less resources into it than into any of the Warhammer ones. Hard to say if this one flopped (judging by review & player numbers) or was never meant to be very successful.
Before that, my memory fails me, but I do remember Empire failing pretty badly.
Basically, they tried again and again and again to cater to the more historically focused crowd, and it didn't pay off for them - while even their completely f*cked up WH2 & 3 releases raked in the money.
The last big success in the historical sector for CA must've been Medieval 2? 2007? And I'd argue that was largely due to (fantasy themed :wink:) mods.

The point is, this isn't a question of fairness.
It's a business decision.
And the historical accuracy fans are just a very small group, which is why major companies avoid them and they are mostly served by small and/or indie devs, such as many Slytherine titles, etc. Games that look more like Excel than Total War, unfortunately.

I'm not saying there will never be a good purely historical game in a Total War style, but I very strongly doubt that CA will be the ones to deliver it, they focus on where they smell the cash for their AA-AAA productions. At this point I also doubt they even have the right "history buff/excited for history" people to pull it off to begin with.
I'd put my money on some indie developer eventually filling that particular gap of large scale real-time battles in a historical setting.

I can't understand where you got these statements from. Neither CA (which wouldn't include Feral sales) nor SEGA released any relyable numbers on the sales of the titles. Even than you could just guess the sales profit of the titles. That being said, TW:3K seemes to be a very successfull game, given that both the overall sales and the profit were huge, according to some data released within a legal dispute between SEGA and EPIC (as far as i could find out).

However, obviously CA market research disagrees with your statements. We will see.

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