Thousands of soldiers can fight in real-time combat in Total War Saga: Thrones of Britannia.
Categories

How Total War’s developer pushes its games forward — and fans can push back

  • Posted byby Dean Takahashi
  • Updated
  • 14 min

Creative Assembly has survived for nearly 31 years because it has listened to its fans — and pushed them in a direction they didn’t always know they wanted to go. The division of Sega makes the hardcore real-time strategy game series Total War, which has sold millions of copies over 18 years.

The success of Total War has enabled Creative Assembly to create a studio in London and other locations with more than 600 people. The company has multiple teams, including some that focus on delivering historical strategy games that fans want.

Unlock premium content and VIP community perks with GB M A X! Join now to enjoy our free and premium perks. 

Join now →

Sign in to your account.

Written by

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.