February 2019 will be a very busy time for games. Several notable titles such as God Eater 3, Dead or Alive 6, Jump Force, Crackdown 3, Anthem, and Metro: Exodus are all releasing. Unfortunately, Total War: Arena will be shutting down in the midst of what should just be a happy and fulfilling time for gamers.
For those who may not have heard of it, Total War: Arena is a free-to-play strategy game made for PC by series stalwarts Creative Assembly and SEGA as well as World of Tanks and Pagan Online developer and publisher Wargaming. The game was announced all the way back in 2013 but didn’t hit open beta until February 22, 2018. Apparently, Total War: Arena “didn’t meet the expectations either Wargaming or Creative Assembly had for the title, and it was decided to bring development to an end.”
Due to this impending shutdown, the in-game shop is closing down and the game will not be receiving any other patches. Fortunately, the developers working on the game all seem to have been retained and will “all continue working on Total War, sharing their experience and learnings from Arena.” While the shuttering of Total War: Arena is disappointing, SEGA and Wargaming are trying to ease the impact by offering some neat rewards to those who played the game.
Total War: Arena players will be able to get a free copy of Total War: Medieval II – Definitive Edition, Total War: Rome II – Hannibal at the Gates, Total War Attila – Age of Charlemagne, or Total War: Warhammer – Grim and the Grave through the Wargaming Game Center between between now and February 22, 2019.
Meanwhile, those who have played over 100 Total War: Arena matches will get 30 days of a Wargaming Premium Account for free. Remaining gold and/or premium time for this Total War title may also be transferred to World of Tanks, World of Warships, or World of Warplanes, with the currency automatically being allocated to World of Tanks is a choice isn’t made by December 22. Purchases between August 22 and November 22 are also being fully reimbursed in those other Wargaming titles.
While Total War; Arena for PC is going offline in February 2019, series fans should have their appetite fed the next month with Total War: Three Kingdoms which is set in China and releases on March 7. As for the game’s code being released publicly so fans can continue to work on it, Wargaming says that “The rights for Total War: Arena belong to SEGA, so Wargaming is not in a position to comment on this.”