The Creative Assembly and SEGA have announced that their controversial pre-order ‘reward’ Chaos Warrior pack will now also apply to those that buy the games within the first week of release. On the surface, this is a pretty neat step for those that do not pre-order out of principle, effectively they can still receive the pack for free post launch. Albeit only for a week.

But then again, while obviously nice on some level, the business perspective must be taken into consideration. Games need to sell and Total War: Warhammer has to be a smasher in terms of profits for SEGA and CA alike. So while the good press might help alleviate the initial burn when the pre-order pack was announced, let’s look at reality.

Even though completely flawed in many regards, the last Total War games received positive reviews all round from games media. Even we gave Rome II a high score. Better said: I did and I honestly regretted it after my nostalgia fuelled enthusiasm wore off. Day 1 reviews have a high impact on sales figures and the most sales for this title will be in that very first week. We will have a community struggling between a (very likely) overly positive games media, potential peer pressure and the desire for a free pack, and their (rational) patience in waiting for the initial hype to wear off for more rational accounts to surface.

So yes, while this is all nice and dandy, don’t forget business.