A new financial report from Sega reveals just how massive a sales success Three Kingdoms was. This has frustrated fans, as Creative Assembly discontinued support for it prematurely.
There are indeed many Total War spin-offs, and some are more successful than others. How successful a Total War game actually is can often be gauged by the number of DLCs or, at the very least, by the ongoing support it receives. In the case of Total War: Three Kingdoms, however, many players remain frustrated to this day.
The strategy game set in historical China is one of the most popular titles of recent years and is considered a pioneer in terms of quality, especially on the turn-based strategy map. That’s why fans are still angry today that Creative Assembly pulled the plug on the game surprisingly early.
Publisher Sega recently released a financial report that provided a glimpse into the long-term sales figures for the individual games in its portfolio—including Total War: Three Kingdoms and Total War: Warhammer 3.
Fans were surprised to see how much better the main game of Three Kingdoms sold compared to Warhammer 3, which continues to receive major expansions and updates to this day.
Total War games yearly sales (from SEGA yearly investor briefing)
byu/Mahelas intotalwar
Huge Sales Figures for Three Kingdoms
Judging by the statistics shown, it’s truly astonishing to see just how much better Three Kingdoms actually sold compared to Warhammer 3. In the first fiscal year following its release, Three Kingdoms achieved an astonishing total of 2.1 million units sold. This was likely due in part to the newly tapped Chinese market.
Three Kingdoms actually continued to sell quite solidly in the following year as well, with 410,000 units sold in the second fiscal year after release. It wasn’t until 2021 that sales figures dropped to at least 230,000—the year in which support was discontinued. To date, Three Kingdoms has sold a total of 3.3 million copies.
Total War: Warhammer 3 had a comparatively slow start. The game sold 960,000 copies in its first year but has maintained a consistently high level of sales in the years since. Nevertheless, Warhammer 3’s total sales stand at “only” 2.7 million copies—though it is, of course, two sales years behind.
Still, it’s puzzling that a game beloved by fans like Three Kingdoms, which sold millions upon release, was able to achieve so much less.
Support for Three Kingdoms was likely discontinued because the DLCs didn’t sell as well as hoped. Given the interest in the base game, however, this is probably also due to the quality of the DLCs. If Creative Assembly had been more in tune with the fans’ preferences here, it could have really paid off.
Where is Pharaoh?
Aside from the massive sales figures for *Three Kingdoms* and the high annual sales of *Warhammer 3*, the only interesting thing for *Total War* fans in these statistics is that *Total War: Pharaoh* isn’t even mentioned. The same goes for Total War: Troy. So both spin-offs are barely worth mentioning by Sega. Especially with Pharaoh, we also know that the game was a resounding failure and sold disastrously.