Creative Assembly's Shill Program is DEAD

My reddit post on the shillpocalypse:
/ the_great_shilling_ope...
My original exposé video on The Great Shilling Operation:
• The Great Total War Sh...
#shillfluencers #justshillthings #tossashillingtoyourgrifter
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[@Volound]

my video on the shilling operation of 2021. tell me how well it aged: kzbin.info/www/bejne/kIO7hKRsfNynh5o if you want more on the shilling operation, the current best stop is usakos entire channel: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mITaoKx5d8ymZ80 and last but not least, for some humour, there is now a game of "shill bingo". good way to spend christmas with friends: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fnO9p4yroZJ3rNk

[@Dmitrisnikioff]

was gonna ask ya to link usako in description but pinned comment works too

[@Itz_Hyde]

Disclosure of online advertising and paid promotion is required by UK Law. To quote Gov.uk "If you use carousels (video or photos), or sequences where your audience can access individual posts: you must also label each item that contains promotional messaging." www.gov.uk/government/publications/social-media-endorsements-guide-for-influencers/social-media-endorsements-being-transparent-with-your-followers

[@yuzumeow]

if you hate CA so much why keep playing their game lol.

[@Dmitrisnikioff]

@@yuzumeow are you braindead

[@mossy3565]

Positive reviews of your game should be a gift, not a job

[@Volound]

positive reviews are a privilege, it is not an entitlement you earn by battering a shill until it foetally submits and acquiesces to your demands.

[@mossy3565]

@@Volound Too right, the entire games industry would be better off if more people understood that God bless you for pulling back the curtain where you can

[@MidlifeCrisisJoe]

Shills are just mercenaries. And as any TW player knows, mercenaries cost a lot in upkeep, so when you need to balance your budget, you disband them first (though I can suppose that they actually first tried raising the tax rate on the populace, but the public order penalties were getting too high).

[@Volound]

so apt

[@spaceracer6861]

I'm pretty sure a review of one of the latter Europa Universalis 4 DLC made a similar joke about -1 Stability.

[@shadowwarriorshockwave3281]

This is art

[@TequilaPhoenix]

CA has a leadership problem like most companies, they need to get rid of the terrible leadership and focus on what made them great.

[@OldOnche]

When your CEO is a goy shill from "business" schools, you already know that you are doomed into woke stupidity and echo chambers. Fans can't do much unfortunately.

[@Dmitrisnikioff]

No, silly: all companies under capitalism operate on the exact fucking same principals jesus

[@rubyismycatman7335]

Lets be honest CA is dead they are so screwed

[@Volound]

lmao

[@thatsquidwardfeel5567]

The Slophammer gravy train is coming to an end eventually, and once that happens the Slophammer consoomers will go back to where they came from. And then they'll notice something funny: Rome 2 peaked at 118k concurrent players, Attila at 26k, 3K at 192k, Thrones at 22k, Troy at 4.7k, Pharaoh at 5.4k. The historic TW fanbase isn't just kind-of miffed, they're straight-up gone... And the only kind of viable title they still have, 3K, has already been abandoned by CA. Sooo... Once you've shipped your last Slophammer DLC, you might as well close up shop, because you're not keeping yourself afloat with those Troy or Pharaoh DLC until you can throw a Medieval 3 on the market, which by now probably would be the only way to generate any hype whatsoever in the historic TW crowd. Sooo, TLDR: Lol. Lmao, even.

[@vikingcathq]

I actually dread the thought of what a Medieval 3 made by current CA would look like. No, NO!@@thatsquidwardfeel5567

[@Elenrai]

Funniest shit is that Arch Warhammer pretty much solo carried the warhammer brand after vaults of terra self-ended and it took about two years for leutin and the other grifters to catch on. Incidentally there was a lot of criticism of arch warhammers ethnic traits, and yet, the slophammer crowd is about to be out of a job, except the last remaining original norseboi, who built a career instead of gambling on CA and GW being their long term sugardaddies...😂🎉 ​@@thatsquidwardfeel5567

[@smolpp2516]

"Hello guys, we are no longer using GESTAPO tactics!" wouldve been a great apology from CA lol.

[@Orendiz]

Hey now, they can only rly lie about things that they feel they can be uphold.

[@DeeJy33]

is this cave dweller comparing a video game company to nazi germany's secret police or am i missing something?

[@honeybadger6275]

NKVD is far more accurate.

[@justiceforjoggers2897]

​@@DeeJy33 It's about the tactics, not the genocide

[@Volound]

even worse than gestapo, CIA. they engage in disinformation campaigns and pit youtubers against each other by tactically appearing in livestreams to spread disinformation, and they even whisper in youtubers DMs like little grima worntongues to sow bad blood. also i mentioned prince of macedon already, they basically dangled early access like a carrot on the condition that he stop criticising the company. gestapo, CIA, take your pick.@@justiceforjoggers2897

[@lfcmike12]

"influencer" Easily the most cringe worthy thing for some idiot with a camera and Instagram account to call them selves.

[@Volound]

absolutely. the same reason i mock endlessly this "kawntent" and "kreaytur" corpospeak thats percolated its way down to the subjects of reference. absolutely cringe and despicable garbage.

[@TheSuperappelflap]

Sad for the smaller youtubers and streamers that could use the exposure. But thankfully now people wont have to self censor their reviews and opinions for fear of getting booted out of the club, because there is no club.

[@Volound]

this program always had the opposite effect of giving exposure. there are channels that dedicated themselves entirely to carving out a niche around games like pharaoh and troy like you say and they just languished in complete anonymity. they fully complied and piled whatever interest they could invent onto these shit games and it got them nowhere. this program is the complete opposite of any sort of meritocracy, where an aspiring small channel with talent could get somewhere. thats not what it was ever for. if someone is small, they are new. if they are new, they are not reliable. if they are not reliable, they are DQd from being a reliable, steady shill.

[@TheSuperappelflap]

@@Volound i was moreso talking about the exposure of being invited to events than about direct exposure on youtube. i agree that effectively forcing people to stream or make videos on the newer games, that there is no demand for, wasnt helpful.

[@JakeTheRipper]

Ill never achieve my dream of being a TW Kawntent Kreator now 😭

[@SwordEncarmine]

SHAMEFUR DISPRAY

[@PipoZePoulp]

Shill program is dead... for now. Incidentally, as there's no product to shill (worth shilling about), CA doesn't need a PR program at the moment, so those expenses are unneeded. Time to implement a new PR program when there's a product to ship and shill.

[@Schaden-freude]

Even Legendoftotalwar is only putting out Shogun 2 videos lol

[@Volound]

you love to see it.

[@NativeLanguage02]

Creative Disassembly.

[@ydem1se]

“Can we smash it? - Yes we can!”

[@Elenrai]

❤

[@carljosephfriedrich8919]

Shills for CA, or shills for Disney. Which are more loathsome? Keep up the good work!

[@honeybadger6275]

I hate all corporate shills equally.

[@artemshir436]

Same corporat pack though.

[@NebLleb]

Shills for CA, duh.

[@MDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMD]

Disney. More disgusting and like adult children.

[@carljosephfriedrich8919]

Same bloated bunch of rats, that's true. @@artemshir436

[@arturg3333]

"Andy's piss-take" lmao

[@Volound]

spicy cornbread from my reddit gets credit for that one. absolutely love it.

[@MelkorGG]

🍷I am laughing, and I am loving it 🤣 Although this won't last. Give it 1-2 years (probably sooner), and it will be back to how it was.

[@baggelis_aikaterinis]

We bent the knee to your greatness my Lord XD

[@Volound]

100%. my expectation is a reincarnation as something even more abominable and insidious.

[@lazyking7444]

Influencers is a negative trend in general. Payed chills.

[@enjoythestruggle]

'Wait, we can't rely on them to convince people our bad games are good? CANCEL IT!'

[@wizardcat7654]

I've been playing Rome. My favorite of the series and, despite the path-finding issues, a little too op generals units and some other flaws due to its age. It reminds me of why I love this franchise. All I can do is pray that CA will acknowledge the core history/strategy lovers by developing games that care to get right the accuracy of their depiction of battles. Also, the strategies and tactics employed during said battles, depending on the time. And develop features in the games instead of just scrapping them. The only other hope is that someone else comes along to make an old total war-esque strategy game.

[@Elenrai]

OP generals has to be earned. An 8+ wound stat in medival II usually meant that you had a chad general leading from the front and taking major risks on a regular basis.

[@wizardcat7654]

@@Elenrai They single-handedly can route an early campaign army or destroy your line with or without traits. The unit themselves is what I'm talking about. But that's also in part because I think infantry in Rome is a little too much like paper machete. In medieval two I think they fixed that a bit. Infantry is a little more reliable. Which is why I agree with legend. In almost every way Med 2 is an improvement over Rome 1. And yes, I know about morale traits. I'm speaking about the base performance. Not stat enhanced performance. Although, I had a general with two stars and a morale trait and units still broke at times when they brushed up against units in Rome 1. I've played Rome one for years and it's always bugged me how when units get a wiff of combat they flee. That should happen, but not SO severely, which is why to my recollection of Med 2. Infantry holds a line better.

[@reheyesd8666]

Took them three consecutive disasters to finally shut down everything they can to save money

[@spiderknight9893]

Why is it so difficult for companies to just give the customer what they want? Like not just in video games but in general? Seems like an easy way to make money to me ……

[@Volound]

they had a golden goose that they sold out for a golden basilisk and now both are emaciated and in their death throes. incompetent shit company.

[@mattzart]

No big company makes anything for the consumer. Its all about satisfying investors and stockholders

[@spiderknight9893]

@@mattzart stockholders and investors want money. You get them money by having a happy customer. Look at Disney right now. They are circling the drain because of their crappy movies and the investors are pissed.

[@mattzart]

@@spiderknight9893 I think companies like CA and Disney are paying the price now for trying to only satisfy shareholders.

[@hehmda]

@@spiderknight9893Not necessary. You can sell opioids like candies for a decades and make fortune out of that. There is already few dead and addicted generations of their customers with ruined lives but companies themselves doing just fine. Unhappy customer sometimes can bring even more money then happy one.

[@oldmanbanjo]

Thank god. I might actually make some TW content now on a new channel. It was ABSOLUTELY impossible to start a new channel in this sector of youtube without being on that program and pumping out insane pro CA drivel video after video.

[@Alejandro-hl5zc]

I honestly don't know how they're going to get out of this one, they better sell good shit to Warhammer addicts.

[@dread_pirate_robberts2677]

CAs over party!🎉🎉🎉 New layoff update to total war already improved game objectively.

[@Runnin4Trees]

"Trumatise mentally" is a bit much, theyre getting paid to play total war. They need a backbone.

[@Volound]

yeah, that would have solved a lot of these problems. just not being totally spineless in the first place.

[@TheMuncyWolverine]

common Volound W

[@TheAuthorizedJay]

This whole program was run like a psychological operation. Anyone who stepped out of line and reviewed the games poorly were immediately blacklisted. It was never about getting actual criticism, it was about getting paid positive reviews. This was essentially the videogames industry version of payola.

[@Korvinian4601]

GG volound. This year is truly yours vindication and triumph.

[@Volound]

thanks for sharing in it with me comrade

[@alexandrerichard6057]

Can you feel it? From the net, it comes. The Chatbots march to war, spreading their tendrils into every social media forum. But what matter of champion has gathered the waring factions?!

[@badrhetoric5637]

Aw bet some of these shilling hacks will have to rely on their talents to get by. Good luck *cough Milk&cookies cough

[@fellington2398]

Great. The shills are not being fed.

[@Usako2000]

A great video that is correct on every point. Even if CA begins to make good games, so what? They've done so many bad things towards you, PoM, CAT, (and others), the consumers and their employees. Just making good games won't make them trustworthy or redeem them. To do that they'd need to gut much of their company, profisely apologize, compensate the people they've wronged (criticis, consumers, and employees), and start a genuine criminal investigation to the sexual abuse in their company, not memory hole to protect the perpetrators. You've done a great part of seeing to the end of the shilling operation, as much as CA, the shills, and the reddit will never want to acknowledge it, your videos have been a big part of people understanding how the shilling operation works. When this awareness reached critical mass due to your content, CA's abuse towards you and CA's DLC and game blunders, then they had to pull the plug on the program in an attempt to damage control. The program only works if people don't understand the content creators they follow are sock puppets and believe CA isn't absolutely demented. As you say , it's going to return more solidified and centralized, with the most devout cultists supporting it and a more zealous priesthood preaching it. This doubleing down will shrink the amount of adherents they can muster and cause it all to crash and burn, eventually. Thank you for the shout out I appreciate it! :)

[@Volound]

keep these shillfluencer sagas coming. we are absolutely loving them.

[@DR3ADER1]

"Just making good games won't make them trustworthy or redeem them." This is the point I've made endlessly regarding not just CA or CDPR/Hello Games/Any Developer/Publisher regardless of status (be it AAA, AA, B-grade, C-grade or Indie), the same rules apply to people online and offline. You can NOT undo the damage wrought onto any industry by your own corruption, retardation and lack of Quality Control, all you can do is either scuttle the ship or blow it up in deep waters. "To do that they'd need to gut much of their company, profusely apologize, compensate the people they've wronged (critics, consumers, and employees), and start a genuine criminal investigation to the sexual abuse in their company, not memory hole to protect the perpetrators." 1) Look at the corrupt, dank, stagnant shithole that is Japan. Square-Enix's executives did a live TV Apology for FF14's broken abortion of a launch in 2010 and they haven't changed a single bit with their bizarre NFT Scams. 2), Lolsuits always fail, as the Spacey Trial ended with Kevin getting away with it and the entire Italian public rejecting the trial as a "Witch Hunt". Plus, I don't trust the British Police doing anything smart here, considering the Tom Meighan shitshow or the pathetic JOKE that was Operation Yewtree or their overcompensatory Online Safety Bill which has censored the Internet for everyone because they're too lazy, stupid and corrupt to tackle crimes with any tact or strategy that leads to proper justice occurring ever, at all. 3) These people do not want to be held accountable. Because their egos and USI prevents them from doing so. The people who operate both the Uncreative Gatherings and SEGA-Sammy are sociopaths, some of whom are also Cluster-B Lolcows who will NEVER view themselves as "in the wrong".

[@misterpinkandyellow74]

There is no sexual abuse in the company that is rumor spreading. We live in the modern era with camera everywhere.

[@spaceracer6861]

@@misterpinkandyellow74 If you are going to sell your soul to a company at least type properly, your grammar is ass.

[@irishbeermarine]

Your eternal crusade against CA, appears comes to an end... A costly and tragic end it will be. An once great and bright shining idea of a game, a golden promise of evermore increasing tactical, strategic gameplay possibilities... Now lying in ruins, nothing left but the broken dream of a dying colossus. Your strife for vengeance will be fulfilled soon,... CA, your former benefactor and patron,... the company which threw you to the wolves,... now torn down by its own degeneracy. Your once trusted companions and channel-subscribers... the arrogant and treacherous followers and fanboys, who denied you and laughed for your fall of grace... now nothing more but empty husks of themselves, hollowed out by overpriced DLC's and low quality products. Their own self-indulgence and fattened incompetence brought the downfall... Yet ultimately, it was you, who set this events in motion. The climactic conclusion of this tragic tale... your doing, your yearing for revenge, your persistent cold wrath. Your campaign of scorn and retribution felled an whole collective and sealed the fate of countless souls...

[@Faehen]

i like your content because: 1) your points make sense 2) you dont overwhelm the viewer like everyone tends to do with editing and pretentious overhyped voice. ok review done can have money already?

[@Volound]

here are your 2 shillings my man

[@thewolfpack5290]

Underrated (imho)

[@Jamaniak]

I've never played a Total War game in my life nor do i care about Warhammer and the only CA game I own is Alien: Isolation. But this shit is way to fucking funny to not follow.

[@Volound]

A:I is decent. something big on the horizon from me with regards to that one.

[@crazyelf1]

Yeah CA needs a change in senior management. That's the root cause of these problems. It's possible that Sega may also be doing something that is harmful to the organization.

[@BearlyTactical]

As someone who is (well was now I guess) in the program, I had asked a question about the "new" program that would be opened and how it affects the chances of those already in the program getting into the new one. The answer didn't fill me with confidence at all. I try to be sensible and see all sides of things I am a huge TW fan and have been since a young teenager so initially being brought into the program (especially given my size on Twitch and YT) left me somewhat awe-struck. But as time went on I started to see things for what they were, whenever someone tried to challenge things they would either be ignored or given some textbook business message. Further to this you would have many people ganging up on those speaking up claiming people should be grateful for even being in the program. CA has truly burned trust with people on all sides I can only see it becoming even worse unless they are totally transparent and accept people into the "new" program who have been critical of TW titles from a fair and constructive standpoint. Literally, everything needs to change.

[@Volound]

well said. i was also in the program during troy early access and things i complained about and that have since been fixed to a tee in line with my criticisms in their text channels, were ignored and/or pushed back against by the ankle-biters in there. people with 200 subscribers that only started playing total war recently. it was an embarrassing clown show. you describe it perfectly.

[@BearlyTactical]

@@Volound I think that's what made the feeling of things worse, the fact that I had a genuine love for Total War and being accepted into something I had a huge passion for only to then see it as a "carrot and stick" operation (well I'd even say there was no carrot just stick..). I am a very small channel myself so the size of other channels etc didn't come into my mind with it, it was more the blind defence that we shouldn't question things and should just be happy to be in there.

[@AHersheyHere]

A game has to be either quite good or very bad, mediocrity is the path of nothingness.

[@holohearthfire7138]

they're gonna redo it. and "replace" the team on it and call it "fixed" like how Digital extreme's did.

[@salfordshan3545]

Victory V

[@NebLleb]

Well, at least the final season of Game of Shills was better than the final season of Game of Thrones...

[@Volound]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/r2GxlmhpeauijqM

[@wizardcat7654]

I know it's unrelated, but if you've seen my other comments you know I've been playing the og Rome. Well I decided to look into Rome remastered, because much like the vanilla Rome. It seems to have a good modding community and I think it's because the tech got an update. You can do more with the remaster. Units for Rome Total Realism and Barbarian Empires, LOOK AMAZING. More factions, more possibilities. Despite some issues. They also increased unit sizes, which I thought was a positive as well. What cinched it though you will find interesting. I was watching Simpzy Total War play it recently on Livestream and he was playing the Julii and he was in a battle with Gauls. I wouldn't have believed it if I didn't see it with my own two eyes. A Hastati, light infantry, withstood a charge from a general's bodyguard unit, taking big casualties, but they stayed in the fight and the general's bodyguard ROUTED! One unit and it was isolated. The only thing I can figure is the Experimental unit scale of "200" men, made them more resistant. Of course, the fight was over and It was a smaller unit of General's Bodyguard. But still, impressive performance for a hastati.

[@thekey1175]

Huge if true! The last two things to go in a company is its propaganda arm and DEI staff. It is very unlikely that the next game or two will be any good like attila quality but hopefully unlike warhammer they use what worked and built upon it kinda like attila DLC.

[@vnkfrancis1328]

I have no program, but I must shill.

[@dickinwurfer]

Great news!

[@azogdefiler25]

Total War popularity will inevitably begin to decline after this move. And if it means almost nothing to CA then Sega won't like it very much.

[@LordSadicus]

Good video. To be honest after the Chaos Dwarf DLC I was already quite iffy but willing to give benefit to the doubt but after Shadows of Greed I just had enough. Actively been telling friends to not buy it and have been actively boycotting their stuff anyhow. Heck even when a friend shared to me their "apology" i responded that they are still bastards and being boycotted by me. Saying sorry is just a cheap word, of no meaning and worth. Rather late opening my eyes to it but rather late than never... Still excellent points and videos from both you and Usako. I only found out about you after stumbling on a reddit post that was celebrating Cody Bonds and his apparent "victory" over your channel, thus decided to check your stuff out and got even more confused as you do make valid and excellent points. Oh well, better for me as I found a more worthwhile channer to subscribe to.

[@Raider1377]

Poor 'Andy's Take', whatever will he do? He's the worst shill, if you ask me.

[@Volound]

5 videos in a row of transparently phoney product placement for garbage mobile games. literally. 5 in a row. this entire scene needs to be fumigated.

[@Raider1377]

@@Volound He has already pivoted to Paradox Games, what a joke!

[@vikingcathq]

It was never really a point of pride if you saw everyone they allowed in. They were basically like early days Netflix. 'You have a channel? Sign them up, sign them up!' The best part was not having to pay for their endless DLC's and poor games. Nathan was pretty ok, he deserves better than working for CA.

[@Volound]

i realised there was no meaning to this "program" when i was ankle-bitten by morons with 200 subscribers when i criticised troys announcement and how its gameplay worked in their discord.

[@russianbot7875]

This man would vote Trump for a third term

[@MDMDMDMDMDMDMDMDMD]

Good

[@Robertseley]

I was a huge former TW fan, I’ve found other games like Ultimate general CW to scratch the strategy itch. CA and TW are dead

[@grannywaffle]

Total war: Horsham 2024 Q3

[@monkofdarktimes]

I for one celebrate it

[@d1halberdgnoll963]

"KZbinrs", "Dignity" lol

[@wile123456]

Advertising sucks but influencing should be illegal. It's all about misleading consumers and viewers thinking it's honest opinions/reviews when it's all payed and sponsored.

[@cyllananassan9159]

WOW!!!!! GREAT NEWS

[@ChristiaanHunter]

Haha i love your video title, was thinking the same about the news

[@boss9846]

Good job 👍 well done 👍 and hello from Russia 🇷🇺!

[@darthioan]

I also play WarThunder, side by side to TW: Warhammer. Unless you ask or you touch really reprehensible subject, or pick a side in the current wars (and piss off whichever half of the game community, which then demands you get kikced out), exactly zero people have been kicked out of the content creator program (which also comes - albeit tiny) with a share revenue program (you get your own discount code link, with your own unique content creator decal). You can dump on the company and the game, as hard as you want, it is completely fine. Content memes coming from the content creators such as "you have been gaijined" (meaning, screwed over by Gaijin, the developer), "Russian bias" or "sikrit dokuments" or pray to the snail for bias (company simbol looks like a snail) have been embraced by the developers and many of these have been integrated in the game, and are parts of the usual language surrounding it. Content creators openly talk about bad updates, or whether or not a sale is worth it. And there have been plenty of it (less so this year, after massive content creator and community pushback on monetization practices). To the surprise of no one, none of the criticism hurt sales, or active players. The more serious criticism led to major community pushback, and major changes with the game, which in turn led to more active players and more sales despite the developer nickel and diming the hell out of the game, and generally being quite grindy, it does not feel unfair, and players do not hate it, precisely because the developers integrate many if not most of the community requested features, and they don't take issue with criticism and do not ever kick people out of their cc program. The most successful content creators are also the ones who are the most negative towards the game (when a bad update is out), or make the most hilarious videos about its bugs or design choices. Please do not take this as shilling for this game or this company. It is only meant as an example.

[@insiainutorrt259]

Other than when warthunder tried to go to far and make it basicly pay to progress... barely one tank a year And was forced to walk that back warthunder is and has been plenty good to play fully for free As long as YOU! play for fun... And not just chacing progress numbers...

[@evilsponge6911]

Ding Dong the Witch is Dead

[@vinniciuselion4544]

NOOOOOOOOOOO NOT THE KOWTENT CRAITON NOOOOOOOOOOOO 😂😂🎉🎉

[@RemusKingOfRome]

You didn't leave after Rome 2 ?????????????? That's when i went to Bannerlord, and happy to do so.

[@Volound]

i was gone for 5 years from 2014 to 2019 lol. didnt launch a single total war game in that period, never mind actually make a video on it. 3K was a fakeout that pulled me back in.

[@MollieLolly]

Good video

[@phantomjoker5]

waaaaaaay

[@AbdulHannanAbdulMatheen]

👏🙂

[@baggelis_aikaterinis]

Ded . D-E-D . DED !!!!!!!🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳

[@WuCSquad]

10/10 accent, would Scottish again. Interesting video as well but still... that's a subscribe.