Total War: Arena the new massively multiplayer take on the classic strategy game developed in conjunction with Wargaming, which entered open beta earlier this year, is shutting down in February next year. The game which put two teams of 10 against each other in historical battles where each player controlled a large squad struggled in many ways to find an audience.

The announcement came via the Total War: ARENA site where Creative Assembly released the following statement.

ARENA has been on a long journey, and we are thankful to everyone who joined us. We have learned so much during the development of ARENA and we have grown incredibly close with the community and involved you deeply into our development process. It has been an absolute privilege to work with you all on this project, but unfortunately the results of ARENA Open Beta Test did not meet all our expectations.

I would like to take a moment to thank the ARENA Team, who have poured their heart and soul into this game’s development and are just as disappointed by this as you.

For those of you wondering about the team, they will all continue working on Total War, sharing their experience and learnings from ARENA. ARENA’s technological advancements will continue to be part of Total War development going forward.

To you, the players and community, I have been inspired by your passion, your commitment and your continued valuable insight. Your input and encouragement have been instrumental to the game’s development. I cannot emphasize enough how much we have enjoyed working and playing with you all, and I know that we will greatly miss speaking with you online, debating your feedback, and fighting alongside you on the battlefield.

As a thank you to the community Creative Assembly is offering players the choice of the following Total War games or bits of DLC: Total War: MEDIEVAL II - Definitive Edition, Hannibal at the Gates (Total War: ROME II DLC), Age of Charlemagne (Total War: ATTILA DLC), Grim and the Grave (Total War: WARHAMMER DLC). For details on the above and the planned closure - head here.