Creative Assembly and SEGA recently announced the Open Beta release for the first ever free-to-play iteration of the Total War franchise with the Steam release of Total War Battles: Kingdom. Making its debut on Steam as a free-to-play, persistent-world MMORTS game, Total War Battles: Kingdom offers the familiar depth and immersion of the Total War franchise alongside the accessibility and ease-of-access provided by today’s free-to-play titles.
Total War Battles: Kingdom takes players on a turmoil filled journey into the shadows of late 10th century as the world struggles to emerge from the Dark Ages, torn in two by conflict, disaster and starvation. Powerful lords begin to seize control and take advantage of the many kingdoms stuck in a vulnerable state. Build a kingdom from the darkest depths of the 10th century, train and manage a fearless army of troops and explore a feature rich free-to-play RTS game with bite-sized elements of the Total War franchise.
With the Open Beta release for Total War Battles: Kingdom the developers hope to introduce new players to the thrilling Total War experience in small, bite sized chunks that maintain Total Wars depth of features while avoiding any seriously steep learning curves or hard to understand mechanics.
The Open Beta release currently supports the PC client but cross-platform play has been planned and is expected to debut later this year with releases on Mac and Tablets.
Source: Press Release