For about 2 years after ETW's release, by emailing SEGA customer support or signing up to SEGA Pass, one could obtain a key for the beta of the grand campaign multiplayer. Since Jan/Feb this year, this is no longer possible. A loyal fanbase deserves better - the content is inside every Empire Total war, and is simply unlocked by the beta key - and thus it is at practically no cost to SEGA/The Creative Assembly to continue giving out the keys.

In emails to SEGA support, the stated reasons for cancelling the program are that it was run for 2 years and newer Total War games have the feature of Grand Campaign Multi-player. Empire Total War can still be, and is, purchased and played by a vibrant online community - that has been spilt into two tiers by this selfish action. Worse still, their reasoning demonstrates that it is designed to force people to upgrade, when such behaviour may turn fans away from the series.

Comments on Reddit indicate that the grand campaign is a major selling point for the game, and would persuade them to actually buy it! This demonstrates the penny-wise, pound-foolish nature inwhich CA is conducting themselves with respect to this! 

Attempts to post this petition on their forums have resulted in the post being promptly deleted. CA/Sega attempting to silence dissent 

Sign today!