Total War: WARHAMMER Franchise Sale brings discounts to Steam
Steam is currently running a Total War: WARHAMMER Franchise Sale, giving PC strategy fans an opportunity to pick up games and downloadable content from Creative Assembly’s long-running fantasy strategy series.
The promotion arrives at an interesting point for the franchise. Total War: WARHAMMER III is already the foundation for the series’ combined Immortal Empires experience, while Creative Assembly is preparing the major Lords of the End Times content for summer 2026.
For South African gamers, the sale is potentially more useful than simply buying whichever individual title has the largest percentage discount. The way the three WARHAMMER games interact means newcomers should understand the game’s ownership system before spending money on DLC.
The Total War: WARHAMMER sale is live on Steam
The promotion is being presented by Steam as a dedicated Total War: WARHAMMER Franchise Sale, covering the fantasy trilogy and its associated content.
The sale is particularly relevant to players who have never entered the Total War: WARHAMMER ecosystem.
Unlike a conventional three-game series, the trilogy has effectively evolved into one large ecosystem. Each game originally introduced different factions, races and mechanics, while later developments allowed much of that content to be brought together inside WARHAMMER III.
That means the question for newcomers is not simply whether WARHAMMER I, II or III is the “best” game.
It is about which purchase provides the most useful foundation for the experience they actually want to play.
WARHAMMER III is the key game for newcomers
Total War: WARHAMMER III was released on 16 February 2022 and is the final mainline game in the trilogy. Steam describes it as the conclusion to the Total War: WARHAMMER trilogy.
It is also the most important game for anyone interested in the series’ enormous combined campaign.
Immortal Empires brings the factions and worlds of the trilogy together into one campaign environment. This is what makes the WARHAMMER series unusual compared with most strategy franchises: purchasing older games can affect what content becomes available inside the latest game.
For a new player, therefore, WARHAMMER III is the logical starting point to investigate.
That does not necessarily mean buying every DLC at once.
Do you need all three games?
This is where the Total War: WARHAMMER collection can become confusing.
The three main games are:
| Game | Release | Main role |
|---|---|---|
| Total War: WARHAMMER | 24 May 2016 | Introduced the fantasy trilogy |
| Total War: WARHAMMER II | 28 September 2017 | Expanded the world and introduced new races |
| Total War: WARHAMMER III | 16 February 2022 | Final main game and foundation for Immortal Empires |
The original WARHAMMER introduced the franchise’s fantasy setting to Total War, while the second and third games expanded the number of playable factions and the overall campaign experience.
The important distinction is that players do not necessarily need to install all three games to play the combined campaign.
The community’s current advice is generally to buy the trilogy when it is heavily discounted if you want access to as much faction content as possible, then install WARHAMMER III and use it as the primary game.
Why buying the trilogy can make sense
The first two games remain relevant because their factions can contribute to the wider WARHAMMER III experience.
The original game provides access to factions such as the Empire, Dwarfs, Greenskins and Vampire Counts, while WARHAMMER II introduced races including the High Elves, Dark Elves, Lizardmen and Skaven.
WARHAMMER III adds factions including Kislev, Cathay and the various Chaos factions, among others.
This creates a large catalogue of playable races with very different mechanics.
It also explains why a player who buys only WARHAMMER III may eventually find themselves looking back at the older games and DLC.
The trilogy is therefore best understood as a content ecosystem, rather than three completely separate games.
Don’t buy every DLC just because it is discounted
This is perhaps the most useful advice for someone encountering the franchise during the Steam sale.
There are a very large number of DLC packs, faction packs, lord packs and other additions.
Buying everything immediately can become expensive even when individual items have large discounts.
Community discussions around the current sale make the same point: newcomers can get a substantial amount of content from the trilogy itself and then add DLC for races or factions they actually want to play.
That approach is particularly sensible because DLC does not necessarily provide a straightforward power upgrade.
Many of the packs are designed to provide new factions, Legendary Lords, units and alternative ways to play rather than simply making an existing faction stronger.
What should a new player buy?
If you are completely new to Total War: WARHAMMER, the simplest approach is:
Option 1: Start with WARHAMMER III
This is the cleanest entry point if you want to see what the modern game is like.
It gives you the current game and access to the modern campaign systems, with additional content available later.
Option 2: Buy the trilogy while discounted
This is arguably the better long-term choice if the sale pricing makes the three games inexpensive enough.
Owning the earlier games expands the available faction pool for the combined WARHAMMER III experience.
Option 3: Buy specific DLC later
Do not feel pressured to buy dozens of DLC packs.
Play the base content first, identify which factions interest you and then use future Steam sales to expand the collection.
This is likely to be a much more cost-effective approach than attempting to buy the entire catalogue immediately.
The timing is significant for WARHAMMER III
The sale comes as Total War: WARHAMMER III approaches another major expansion of its enormous campaign.
Creative Assembly’s official announcements describe Lords of the End Times as arriving in summer 2026. The content introduces four new Legendary Lords from different races, alongside new units, objectives and sandbox campaigns.
The headline addition is Nagash, one of the most important characters in Warhammer Fantasy lore.
Other announced additions include the Blood Dragon Legendary Hero Walach Harkon, Tomb Heralds, Morghast Archai and the Khemric Titan.
The expansion is being accompanied by a free End Times Update, which Creative Assembly describes as a major addition to the Immortal Empires campaign.
That makes the current sale particularly interesting for anyone who has been waiting to get into the franchise.
The series has a long history of Steam discounts
The current promotion is not an isolated event.
Creative Assembly’s official Steam announcements show that Total War games have repeatedly been discounted during major Steam and publisher promotions. A 2025 Steam Summer Sale, for example, offered up to 75% off selected Total War titles, while the 2025 annual SEGA sale offered discounts of up to 80% on selected games.
This matters because prospective buyers should not necessarily feel that they must purchase every piece of DLC simply because it is currently reduced.
If a particular faction is not of interest, it can make sense to wait for another promotion.
What about South African prices?
This is where South African players need to check the Steam storefront rather than relying on US-dollar pricing reported elsewhere.
Steam uses regional pricing, and the price shown to a South African account can differ from the US, UK or European prices.
TechnologyBlog.co.za has not been able to independently verify the current South African rand price for every item included in the promotion from the accessible Steam sale page.
For that reason, this article does not convert international prices into rand or present unverified prices as South African pricing.
South African gamers should check the final checkout price in their Steam account before purchasing.
View the Total War: WARHAMMER Franchise Sale on Steam
The best strategy is to build your collection gradually
The Total War: WARHAMMER franchise is one of the more complicated PC game ecosystems when it comes to purchasing content.
The good news is that players do not need to understand everything before starting.
For a newcomer, WARHAMMER III is the most important game to investigate, particularly if the goal is to experience Immortal Empires. From there, buying the first two games during a deep sale can broaden the available faction pool, while DLC can be added selectively over time.
That approach also avoids one of the biggest traps of a franchise sale: buying a huge collection of content before knowing which parts of the game you actually enjoy.
For South African strategy fans who have been watching the Total War: WARHAMMER series from the sidelines, the current Steam promotion provides an opportunity to enter the franchise at a reduced price — but the smartest purchase is likely to depend more on which factions you want to play than on which DLC happens to have the biggest discount.
