We have such a strong community, and our fans mean a lot to us – from when we started out as a studio of 5 people in 1987, to now, being over 500 people strong.

Of course our daily focus is on the quality of our games, with everything we have going into making experiences that our fans will love. And it’s this relationship that’s most important to us – without our fans we would not be where we are today.

In July 2012, the Willow Foundation got in touch. They introduced us to a man called James. James was suffering from liver cancer, and was told he wouldn’t live much longer. James was a big Total War fan, and wanted to visit the studio for a behind-the-scenes look at our next project, and of course we were more than happy to make this happen.

It so happened that the date James could come in was the day immediately after Rome II was announced. James visited the studio at a time of energy and excitement, and we were able to not only take him around the studio, but let him get hands on with the Siege of Carthage. James became the first person to play Rome II.

One of our character modellers offered to actually put James into the game in some way. We took reference photos and measurements of James and created an absolutely brilliant representation of James that featured in Rome II.