Creative Assembly's decision to abandon further development of Three Kingdoms has been controversial for several years. Players believed that one of the most highly-rated strategies in the series had not yet reached its full potential.
According to Sega's report, Total War: Three Kingdoms sold 2.1 million copies in its first year. The Chinese market played a significant role, where the game was in high demand due to its Three Kingdoms era setting. In subsequent years, sales grew by another 410,000 and 230,000 copies. The total circulation reached approximately 3.3 million copies.
In comparison, Total War: Warhammer 3 sold approximately 960,000 copies in its first year. Despite regular updates and add-ons, its total sales currently stand at around 2.7 million copies.
This demonstrates the scale of Three Kingdoms' success. The reason for discontinuing support was that the add-ons did not meet the publisher's commercial expectations.
As a result, Three Kingdoms remains one of the most successful projects in Total War history and a rare example of a game whose development was halted despite high sales of the main version.