Total War: Rome 2 developer Creative Assembly has come under fire for allegedly holding back new content for the game that already exists so the company can charge players for it instead of giving it away as free DLC.

Fans of the series posting on the game's forums accused Creative Assembly of cutting the Camel Cataphracts and Mercenary Naked Swords units from the final version of the game so that they could be released later as part of paid DLC packs. Angry players cited seeing the units in trailers made before the game was released as proof the two units were supposed to be a part of the main game.

Creative Assembly brand director Rob Bartholomew has now refuted these claims. Bartholomew denied the accusations, and called the Camel units seen in videos a "misunderstanding of what's being shown combined with a marketing error which I certainly appreciate doesn't look good, but wasn't our intent to mislead," according to Eurogamer.

Bartholomew explained that the units seen in videos are not the same as the units that eventually appeared as part of the DLC for Total War: Rome 2 and that the footage was not from the final version of the game.

"The naming is unfortunate, but these aren't the same units that were then released subsequently as DLC. As with all work in-progress content, it is subject to change and revision before the final game is shipped. Content might be revised for all sorts of reasons involving balancing or quality for example," Bartholomew said. 

Despite the confusion, the executive offered an apology on behalf of the developer and said the company is taking steps to ensure a similar situation does not happen in the future.

"They weren't working pre-launch in the sense that they were finished, being largely placeholder and subject to change," Bartholomew said. "However, I completely appreciate that this sounds like a 'get out' on a technicality to a fan feeling aggrieved by this, so again I do apologize for not thoroughly checking enough that all content in that video was absolutely ready for public viewing and understanding. We've put checks in place now that should prevent that in the future."

Fans may have gotten upset by this minor controversy, but it appears users got themselves worked up over rumors rather than having actual proof that Creative Assembly intentionally removed content from Total War: Rome 2 so that they could sell it back as DLC.