Relic Admits Company of Heroes 3 Bit Off More Than It Could Chew With Dynamic Campaign

Relic Entertainment has reflected on the launch of Company of Heroes 3, acknowledging that its ambitious dynamic Italian campaign ultimately fell short of expectations. According to Relic CEO Justin Dowdeswell, the development team set out to create the biggest game in the franchise yet, featuring more factions and two full campaigns at launch. However, that expansive vision created significant hurdles.

"We set out to build the biggest Company of Heroes game ever," Dowdeswell stated. "I think it was an ambitious goal we set, and that showed up in some of the issues of launch around the level of polish and some of the bugs that the players were encountering. We didn't quite land it."

Conceived early in development, the dynamic Italian campaign proved to be a persistent stumbling block that the studio never fully resolved. While the concept and spirit behind the feature energized the team, Dowdeswell admitted, "Yeah, we bit off more than we could chew. The idea was great. The spirit of it was good. The team was energised. It was just more than we could get done in time. And it wasn't nearly as polished as it needed to be at launch."

Relic initially hoped that the mechanics would coalesce late in production, a common occurrence in game development. When that critical integration failed to happen, the studio faced harsh realities upon release. User reviews on Steam have continued to sit at Mixed, and user reception overall was not what the team hoped for. Dowdeswell noted that seeing the game fail to land well with players after years of hard work was disappointing and painful for the team.

Despite the rocky launch, Relic has continued supporting the real-time strategy title. The studio recently released the Company of Heroes 3 2.0 update alongside paid DLC, and launched a standalone wave-based roguelite mode called Final Stand earlier this year. A 3.0 update is slated to arrive later this year, bringing further additions. Additionally, Relic announced plans for Company of Heroes: Definitive Edition, a remaster of the original game featuring enhanced textures, lighting, quality-of-life improvements, and a 64-bit upgrade scheduled for release in 2027. Following its split from Sega, Relic is now an independent studio, but it remains fully dedicated to the franchise.