Creative Assembly is building controller support for Total War: Warhammer 40,000 alongside the game’s battle system, and battle product owner Dave Petry says the result already works in real-time battles. The studio is not treating gamepad input as a late concession or accepting the idea that a real-time strategy game cannot accommodate it.
Speaking with TechRadar at Gamescom, Petry called that supposed incompatibility a myth and said the team had reached something that “really does work.” Developing the controls at the same time as the battles has given Creative Assembly room to account for gamepad input from the beginning instead of retrofitting it onto an existing design.
'We're all keen to keep evolving' — Creative Assembly says Total War: Warhammer 40,000's controller support was developed alongside the game's battle system and doesn't believe the 'myth' that a gamepad can't work with RTS games
byu/Willing_Activity_855 inpcgaming
Petry also described a controller as another way to play and an accessibility tool for people who prefer it, rather than something intended only for console players. Creative Assembly has examples to study, including Halo Wars 2, although its simpler design makes controller support easier to implement.
Age of Empires 2 faced a tougher problem on Xbox. Its solution included automated villagers that could gather resources and build farms according to preset preferences, reducing the micromanagement required when players were using twin sticks. Total War: Warhammer 40,000 has a different structural advantage because its building and technology trees remain part of the turn-based campaign, while only the battles take place in real time.
Keeping those systems separate means the controller can focus on the battlefield without also asking players to manage every layer of a traditional real-time strategy economy. Battles will still have demanding moments, particularly when several units need attention at once or when a precise movement order could decide whether a formation holds together.
Creative Assembly plans to keep evolving the system as development continues, with Petry saying the team is proud of how far the technical side has come. Controller support is therefore being shaped alongside the game’s central combat problems, not added after the interface has already made its assumptions.
Total War: Warhammer 40,000 is planned for 2027 and is being built as one expanding sandbox rather than a trilogy. A gamepad will not remove the complexity from a large-scale Total War battle, but Creative Assembly is trying to make sure the interface does not become the first enemy players have to defeat.
Would you trust controller support for the finer parts of a Total War battle, or would you still reach for a mouse and keyboard? Share your view in the comments, and follow us on X, Bluesky, YouTube, Instagram, Steam, and Telegram.
Total War: Warhammer 40,000
Developed by The Creative Assembly
