Total War developer Creative Assembly is hiring a designer for “a new IP title within the Total War Universe”, and it sounds like it might be a bit of an experiment.

Under essential skills, “experience working on mobile, puzzle, CCG, virtual board game or similar titles” is listed, while “experience of in-game economy design” is desirable. The post also says “you will be working on an innovative Total War title”, also described as “unique”, on a “small agile development team”.

That’s all we know for now so we’re speculating here, but this definitely doesn’t sound like any of the Total War projects we know about. “New IP” rules out Three Kingdoms, Warhammer III, or new content for any existing games. It also rules out Total War: Arena, or else we might guess at a mobile port or CCG adaptation for Total War’s most unorthodox game to date.

It’s unlikely to be another Total War Saga, simply because the requirements – which you can read in the job post here – point to something far less conventional.

So what could it be? A mobile game, perhaps with a Steam port, with an economy powering something tradeable like card drops, would seem to fit the bill. A small, agile team, able to quickly tune the design in line with testing feedback, would seem a sensible way to keep costs low and manage risk.

Anyway, before you panic, let’s remember that Total War: Arena is actually pretty good right now. If you’re determined that the apparently unstoppable strategy series should remain as it is, here’s a reminder of the Total War: Three Kingdoms release date (spring next year), along with factions confirmed so far, gameplay details, trailers to watch, and everything else we know about the next release.