Microsoft Studios
Today’s Age of Empires live stream gave us a slew of news about the future of the franchise and gave us a closer look at Age of Empires: Definitive Edition. The Definitive Edition was given a definitive release date of October 19, 2017.
Near the end of the stream we were given some big news. The first bit of news is that Age of Empires 2 and Age of Empires 3 are both receiving Definitive Editions for Windows 10. We’re a bit unclear on how that will work with Age of Empires 2 given it has the HD edition available on Steam and it still receives updates with regularity.
The second bit of news caught many fans by surprise and it was the announcement of Age of Empires 4. The Age of Empires series hasn’t received a mainline entry since 2005 and with the closure of Ensemble Studios, the future of the franchise going forward looked pretty bleak.
WOLOLOLO! Age is back and full force! Relic and Microsoft give you Age of Empires 4!
Relic Entertainment, best known as the developers of the Company of Heroes series, is teaming up with Microsoft to bring fans Age of Empires 4. The title will be a Windows 10 exclusive much like Age of Empires: Definitive Edition and no news was announced regarding an Xbox One version. This shouldn’t be too much of a surprise to fans as Age of Empires is a lot more complex than Halo Wars, an RTS developed with consoles in mind.
There’s not a whole lot else to share about the game outside of whose making it and the fact that it exists. A trailer was shown to close out the live stream but no release date was attached. As a result, we don’t know how far along in development the game actually is, or if it has even started. If we had to guess a release date, we’d imagine it’d be some time next year or even in 2019.
The important thing is that after 12 years, Age of Empires 4 is real and it is coming.