Good news to fans of the Age of Empires franchise! Microsoft has recently announced at their E3 Conference that the critically-acclaimed Age of Empires II will be getting a remaster this year. Titled Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition, the remaster will feature 4K graphics, remastered audio, and brand-new, never-before-seen content in the form of campaigns, tutorial levels, and challenges. However, the good news doesn’t stop there, because Microsoft has also committed a brand-new game studio dedicated to the development of the Age of Empires franchise.
In a blog post on the official Xbox website, Microsoft devs were proud to share that they had acquired Psychonauts developer Double Fine Productions. This acquisition marks the 15th developer to join Xbox Game Studios, including the newly-founded Age of Empires studio under the leadership of Shannon Loftis. In the same article, Microsoft noted the following statement regarding the new appointment:
We are committing more resources and dedicated leadership to the Age of Empires franchise to ensure that its legacy on PC continues in service of the passionate community of faithful fans.
Source: Xbox News
Now, Age of Empires IV is already under development at Relic Entertainment, and while development is said to be good, we have a feeling that the newly-created Age of Empires Studio will have a hand at getting Age of Empires IV polished and ready for publishing. However, with a dedicated studio putting in the hours and the resources into the Age of Empires franchise, we can expect big things to happen in the real-time strategy scene. There’s a lot of hype going around about Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition, but with an entire studio manning the Age of Empires franchise, we have a feeling that Microsoft is just getting warmed up.
The Age of Empires franchise is one of the oldest real-time strategy franchises in gaming history. The first title in the franchise, Age of Empires, came out in 1997. Two years later in 1999, the follow-up Age of Empires II was released, which would become one of the most played real-time strategy games ever made - a legacy that it has kept for over two decades well into 2019.
