Age of Empires followers know that getting a model of the sport on cell has been a protracted battle. Nevertheless, a brand new contender is about to be launched quickly. World’s Edge has unveiled new particulars for the upcoming Age of Empires Cell at its “New 12 months, New Age” occasion on Friday, and the sport seems to include most of what you’d get within the common console or PC model.
The free-to-play sport is being developed by Tencent-owned TiMi Studio Group, which labored on Name of Responsibility Cell with Activision, together with the studio World’s Edge, which is owned by Xbox. Age of Empires Cell is now obtainable for pre-registration on iOS and Android globally. There’s no phrase on a launch date but (though the iOS web page says it’s anticipated on Aug. 19) however it’s anticipated to launch later in 2024.
The announcement claims that Age of Empires Cell will replicate a variety of the gameplay with which followers are acquainted, like fast-paced fight, real-time technique, base-building, and on-line PvP multiplayer, however with controls which are optimized for cell gadgets, Gamers will have the ability to make groups with quite a lot of well-known leaders from historical past and throughout the Age of Empires franchise, like Julius Caesar, King Arthur, Hannibal, Joan of Arc, Cleopatra, and extra. Builders promise gamers will have the ability to battle it out with tons of different folks on-line — identical to they’d within the common variations (though they’ll additionally play solo).
“We grew up taking part in Age of Empires on our PCs and consider we will provide a brand new however equally thrilling expertise for cell gamers,” Brayden Fan, a normal supervisor for TiMi, mentioned in a press launch.
This isn’t the primary time Microsoft has tried to launch a cell model of the sport. Again in June 2013, Microsoft was attempting its hand at cell sport improvement, with one in all its first initiatives being an Age of Empires cell sport. The IP was licensed out to KLabGames, which might develop a free-to-play model for iOS and Android (and later for Home windows Cellphone, when you actually need to date the announcement). This became Age of Empires: World Domination, which was launched in December 2015, however received shut down in November 2016 — so it didn’t even final a 12 months.
Microsoft had additionally tried a few instances to make a free-to-play model of Age of Empires. First, there was Age of Empires On-line, an MMO real-time technique sport that was launched in 2011. It was free to obtain however featured premium content material that wasn’t pretty priced. This, mixed with the dearth of content material obtainable normally, made the sport unsustainable. Microsoft Studios govt producer Kevin Perry mentioned at a GDC speak in 2013 that it was “an okay sport however with a foul free-to-play enterprise mannequin,” so it didn’t final lengthy both. There was additionally Age of Empires: Fort Siege from 2014, which was a tower protection sport developed particularly for touchscreens on Home windows 8.1 and Home windows Cellphone, though it got here to Android and iOS later. It was additionally free-to-play with microtransactions. That one lasted slightly longer than the others, however it was nonetheless shut down in 2019.
![A number of units attacking a central location in Age of Empires Mobile. The units are represented with bubbles that look to be easy to tap. There’s also a menu bar at the top that show your resources.](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/QQIOTmtEiSUNLtZM86IpbR-XfFE=/0x0:2208x1242/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:2208x1242):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25299597/age_of_empires_mobile_UI.jpg)
Picture: World’s Edge/Xbox Recreation Studios
There’s presently a China-only cell sport out on Android known as Return to Empire, which was additionally developed by TiMi Studio. Age of Empires Cell will probably be just like the Chinese language model, however in an announcement to Polygon, Fan mentioned that these are completely different video games for various audiences, and that the newer title can have World’s Edge’s direct involvement; Return to Empire doesn’t.
“Age of Empires Cell will provide new ideas and designs, together with extra narrative, single-player content material, extra components from the unique Age of Empires franchise, an improved new participant expertise, and appreciable variations in its core gameplay that we anticipate will maintain international gamers engaged for a very long time to return,” he mentioned. “We additionally will probably be creating bespoke in-game actions and occasions for gamers so that they really feel like the sport is an efficient match for his or her native playstyles and preferences.”
Microsoft’s cell technique these days has been targeted on making cloud gaming viable on smartphones and tablets. Nevertheless, with the acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Microsoft can now use the assets from King (builders of Sweet Crush Saga), ZeniMax, and different studios to bolster that finish of its portfolio. So with new assets, a protracted historical past of free-to-play failures, and the involvement of a studio with cell improvement successes, possibly Age of Empires Cell will stick this time.