I used to play Age 3 briefly as a kid and one thing I really loved was not even the gameplay, but fiddling around with the home screens and building decks. Maybe playing the occasional game against the AI.
This sounds perfect for me - though I have no idea what the home screens are like in the DE (or the free version?). If nothing else, it’ll scratch the very small itch of wanting to play a bit of Age 3 I’ve had since I was a kid, without needing to fully commit to the purchase.
This also sounds like the system AoE2:HD had, which was great for new players to test out new civs. I didn’t want to buy the DLCs back then, but having tried new civs one in particular then made me get all the HD DLCs too. I hope Age 3 will have similar success with the rotation!
Lemme tell you why:
A lot of Chinese “game news” short video makers post clickbait titles like “AOE3 is now free! Those who purchased it are backstabbed!”
And that causes some people who bought the game while ago but didn’t follow it to come and leave a negative review because they are backstabbed.
XD
Edit: but those do have a positive impact though you can see number of players still growing now and it is evening in China.
I am Chinese, the truth is just like what @ArrivedLeader22 said. Because many video channel owners who usually promote steam discounts and free games have promoted the “free” of Age of Empires 3 on a large scale, and described it as a “betrayal” to game holders,Therefore, a large number of players who don’t know the truth go to steam to vent their anger. Despite the efforts of some Chinese Age of Empires 3 players to explain, but due to the influence of those few videos, it still caused this very regrettable situation.
I’m guessing a lot of them are aoe2 and aoe4 players that did want to give aoe3 a try but didn’t want to pay. Assuming we keep at least 20% of this growth long term, it would still double the player base.
Thanks for all the effort and promotion in our beloved AOE3
I feel that revamped Art of War challenges and in-deep tutorials are pretty much needed for new players
Thank you so much!
Did they forget to localise the news on how the Free to Play works?
Because I think they did indeed not do that. All the news are just in English.
So it’s understandable that some people might be confused. A large part of the AoE3DE player base does not speak English (not just Chinese people).
J’ai regardé ma page steam à propos d’AOE3 DE, ce que je peux dire c’est que la langue utilisé est bien l’anglais et non le français alors que steam est en français.
personally i’d like this particular idea implemented for all currently supported aoes, i think WE has that in plan almost without a doubt, its too good not to make use of
