I’ve been watching everything in Gamescom so far, not much new information has dropped for anything Age related. So far they’ve been focused on the launch of AoM Retold and AoE Mobile, their booth is a testament to that. However, this is the event that we normally get big information drops, and it’s only day 1.
My prediction for AoE IV is that we will get information on the next patch by the end of the week, but we may not see anything related to its expansion until at least December, maybe even as late as February. I am also expecting the expansion to have less content than The Sultan’s Ascend. We are likely entering a lull period for the game.
The past trends, and their influence on my prediction
First, we have the timeline for the Anniversary Edition of AoE IV, the first big update that added two civilizations (among many other things). The initial announcement was given at Gamescom 2022 on August 22, they had some small content drops throughout October, finally launching the Anniversary Edition on October 25.
A period of 64 days, from announcement to launch.
Then looking at the timeline for The Sultan’s Ascend DLC, they announced it on August 23, released the first official teaser trailer 3 weeks later on September 19, then launched on November 14.
A period of 83 days, from announcement to launch. Notably, 27 days from the soft announcement during Gamescom 2023 to the first trailer in September.
Some additional information:
The release of the Anniversary Edition update, October 25 2022, is when they first announced the remaster of AoM as well as AoE Mobile. Both of these titles are being released by the end of this year, AoM Retold in September 4 2024 and AoE Mobile on October 17 2024. That is a period of 2 years from initial announcement to release.
Gamescom 2023 is also when they debuted the release of AoE IV Console edition, creating a natural segue into a soft release of DLC content. This could explain why we received information on it approx 19 days earlier than the Anniversary edition.
Why December for AoE IV DLC announcement
The reason for that is the coinciding release of AoM Retold in September and AoE Mobile in October. Both of these games are going to take the focus of the fanbase… Seeing as we tend to share players between titles. You can see the dip in player engagement in one game when DLC releases in another. It is not very significant, but from a business angle, it is more reasonable for their product’s future to spread the release of content. We are a fanbase that totals in approx 50k concurrent players, after all.
We also know that Relic has gone through a significant restructuring for the past year or so. A lot of what I’ve seen in developer commentary for this year has been from World’s Edge. There are a multitude of studios that manage this project, and I really think it’s unreasonable to expect them to abandon this game considering the 20 years of intermittent support for past titles. This is one of the eternal RTS franchises… even if it loses official support we will more than likely see fans pick up the torch, something that can be observed with AoE Online.
World’s Edge taking the lead on a lot of areas signals to me that they may be diverting attention from their other projects. Since the development of AoE relies partially on them, we are likely to see a change in the release tempo of DLC across the franchise.
Get to it already, why December?
Looking at the patch notes from July 2024, we can see that they mentioned having something to look forward to in Spring 2025. Since we have yet to see what will be added this year, I see it as a signal for a larger content drop, likely DLC. Spring ranges from March 20 to June 20. Given the pacing of past announcements, we can expect at least 60 days prior to launch, to as far as 90 days. I believe they may release small pieces of information outside of this range, but it is to their benefit to leave as much as 3 months prior to the release of the DLC.
With a potential release in March, I would expect an announcement as early as December.
Other information and rumors
So, there’s been some hubbub in the AoE 2 subforum. Steamdb is tracking an unnamed, unannounced, dlc being added. It could potentially coincide with the anniversary this year. With that in mind, we could be hearing other things during that announcement! This could be more information about AoE 3 content, or it could even be a content drop for things on AoE 4.
Closing statement
Gamescom 2024 has only just begun. We’ve seen Age of Mythology featured during the opening ceremony, and just had a good 20 minutes on the first day’s livestream. The Age booth at gamescom has been seeing a lot of engagement from crowds. I hope we hear more about other titles in the franchise, though it is likely to be side commentary during interviews. Even so, what’s good for AoM is ultimately good for AoE.
With everything that is happening for the Age franchise I think we have a lot to look forward to. AoM Retold is the last title to be remastered. What this means is that all future developments for the series will be unseen content, completely new entries, or alterations on existing metas to refresh gameplay.
We have more players engaged across every title than we have seen in quite some time for the series. The mobile market has access to more people, and as a result of that may lead to a boost in people playing the console/pc versions. We will also have 3 games that feature cross platform gameplay, between console and PC, and the future of gaming seems to point to people streaming gameplay from their device to their screens.
I have a lot of hope for this game. One of the things building that is their success being self evident.
Whether you enjoy one game over another, or play everything in the franchise, there is something here for you. I’m excited to see what comes next to my favorite RTS series.