# I'm worried about the future of the Age of Empires franchise **URL:** \ **Category:** III - Discussion\ **Created:** [September 22, 2026, 4:01pm UTC](https://forums.ageofempires.com/t/im-worried-about-the-future-of-the-age-of-empires-franchise/289851 "2026-09-22T16:01:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tomfire123](https://forums.ageofempires.com/user_avatar/forums.ageofempires.com/tomfire123/32/114978_2.png) [@Tomfire123](https://forums.ageofempires.com/u/Tomfire123)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2026, 4:01pm UTC](https://forums.ageofempires.com/t/im-worried-about-the-future-of-the-age-of-empires-franchise/289851/1 "2026-09-22T16:01:40Z")
![Screenshot_20260922_180058_X](https://forums.ageofempires.com/uploads/default/original/3X/4/3/435571166af79b2ce277c60b937b6de5ff60b453.jpeg) Does this mean it will affect the Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition, too? What do you think the future holds, and how could things be better or worse? Source: [https://x.com/charlieINTEL/status/2102398669345480849](https://x.com/charlieINTEL/status/2102398669345480849) ---
**Author:** ![SvenKuechler1](https://forums.ageofempires.com/user_avatar/forums.ageofempires.com/svenkuechler1/32/201563_2.png) [@SvenKuechler1](https://forums.ageofempires.com/u/SvenKuechler1)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2026, 4:02pm UTC](https://forums.ageofempires.com/t/im-worried-about-the-future-of-the-age-of-empires-franchise/289851/2 "2026-09-22T16:02:37Z")
activision? eso no pinta bien ---
**Author:** ![Soaring\_Crow](https://forums.ageofempires.com/user_avatar/forums.ageofempires.com/soaring_crow/32/214096_2.png) [@Soaring\_Crow](https://forums.ageofempires.com/u/Soaring_Crow)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2026, 5:12pm UTC](https://forums.ageofempires.com/t/im-worried-about-the-future-of-the-age-of-empires-franchise/289851/3 "2026-09-22T17:12:39Z")
I would be more worried but 2024-2025 had no Activision influence and it wasn’t a good period for AoE3. I don’t know what their involvement will bring to the table. Microsoft has been doing a lot of layoffs lately, across all their Xbox studios. More worried about that honestly. ---
**Author:** ![Tomfire123](https://forums.ageofempires.com/user_avatar/forums.ageofempires.com/tomfire123/32/114978_2.png) [@Tomfire123](https://forums.ageofempires.com/u/Tomfire123)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2026, 5:16pm UTC](https://forums.ageofempires.com/t/im-worried-about-the-future-of-the-age-of-empires-franchise/289851/4 "2026-09-22T17:16:38Z")
Since Activision owns Age of Empires, they can do whatever they want. Activision hasn’t had a very positive influence on fans. That’s very worrisome. The Activision server is always terrible. You should check the old Call of Duty Steam server. They aren’t very safe and can infect your PC with a virus. Lastly, Activision loves microtransactions. ---
**Author:** ![Tomfire123](https://forums.ageofempires.com/user_avatar/forums.ageofempires.com/tomfire123/32/114978_2.png) [@Tomfire123](https://forums.ageofempires.com/u/Tomfire123)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2026, 5:18pm UTC](https://forums.ageofempires.com/t/im-worried-about-the-future-of-the-age-of-empires-franchise/289851/5 "2026-09-22T17:18:40Z")
> [@Xbox layoffs impacting AoE?](https://forums.ageofempires.com/t/xbox-layoffs-impacting-aoe/287497/5): > > It looks like World’s Edge is now going to be under the Activision umbrella, and some more people are getting fired. Source: [Continuing Our Reset - XBOX Wire](https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2026/09/22/continuing-our-reset/) ---
**Author:** ![mojnx](https://forums.ageofempires.com/user_avatar/forums.ageofempires.com/mojnx/32/201999_2.png) [@mojnx](https://forums.ageofempires.com/u/mojnx)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2026, 5:49pm UTC](https://forums.ageofempires.com/t/im-worried-about-the-future-of-the-age-of-empires-franchise/289851/6 "2026-09-22T17:49:44Z")
I’m really curious to see how this will proceed and just how bad things will get. I don’t have a gut opinion of Activision; I don’t know if anyone does, lol ---
**Author:** ![Tetsuryu](https://forums.ageofempires.com/user_avatar/forums.ageofempires.com/tetsuryu/32/164336_2.png) [@Tetsuryu](https://forums.ageofempires.com/u/Tetsuryu)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2026, 8:25pm UTC](https://forums.ageofempires.com/t/im-worried-about-the-future-of-the-age-of-empires-franchise/289851/7 "2026-09-22T20:25:21Z")
Pour être honnête je me demande si ça aura un impact comme avec WoW bref, je reste méfiant ---
**Author:** ![Tomfire123](https://forums.ageofempires.com/user_avatar/forums.ageofempires.com/tomfire123/32/114978_2.png) [@Tomfire123](https://forums.ageofempires.com/u/Tomfire123)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2026, 9:08pm UTC](https://forums.ageofempires.com/t/im-worried-about-the-future-of-the-age-of-empires-franchise/289851/8 "2026-09-22T21:08:53Z")
> [@Xbox layoffs impacting AoE?](https://forums.ageofempires.com/t/xbox-layoffs-impacting-aoe/287497/11): > > [https://www.vg](https://www.vg) [chartz.com/article/469158/nearly-half-of-age-of-empires-dev-worlds-edge-laid-off/](http://chartz.com/article/469158/nearly-half-of-age-of-empires-dev-worlds-edge-laid-off/) (you need to delete the space in “vg charts”, I couldn’t post the link without that. it’s an interview about the layoffs) can’t say I’m sad about adam isgreen getting fired. he is one of the persons who have publicly made promises about the game that they broke almost immediately he also worked in the windows phone. not sure i need to say anything else but am I ever proud of what our studio team… ---
**Author:** ![Tetsuryu](https://forums.ageofempires.com/user_avatar/forums.ageofempires.com/tetsuryu/32/164336_2.png) [@Tetsuryu](https://forums.ageofempires.com/u/Tetsuryu)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2026, 9:57pm UTC](https://forums.ageofempires.com/t/im-worried-about-the-future-of-the-age-of-empires-franchise/289851/9 "2026-09-22T21:57:56Z")
je rebondis sur les licenciements, même si par le passé je leur en avais voulus à World’s Edge pour AOE3 qui était systématiquement mis de coté, je suis triste pour les gens qui ont été remercié ---
**Author:** ![Soaring\_Crow](https://forums.ageofempires.com/user_avatar/forums.ageofempires.com/soaring_crow/32/214096_2.png) [@Soaring\_Crow](https://forums.ageofempires.com/u/Soaring_Crow)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 1:34am UTC](https://forums.ageofempires.com/t/im-worried-about-the-future-of-the-age-of-empires-franchise/289851/10 "2026-09-23T01:34:22Z")
> [@Tomfire123](#): > > Since Activision owns Age of Empires, they can do whatever they want. Activision hasn’t had a very positive influence on fans. > > That’s very worrisome. > > The Activision server is always terrible. You should check the old Call of Duty Steam server. They aren’t very safe and can infect your PC with a virus. > > Lastly, Activision loves microtransactions. Oh, don’t misunderstand. I do agree with the general sentiment that Activision isn’t great. Activision alongside EA and Ubisoft formed the “unholy trio” of game publisher companies for a reason. I’m still shocked how badly the multiplayer servers in older CoD games were handled. Your IP address could be tracked, and hackers could send viruses to your computer. I would have liked to play CoD MW2 (2009) multiplayer, but hackers were spreading malware through online lobbies so there no way I was getting into that quagmire. I don’t know how they would nickel and dime AoE3 though. More explorer skins? Selling campaign scenarios like how Aoe2 _Victors and Vanquished_ did, but by piecemeal instead of a larger package? …I’ll stop before Activision gets any ideas. ---
**Author:** ![Soaring\_Crow](https://forums.ageofempires.com/user_avatar/forums.ageofempires.com/soaring_crow/32/214096_2.png) [@Soaring\_Crow](https://forums.ageofempires.com/u/Soaring_Crow)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 6:20am UTC](https://forums.ageofempires.com/t/im-worried-about-the-future-of-the-age-of-empires-franchise/289851/11 "2026-09-23T06:20:39Z")
> [@Xbox layoffs impacting AoE?](https://forums.ageofempires.com/t/xbox-layoffs-impacting-aoe/287497/11): > > [https://www.vg](https://www.vg) [chartz.com/article/469158/nearly-half-of-age-of-empires-dev-worlds-edge-laid-off/](http://chartz.com/article/469158/nearly-half-of-age-of-empires-dev-worlds-edge-laid-off/) (you need to delete the space in “vg charts”, I couldn’t post the link without that. it’s an interview about the layoffs) can’t say I’m sad about adam isgreen getting fired. he is one of the persons who have publicly made promises about the game that they broke almost immediately he also worked in the windows phone. not sure i need to say anything else but am I ever proud of what our studio team… Oh damn, I didn’t notice that AoE2 forum thread when I did my initial posts. My worries about the layoffs affecting WE were correct. Almost half the studio… the Xbox restructures are merciless. ---
**Author:** ![PersiasRerising](https://forums.ageofempires.com/user_avatar/forums.ageofempires.com/persiasrerising/32/137537_2.png) [@PersiasRerising](https://forums.ageofempires.com/u/PersiasRerising)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 9:16am UTC](https://forums.ageofempires.com/t/im-worried-about-the-future-of-the-age-of-empires-franchise/289851/12 "2026-09-23T09:16:00Z")
Let’s hope they focus on all games to earn more. If we get all the mayor missing civs (even as stand alone DLCs) and the missing regions as map pack DLCs plus some more cosmetics DLCs, I would be happy. The worst case would be only the cash cows get more DLCs and then we would be dead here. Let’s hope this doesn’t happen. ---
**Author:** ![NotOnline123134](https://forums.ageofempires.com/user_avatar/forums.ageofempires.com/notonline123134/32/198008_2.png) [@NotOnline123134](https://forums.ageofempires.com/u/NotOnline123134)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 10:00am UTC](https://forums.ageofempires.com/t/im-worried-about-the-future-of-the-age-of-empires-franchise/289851/13 "2026-09-23T10:00:57Z")
Out of every single potential umbrella holders, activision (saly i am not allowed to fully name them as the normal gaming community does) is the absolut worst case scenario for: Nickle and diming, Quality. QA ---
**Author:** ![AnnaPulamoor](https://forums.ageofempires.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/ce73a5/32.png) [@AnnaPulamoor](https://forums.ageofempires.com/u/AnnaPulamoor)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 10:43am UTC](https://forums.ageofempires.com/t/im-worried-about-the-future-of-the-age-of-empires-franchise/289851/14 "2026-09-23T10:43:59Z")
As a Chinese internet user, I’m actually quite optimistic about Age of Empires III. To be blunt, I think the decision to stop major development on Age of Empires III was also, in a way, an attempt to make room for Age of Empires IV as the new generation of the series. The idea seemed to be that players of AoE IV would carry forward the future that AoE II had built. But from my perspective, that handoff didn’t really work out. In my eyes, things like the Mali Empire, variant civilizations, and now the Yue Fei campaign against the Jin dynasty in Age of Empires IV were all opportunities to attract and retain players, but the results have been rather disappointing. Meanwhile, the Age of Empires III team seems to have avoided some of these problems. They listened to what players wanted, and before another situation like this could develop, they released things like the standalone modes, no-card-deck mode, and new DLCs. Honestly, in the Chinese internet and workplace culture I’m familiar with, this kind of thing could easily be described as “邀功” — basically, doing things in a way that makes sure you can point to them as achievements later. I know that’s a pretty harsh way to put it, and it probably doesn’t sound very nice, but that’s genuinely how I’ve perceived it from what I’ve observed. ---
**Author:** ![AnnaPulamoor](https://forums.ageofempires.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/ce73a5/32.png) [@AnnaPulamoor](https://forums.ageofempires.com/u/AnnaPulamoor)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 10:44am UTC](https://forums.ageofempires.com/t/im-worried-about-the-future-of-the-age-of-empires-franchise/289851/15 "2026-09-23T10:44:57Z")
Basically, everyone else is steadily getting worse, and while you haven’t really produced any impressive results yourself, at least you look more serious and more willing to put in the effort than the other two. And somehow, that alone becomes something you can take credit for. ---
**Author:** ![Kingfisher1787](https://forums.ageofempires.com/user_avatar/forums.ageofempires.com/kingfisher1787/32/142926_2.png) [@Kingfisher1787](https://forums.ageofempires.com/u/Kingfisher1787)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 11:12am UTC](https://forums.ageofempires.com/t/im-worried-about-the-future-of-the-age-of-empires-franchise/289851/16 "2026-09-23T11:12:02Z")
> [@Tomfire123](#): > > They aren’t very safe and can infect your PC with a virus. That seems potentially game killing… ---
**Author:** ![MatM1996](https://forums.ageofempires.com/user_avatar/forums.ageofempires.com/matm1996/32/29566_2.png) [@MatM1996](https://forums.ageofempires.com/u/MatM1996)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 11:56am UTC](https://forums.ageofempires.com/t/im-worried-about-the-future-of-the-age-of-empires-franchise/289851/17 "2026-09-23T11:56:31Z")
> [@SvenKuechler1](#): > > activision? eso no pinta bien Saluden a la saga que se va…hola battle pass y packs de skins por todo…además de skins de Wallace, Juana de Arco, Morgan, Lizzie y Amelia para el Warzone…🙄 ---
**Author:** ![Soaring\_Crow](https://forums.ageofempires.com/user_avatar/forums.ageofempires.com/soaring_crow/32/214096_2.png) [@Soaring\_Crow](https://forums.ageofempires.com/u/Soaring_Crow)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 5:45pm UTC](https://forums.ageofempires.com/t/im-worried-about-the-future-of-the-age-of-empires-franchise/289851/18 "2026-09-23T17:45:05Z")
You want to know something regarding the Activision takeovers? With this restructuring, Halo Studios (formerly 343 Industries) will no longer handle the Halo series, and the franchise will be going to an Activision team instead. Many people are actually celebrating this. Like how bad does a game studio has to be for Activision to be seen as an improvement by people? Personally, I got to quote the Arbiter on this: "We trade one villain for another…” ---
**Author:** ![GorbMort](https://forums.ageofempires.com/user_avatar/forums.ageofempires.com/gorbmort/32/29103_2.png) [@GorbMort](https://forums.ageofempires.com/u/GorbMort)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 6:35pm UTC](https://forums.ageofempires.com/t/im-worried-about-the-future-of-the-age-of-empires-franchise/289851/19 "2026-09-23T18:35:15Z")
I definitely think people are expecting the grass to be greener. I wish them luck, but I’m a fair bit more cautious than that. Laying off expertise never tends to work well, and for any faults people want to level at 343, it’s not like the original Halo team exists anymore either. Yet another new studio is, by any measure, another gamble. ---
**Author:** ![PersiasRerising](https://forums.ageofempires.com/user_avatar/forums.ageofempires.com/persiasrerising/32/137537_2.png) [@PersiasRerising](https://forums.ageofempires.com/u/PersiasRerising)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 6:51pm UTC](https://forums.ageofempires.com/t/im-worried-about-the-future-of-the-age-of-empires-franchise/289851/20 "2026-09-23T18:51:52Z")
So Microsoft put worlds edge under Activision because I’m general they are not happy with the margins of Xbox. Small games, even if they earn, are in danger of the DLCs don’t have a high margin. I see the biggest risk at AOM because it has the lowest number of players. Right after that comes aoe3. I really hope the last DLC sold well and it was not the last one. The Workman is not complete and we are missing Mayor civs (Persia, Siam, Morocco, …) On the other hand, aoe3 is really easy to monetize. Cosmetic DLCs like Explorer skins, map packs, single civ DLCs. There are definitely options. However, it will definitely stop if the margin isn’t high enough. Maybe a higher DLC price would help, but it’s on us to keep the game alive. [Next page](https://forums.ageofempires.com/t/im-worried-about-the-future-of-the-age-of-empires-franchise/289851.md?page=2)