They tend to keep things close to the chest, especially DLC if 3DE is anything to go by. As far as roadmaps are concerned they’ve been hot and cold with those as well, mostly cold. WE need to really upgrade their comms department because it’s pretty atrocious for all the games, well besides maybe 2DE.
Sometimes I think people express what they WANT to happen rather than what the most likely outcome is. AoEIV is doing just fine and I see no reason to believe short of lack of proper communication the game is being shelved. It sold well, got good reviews, and has a stable playerbase. I see no reason why Microsoft would give up on it right now.
Look, I understand why some people are disappointed with AoEIV (I being one of them) but the difference is I’d like the game to reach it’s potential even if it isn’t for me and perhaps never will be. I want WE to take their time with the next iteration instead of rushing into a game with the goal of trying to save the franchise.
Let AoEIV cook.
It’s unfortunate the cooking time is taking so long though.
All of this assuming and worrying could stop if only they improved on their communication. The only thing that gives me a small hope atm, is that they are working on AoEIV for consoles.
I’ve a hard time believing that they work on it, only to stop development on PC & future updates when they release the game on another platform. Also, the same logic that some people have to assume AoEIV is dead, is then applied on all other AoE games.
They all have similar active player base etc., and then it should be applied to those as well.
I really think it’s a big wasted opportunity if they don’t announce anything related to the Xbox release for AoEIV at Gamescom. Talk about a perfect marketing move.
Exactly. They’re not gonna go through all the effort of porting the game to Xbox only to stop supporting thereafter.
The absence of any info about WE being a Gamescom is indeed strange and perhaps concerning. However, it is entirely possible there are plans for an AoE event later in the year where announcements will be made. Or maybe they will be there and for whatever reason are not advertised.
Yes, if they are trying to hide the fact that they shuttered development, then they will need to be very careful about how they speak.
If they are actually making new civs, they don’t need to be careful at all — they could just say “we are making new civs.”
That they are dancing around the issue is itself noteworthy.
And for those who aren’t comfortable with this assessment, take solace: it would be super easy for me to be proven wrong. They could simply announce new civs.
And if they’re working on other content? There are people here, who have been here for a while, including yourself, for whom civs will do absolutely nothing to address specific issues they have preventing them from playing the game.
Perhaps, but were they still developing new civs, we would expect roadmaps, announcements, and appearances at gamescom. Certainly it’s possible that they are taking a year off of new civs and will release new ones in 2024 — nobody here can rule that stuff out. But that would certainly be unprecedented around here. I just don’t believe it. I believe they cancelled full development of the game and haven’t told us yet.
I get what you mean but them working on getting AoEIV out for Xbox must mean something, or else it doesn’t make any sense. Best case scenario we get roadmap + console release + news for AoEIV and worst is nothing at Gamescom. Time will tell.
You all are welcome to resent me for my fear mongering. It comes from a place of love. And though I most definitely do not love aoe4, its players are still my people. If those who presently develop this franchise are going to string along the playerbase while development has stopped, I want to ferret out the truth and expose it so none of my people get any more disappointed than necessary.
I hope for your sakes that aoe4 keeps churning out civs. I won’t play them, but I know you will. And you are my people.
But if development has truly stopped (or has been paused), and those presently entrusted with helming our franchise cannot bring themselves to tell it to us straight, then we should not suffer it gladly.
But if not, they could very easily relieve us of this concern and tell us they are making new civs.
And yet here we are, living in their radio silence left to cannibalize each other.
Coming from games that offered the complete package already at release I have to say the mentality of many AoE players is quite confusing to me. If you have a game that perfectly tackels replayability you can play that game years or even decades without ever feeling worn out. I’ve played some RTS for years in SP and campaign mode and it never bored me.
I have no idea if there will be new civs or not but I seriously do not get the fuss about it. If the base game is good you can play it for years without getting bored. No real demand for new content, apart from that at this stage the community should able to create new content on their own. Maybe devs should fix the scenario editor so that it becomes more user friendly.
the game is not good, unfortunatley. Campaigns are kind hollow and the skirmish AI is horrible, it doesnt offer any challenge - to the point it need handicap to be harder;
as you already said, the scenario editor is not that friendly. Player made content is great to keep a game alive.
So, no new content will put it in a hard position in face of other games. AOE 2 and 3 each have their a loyal playerbase, so they could miss new content without much damage. AOE3, for example, is in a one year streak of no new DLCs, only patches and some reworks, yet the player count is stable.
its over gorb. aoe 4 got hit and some of this was based of the performance of coh3 and aoe 4. The lay off actually made the development slower and worse.
It also means the console release that will probably come for Season 6 at the 2nd anniversary and beyond as that’s the state of the most recent road map.
The campaign thing is your opinion. Many players liked the campaign mode with a documentary extra.
AoE4 has a loyal playerbase already, but the vast majority are not on this subforum (nor do they want to be, seeing the trending threads).
And I am not going to continue saying why it has not been ensured that this forum is for feedback and that loyal players feel comfortable here because all this burns.
AOE3 doesnt need to fear any new RTS though. Also, AOE$ had a price fix in some countries one year ago, follow-up by a price drop in october. While the price fix is, well, a fix, lowering in $ the cost in just one year isnt a good sign.
Well, that’s their opinion ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Campaigns felt like a lot of single maps badly tied together. Its more a “top events” than a “story”.
The videos in-between are just a double blade eye-candy thing. Would be much better if it were all 3D/drawing animation. As they’ve been made, it hardly will justify the expenses for new campaigns (and the videos didnt tell much anyways, just fancy shots). The unlocked documentaries are cool, but, again, too expensive to what it delivers, would be better to invest that money in other things. If even something cheap like Malian and Ottomans masteries had only 1/3 of fun facts than OG civs, no way new campaigns will be made (at least not like the four we already have).
Im sure it does, like every other game that offers replayability. There are players who refuse to leave AOE2 HD in face of 2DE, even with computers that allow them to do it.