Wow, that seems like it’d be a long time for a studio to be locked in for one game.
With AoE4 launching in Oct 2021 and having been announced back in Aug 2017 (per some quick Googling), it seems we might close to that 7th year. Plus, it probably had some development time at Relic before its announcement… so that contract (if it were that long) could soon be over if it isn’t already. Of course, it could be renegotiated or maybe already was, too
Yes, I think it is 10 years (4 of development from 2017 to 2021 and 6 of support from 2021 to 2027), so there would be 5 expansions:
Anniversary Update (2022) (the game has 10 civs)
The Sultans Ascend (2023) (the game has 16 civs)
This year’s dlc (2024) (the game will have 22 civs)
Next year’s dlc (2025) (the game will have 28 civs)
The last dlc (2026) (the game will have 34 civs)
Wow! I didnt know they were adding so many civs so rapidly. That’s crazy! I hope they squeeze in some other non-civ, community-requested updates, as well. Particularly ones that are preventing a subset of AoE’ers from buying the game in the first place.
No matter if there are 8 civs or 34 civs… if the UI, zoom, and some other basic accessibility, gameplay, and graphics options aren’t in the game, some will never buy.
… conjecture after conjecture after strawman after more conjecture…
Where is the evidence or at least a previous game’s contract as a template for all your stipulations?
Major Layoffs will absolutely impact any company’s ability to fulfill contractual obligations.
Also Microsoft in the past of AOE franchise alone has shown no hesitance to drop a studio like a ton of bricks and not continue support of the games (until recently): Aoe3, aoe online and i believe AoM.
Yeah, I was taking the info above and replies to my recent posts with big grains of salt. Things were being stated with a lot of confidence, almost as fact… or as if they had insider info. The road map thru 2026 definitely seemed suspect, but am willing to recognize a detailed road map had maybe been publicized at some point.
I haven’t been vested enough to press for a citing of sources. Just curious on various perspectives, mainly.
Kameho admitted a couple times they were surmising how things might be. However, it did seem like at first they knew some insider info or had read reports by saying with confidence Relic needed to fulfill contractual requirements. (As if they knew they were locked into a contract for a while longer.)
I prefer it when conjecture is clearly stated as such, so rumors aren’t spread. And like it when sources are cited for the more obscure facts we might talk about. But it’s okay… people have different ways of talking. My skepticism keeps me in-line
Yes, I still cheat a little, because I am counting the variants as civs… that is why they add civs so quickly, otherwise with luck we would reach 18 civs by 2026…
Yes, obviously that is discounted…
Yes, that is, AoE 3 support lasted 2 years (2006-2007), AoEO also 2 years (2012-2013) and AoM EE 2 years (2015-2016) before launching to make the DE… the only one DE that died at 3 years old was 1 DE (2018-2020), the rest of the game continue to receive support to this day: 2 DE (2019-2024), 3 DE (2020-2024) and 4 (2021-2024) and of course the same will happen with Retold from 2024…AoEO since 2017 has received support but unofficially…
Yes, obviously it’s all my guess, but I think I’m not so wrong with the road map using common sense…
Which is something we don’t know.
Also the contract might have been made between Microsoft and SEGA so we don’t know how that transfers over to the new owners.
Also we don’t know if the contract is just support and any new DLC requires new contracts or something like that.
The game uses Relics inhouse engine. Everyone else needs to learn how to use that engine first before being able to change or improve things.
There is a lot of unknown variables for us.
We also don’t know what Microsoft expectations are, so we don’t know if AoE4 is considered a s###### or a failure.
The game got it’s price reduced by 1/3 a year after release, that doesn’t sound like a lot of confidence but then the kept talking about how they made the most successful expansion in the history of the series.
A lot of mixed signals here.
Generally speaking (no sources to hand, to “trust me” applies), traditionally, the most sales any game makes is in the weeks following its release. Modern expectations around infinite post-launch support have changed how games are monetised, but the real go / no-go is based on initial sales + a sustainable userbase.
Reducing a game’s price a year after release should not be taken as a negative. If anything, it’s a sensible market correction that more publishers should do (instead of keeping games inflated to RRP for years after release).
Usually games stay their original price and then get very high discounts in sales.
It’s not that rare to see 75% off just one year after release.
This is a marketing tactic to make people think they got a awesome deal.
So it’s very unusual to see games lower the base price of the game so short after release. Most base prices get never officially lowered.
The AoE3 complete collection costs almost twice as much as AoE3DE (the full game unlock without DLC) despite offering less content with way worse graphics and no patches.
They gave us 2 new civs for free and made the game cheaper at the same time. That is obviously a cool thing to happen for us customers but it feels kinda like an apology, which implies they where not happy with the release of AoE4.
But I don’t know the numbers nor does anyone else here.
So we can just guess.
The gaming industry is going through a ruff time right now because it grew beyond what was sustainable in the last 10 years.
Buying Relic would have been the smart decision for Microsoft but I guess they really don’t want to buy more studios now after the got Activision Blizzard.
I’m quite dubious about that claim when the Conquerors exist. I mean, I can see Sultans being the most successful DLC in the DE era but claiming it has been the most successful in the history of AoE is something I’ll need proof of.
Obviously, it was a different era in the gaming industry, and RTS was at its peak but anyone alive during the release of The Conquerors knows how big that expansion was. It sold 221,000 units in the USA alone two months after release.
@FloosWorld what say you.
I don’t have insights in sale numbers but I don’t doubt that Sultans Ascend is the most sold expansion in the franchise.
But yet, that’s easier to achieve than it was for Conquerors as Sultans Ascend is not only digital instead of physical but also much cheaper than Conquerors was at release.
In general, what worried me most is that with the reduction of employees or the change of investor, logo, etc, the development of the game could be greatly affected.
BUT, as many of the comments above already said, it seems that Microsoft is not going to neglect one of its best games: It has not done so with AoE II DE, nor with AoE III DE, and even less so with AoE IV with the As the seasons go by it has only gotten better.
Furthermore, as many of you say, with the good gains of the recent DLC of AoEIV, I don’t think they are going to neglect this game.
On the other hand, talking with a friend and reading some news about videogames, I see that the issue of layoffs is affecting not just SEGA, but the entire video game world, and it involves the low sales of the PS5, the triple AAA sales of the recent years, and the economic situation that cannot afford people to buy or play video games.
Well, I just have to hope for the best for Relic and MIcrosoft so they can deal with this. As long as they keep the game in good condition, and release good expansions, they will always have the support of the fans, and well, also our money, jeje.
Yes, I agree…in the short term, I don’t see the saga in danger, in fact I see it becoming games as a service…monthly events with skins and expansions every six months in the case of AoE 2 and every year for AoE 3, AoE 4 and AoM Retold…even if they release singleplayer only expansions (like with VaV) we will have dlcs much faster and greater profits for the devs…
This conversation is bit off topic?
But since everyone else is chiming in…
I have no problem with anyone doing whatsoever they want as long as it’s not violating common sense human rights. I believe it is a violation of common sense human rights if we’re gonna force any ideology down any person’s throat. If you think or feel something? That’s what YOU think and feel . Once you DEMAND i think and feel it too? Despite my telling you, I DO NOT???!!! i believe that is a demonstration of human rights violation. Everyone should have complete agency to accept or reject EVERYTHING!!
(…not without recourse though…
)
No political discussions will be allowed because we already know how this usually ends up, it is an official forum. The thread is about what it is about and it is not appropriate to go down that way.
The op was going political… with all the ridiculous transphobic stuff they have been spouting…
I wrote that more than 10 days ago, man calm down. You are the one who makes a world of it.
if you no longer stand by your statement then edit it out…
The devs have been deleted enough of your offensive comments of you aggainst me, so to making me step on the confrontation stick is a waste of time. Simply, stop quoting me. Just get on with your life.
Its what you said that is extremely harmful my political statements in response get deleted while your’s remain?