https://www.linkedin.com/in/noble-smith-27672715/
This Is a great new. He wrote really good books. So much experience on ancient and medieval history.
So i expect the next DLC or next game Will be set in ancient times
AOE 4 Is going to be a AAAA game
Oh … that’s cool, the guy has experience.
Now it’s a curiosity … he also has a lot of knowledge about the books: The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.
Could it be that sometime in the future, maybe 6 or 8 years from now, we could be seeing an Age of Empires focused entirely on the history of “Middle Earth”, where we would come battles of castles, sieges, Elves, Dragons, Goblins, Dwarves, Orcs, Mages, and so on.
It would be amazing, I would buy in advance. 
I made a thread about this a long time ago:
Maybe not LOTR - battle for the middle earth is still around (kinda) - but maybe a more generic fantasy setting.
Maybe they are thinking of doing the same Creative Assembly did? The Warhammer Total War games sold well, making medieval fantasy look like where money’s at.
But if they ever do that, i wouldn’t play even if the game was free.
@IamDalv is the real old leaker here in the forum. He has leaked so much employee info they have fired him, and he hangs out here 
Well, my speculation is that after AoE4 they will make an AoM2 as well. Probably Noble Smith is already putting the narrative foundations on it.
That’s my dream since AoM came out long time ago!
The long awaited sequel.