This release is 3yo (and the game itself is just a remaster), far beyond the lifespan of post-launch support for the vast majority of ‘non-game as a service’ titles.
3DE received multiple DLCs, including a couple of bigger expansions, at this point anything besides cosmetics or some event would be a surprise.
Nothing in the last update hints more substantial content, you really should manage expectations:
What’s on the Horizon?
COMING UP…
More balance changes, more bug fixes, and more fun!
I’d much rather see them receive a green light to do a bigger product, maybe a separate new game, AoE spinoff, even AoM remake. An unnumbered, sp-focused sequel to 3DE would be great, but the engine is an issue. This one has a busted-cumbersome scenario editor (for players, and clearly developers too) and apparently, AI can’t be improved, and that makes it a dead end in the long run. Even here in 3DE these are massive issues.
Both 2DE and IV will continue to be focused on multiplayer, especially IV which is super poor content-wise compared to 2DE. Making another AoE seriously focused on MP is very counterproductive and splitting a limited multi playerbase is unwise and makes games compete with each other within the same brand.
Both older players and ones wanting a 3D competitive RTS already are serviced, but the vast majority of potential customers, single-player enthusiasts, are underserviced by the latest entry and it would be sensible to just give it a break and not try to desperately create yet another MP scene within the AoE brand. Unless they’d stumble upon a great idea, that would revolutionize the genre and elevate RTS even a step closer MP modern military shooters or BRs.
The success of almost every single 4X, grand strategy, city builders, survival RTS games and other strategy subgenres should be telling enough.
MP is fine, especially coop, but trying to refurbish the same old core design, unchanged since… well, Age of Empires I, is not a good way forward. Genre needs new modes, new skirmish designs, new persistent, bigger game worlds, longer and deeper campaigns, anything.
Things were so stale that moba concept exploded. Creating new AoE with the same design is like trying to create another arena FPS shooter, while people moved on to other genre styles many years ago. RTS needs more blood and a popularity spike, and this style of MP is far from being fresh, as it was in the late 1990s. And people raised on it, already have multiple choices.
There’s so much potential in AoE III that you could use it and create few separate, different strategies. But it’s constrained by that old design, and grows only in width, but no depth.
Not trying to compare apples and oranges, but there’s a reason why now ~2900 play 3DE, and 17000 Cities: Skylines, or 16900 Civilization V.
People acting like everything is fine, and just demanding more and more bloat (‘add obscure civ XYZ!!’) are just tone deaf. If these things were selling good, devs wouldn’t stop releasing them.
AoE deserves to be on the lips of everyone and dominate charts on Steam, and not cling to demands of veterans from a bygone era.
