To be fair The Conquerors is not a DLC, it is an expansion, so they arent counting it maybe.
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I think some people read too much into this. Simply put, the Sultan DLC is currently the best-selling expansion/DLC in Age of Empires history.
Itâs not rocket science; one had limited physical copies only, and the latter has digitally-only copies with infinite availability and a cheaper price. I have a hard time seeing them lying about this, and when you consider all of this, it makes sense.
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Iâm going to guess neither of you were very old or around when Aoe2 came out. And have no idea the cultural footprint it made which is why nostalgia for the game continues to this day. Back in the day, us dinosaurs had to yes actually move our bipedal bodies to a physical location, look at real physical copies, and then decide which one. And in 2000 there was really 2 choices- starcraft and age of conquerors. RTS was at a high for several reasons (limited multiplayer, computer limitations and at the time massive scope). Starcraft was cooler but how many parents went for the hicks in space vs the historical game for their kids? You ever seen the numbers on old esports events, before esports were even a thing really? bigger than most of today. Aoe2 was everywhere, in schools in offices and so many homes. More people watched aoe2 than any aoe since, and while aoe2 HD sold more than aoe2 legacy it took almost a decade and then aoe2 DE. And god knows the amount of aoee2 bootleg or passed down disks. Aoe2 will always be a giant in proportion to its other aoe titles. And yet somehow, aoe4 a game thats⊠done ok at best suddenly outsold the aoc expansion? On of the best selling expansions of all time?
Today, RTS is a vestige of that glory. Aoe4 sold less than aoe2 OG by every available metric. And yet, somehow, the expansion to a game that crashed and did not perform extremely well aoe4 sold more than this. By what metric? Again, people keep saying lie and I think thatâs a very childlike view if you are critical of said statement. Iâm sure they included things like xbox pass- if someone has viewed aoe4 essentially for free and plays it once, did they sell a copy? If I am given the dlc in a bundle, did I pay for a copy the same way? If I was on epic game store, did I buy a copy? There are many ways they can add numbers (and many companies do, CA/EA/microsoft all include these in their marketing claims) that inflate the number but are not the same as actually owning a copy of said content.
Compound this with the fact they, like almost every major gaming company now, hide their sales from the public and 3rd party investigation is often the only metric viewable itâs easy to be suspicious and call them. Again, if they wanted to be transparent, they just had to share the numbers. Yet, despite such a claim being positive, they did not. Again, while for some this might be the first time they are hearing this this sentiment is far more common in aoe2 and 3 even 4 community. Few believe this claim. Am I saying its impossible? No, but Iâm doubting as many people purchased a copy as much as AoC was purchased.
If you want to believe this claim at face value thatâs fine, but choosing belief over logic and empirical data available is a choice not proof. And calling people liars (not you Floos) without any actual evidence to the contrary for it makes those seem naive, not the ones questioning
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I was old enough to experience the launch of AoE II back in the day, and I still believe the developers when they say the Sultan DLC is the best-selling expansion in the franchise. It doesnât make AoE II bad; it just means the Sultan DLC sold more than any other to this day.
We can never truly know, due to their not releasing the numbers, but I donât see them lying about it. Furthermore, it makes sense that it could be the most-sold expansion, being all digital and infinitely reproducible.
I searched online, and the Conquerors expansion sold 800,000 copies in the U.S. (Source: Wikipedia). Letâs say that those numbers are true; this was a big number for its time. It is not a problem selling more copies today, given how easy it is to obtain and its positive reception. The Sultan DLCâs price of $15 is not expensive for the amount of content, so more people can afford and access the DLC.
Now it all could be proven wrong if the real numbers come out, but until that happens, Iâll give the developers the benefit of the doubt that they are telling the truth about this.
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To my knowledge, there are no official sales figures for The Conquerors either. We only see the base game numbers over time. The reality is, based on the numbers I estimate from Steam, AoE4 DLC sold quite a bit.
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Its from wikipedia, cited from an article using sales data and NPD. Because companies used to just post sales data every year.
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You have a core malfunction of logic- you believe they are right. You admit theres a belief they wouldnt like. Logic would favor evidence over belief not demand evidence overcome bleife. Yet with sales of AoC high and nothing for Aoe4, you just choose to believe. This isnt logical but belief- which is fine and a core epistemology of understanding the world. But its not empirical. Again you keep saying lie and i wonder if you understand what grey is vs black and white. Do you hear anyone here say âWE lied?â No. You have people saying " i doubt they sold more units than AoC". If you choose to believe their statement fine, but dont act like your belief is more tangable than evidence.
Edit- also I think aoe4 players tend to conflate not best ever to bad. Again world is not black or white but grey. I can say sultans I suspect didnt outsell AoC and it has 0 bearing on my opinions if it was a good dlc or sold well or was profitable. I am only speaking to this 1 claim that its best ever.
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Youâre making things up at this point and putting words in my mouth. Read my post again; I never said you are lying. I just provided logical explanations as to why the Sultan DLC could have sold better than the Conquerors expansion, which I believe to be true, such as the following:
- Its availability is far wider now than it was then.
- The price is important; it means more people can afford it.
- The game being on Steam and the Microsoft Store makes it easy to purchase and download.
Again, Iâm not saying that Conquerors never sold well for its time, but based on all data and logical conclusions, itâs safe to say this is true.
Why do you find it so hard to believe this? As I said previously, this could all turn out to be wrong if the data is published, but until then, I have no reason not to trust the developers, as they are the ones who possess all the data, and we do not.
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They said AoE 4 dlc sold the best out of the series, but I find that hard to believe when AoE 2 Age of Kings and Conquerers expansion was a really big game at the time. AoE 4 is not a really big game, yes it did well but nobody cares about it that much. Pretty sure I heard stories of people playing AoE 2 on work computers as offices people were that excited to play.
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This is phrased in a way to suggest any push back means we are calling then a liar, additionally the man before accused me of calling them liars. If anyone were to read the flow of conversation theyd assume you were calling us liars. It also ignores mt prior post where I explain how I believe numbers arw massaged and it can make said claim of best selling both right and wrong as definitions and numbers are massaged and tweaked.
Where is the actual aoe4 data then? Not theories, data. Sales figures. I posted prior a link of a 3rd party esitmate total sales of base aoe4. Do you have any actual data on aoe4 sultans sales? We have aoe2 data but 0 for aoe4 provided but the one i did with total sales 2.1 million upper end for aoe4. Maybe higher for xbox pass if included.
See any of my posts? But like i said you are choosing to stick to belief not logic or empericism. Im doubting anyone will shift your belief to trust devs at face value. But until you provide data logically your arguement stops at âI choose to believe.â Thats fine but thats all you got.
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Can you provide me with all the sold copy data for the Conquerors expansion? Wikipedia does not count; I mean real, official numbers from Microsoft. As far as I know, there are none.
You donât understand my point. I donât find it hard to believe that a DLC today for a popular game can outperform it in sales due to the tools at our disposal today compared to then, given the statement from Microsoft and Relic. I really see no reason why this wouldnât be true.
As Iâve told you three times now, if tomorrow they were to show the sales data for both expansions and it turns out Conquerors is the best-selling, then that is the case.
But until they do, I will stick to what I believe to be the most logical conclusion, based on what Microsoft has officially said.
If you donât trust them, that is your problem, not mine.
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If youre too lazy to click a source in wikipedia then you are done. Also avoided every point including the not calling liar. Again belief is your personal.choice but ok chief.
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Iâm not lazy, and Wikipedia is not official data from Microsoft. Anyone can update information on that website; that doesnât make it more true.
You just canât, for some reason, admit that the Sultan expansion could, and most likely is, the most sold expansion as of right now because it hurts your picture of AoE2.
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Precisely this. The numbers for the Conquerors back in the day are larger than the number of estimated sales of the AOE4 base game Heck, the Conquerors expansion sold an estimated almost 1 million copies in the US alone by 2006, and somewhere between 100k-300k in the UK.
Whereas the estimated number of AOE4 base game sales hovers around a consensus of 2-3 million (pulling from steam db)
The exact quote circulated by Worldâs Edge was âitâs the best-selling expansion in Age franchise history!â No caveats, no qualifiers.
The math simply says itâs impossible. Not unlikely, not improbable. Impossible. In the true sense of the word. If sales of the Conquerors expansion in one region (the US, ignoring Europe where we know the game was immensely popular and which has a population greater than the US) is around 40% of the total base game sales of AOE4, then you can be absolutely positive that with sales of the Conquerors in Europe and all the other regions, the Conquerors outstripped the total sales of AOE4. Not the Sultans Ascend. AOE4.
It gets even worse if you start including AOE2 relaunches that include the Conquerors. AOE2:HD sold 6 million copies. AOE2:DE sold over 4 million. One could argue that those all count as sales of the Conquerors.
But letâs stay focused. The math simply doesnât exist for the Sultans Ascend expansion to have outsold the Conquerors, since we can be certain beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Conquerors outsold AOE4.
And if we dig into the numbers for the Sultans Ascend, it becomes even more obvious. Only 8% of AOE4 players have unlocked the achievement âwin a game with the Japaneseâ and 8% for the highest Byzantine achievement âaccrue 2000 olive oilâ. Meaning really only max of 16% of players have played a game with the new civs. Now, I donât know about you, but if I purchase a new toy or gizmo, I take it out for a whirl. We only have evidence that between 8-16% of AOE4 players touched the Sultans Ascend. If we are excessively generous and double the best possible number, call it 30% purchased it, and apply it to the best possible sales numbers, 4 million (an outlier, probably way off the mark) the Sultans Ascend still comes out short with 1.2 million sales. Thatâs about even with the estimated sales of the Conquerors in just the US and UK (again, ignoring the huge mainland European market, all other markets, sales after 2006, etc)
I am. It is impossible. The numbers simply cannot exist. Now, if there were caveats, they would be protected. Best selling DLC? Sure. Best selling expansion by WE? Sure. Best selling in a month? Sure. Best selling ever. Not a chance.
Lol, I guess I am, but I am rather jaded following their revealed lies concerning the AOE3 DLC and support.
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What do you think they got the source from? Do you not know? You dont, cause you cant be bothered to look so now keep putting words in my mouth. Doubly funny cause you came to aoe3 forum to specifically stan for your game and now losing, keep trying to throw shade.
Not once did I question aoe4 dlc did well, just.not best dlc. When you can provide data let me know I did. Keep believing the company blindly till then. Gg, no re
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According to this article it appears the conquerors sold 800,000 copies from 2000-2006 in the United States
Over 100,000 copies in the UK.
Doesnât mention other countries so yeah I highly doubt Sultans Ascend outsold it. Couldnât find sales number for it though
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This will be the last time I leave comment in this corner , layoff whole WorldEdge ,if you Microsoft want your game business continue functioning
When you can provide me with official data from Microsoft, not Wikipedia, then we can talk.
Again, Iâm not denying the possibility that Conquerors is the number one expansion sold, but I find it hard to believe, due to previous mentions I made.
Instead, what we have is official confirmation from a studio under Microsoft; do you think they would say something that Microsoft doesnât stand behind?
Anyway, I have my beliefs and you have yours. Letâs end this conversation here, as it isnât going anywhere.
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People have provided data from the industry including me, do you think Microsoft sold units in 2000? From the microsoft store? Do you actually know how sales and reporting works?
Again provide us data until then yeah no point in you comming to aoe3 forum tbh
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I can comment anywhere I want; itâs an open public forum for us to discuss. âPeople have provided data from the industryââa rather dubious source.
In other words, your source is âtrust me, bro.â I choose to stick with real written confirmation from the studio under Microsoft until more data is published by Microsoft.
Good bye and take care 
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