I would say there are many factors:
1.- Historical Game.- Well, in itself this is also a “historical” game, and unless they are children who begin to be passionate about historical elements and references, it is difficult for them to get into the mood of the game. Above all, it can happen that children who have a complex against their history teacher at school, or do not do well in that course, sometimes develop a phobia against movies, series or games that have a minimum of historical elements. It is a fear that is lost over time, but it can become a complex that deprives you of many fun elements of life, and i know some cases.
2.- Is it a Sequel and should I play the other titles? I would also say that it is because people who do not know the saga, see that it says "Age ##### ## - Four, and think that this is a sequel, and that they should play the other 3 parts to understand it. Kids that hadn´t played enough games will hardly look to play first the sequel as their first option. They will try to play the first game, or the 2nd game, and only if they like it, maybe they will try to try the 4th part.
3.- Fear of Micromanagement.- On the other hand, the RTS genre is not, let’s say, a mainstream genre. It has its niche, but it’s usually not early-age children. In fact, some children sometimes get scared if they think they have to know a lot of MICROMANAGEMENT, of several units at once to play these games, which prevents them from even trying titles like WarHammer or Total War. In general it is a psychological factor, until one really tries difficult titles, he will not see his true capabilities. I played Darks Souls believing that it was going to be impossible, and it ended up hooking me not because of the difficulty, but because of its LORE, which was beautiful, as well as passing it twice to unlock both endings, but it is something that you only discover if you dare to try games new.
4.- “Money, gamer PC, poor children.”- Finally, I would add that the factor “You need a gamer PC with at least 4 GB of graphics card” to play it in medium quality, affects a lot . Children “can’t” buy these types of computers, and unlike when AoE2 came out, where PCs with games were a novelty, now adults prefer to buy low-quality gamer PCs for their children, especially to spend the minimum and that they can use the computer for schoolwork, and only if they have enough money do they buy PC gamers.
Note: I just read the thread on Reddit, and the survey can be confusing, especially because it asks “What age do you think people play this game”, and not “What age range are you?” We would have to ask the STEAM data to have a more solid idea, but well, I don’t know if the age range is something public.
