It’s not outdated. It’s just not used very often.
You’ve probably never experienced the past of Age of Empires or what happens with certain games on the market. The famous “useful life” or the company’s interest in “keeping the servers active”.
When I was a “little gamer”, I got to know Age of Empires 1 and later Age of Empires 2. However, at the time I couldn’t afford a computer. After a while, my family and I were able to change our lifestyle. And when I finally went to play the game at home, the official servers had already been shut down! However, I realized that the community was strong and that there was an alternative support to be able to play with friends and interact with the community for competitions. There was LAN mode and even connection via IP.
So I always played AoE1 and AoE2 with other people, friends, family, even when the servers were down.
As the years went by… the company that owns Age of Empires saw that its old games were still being played a lot and decided to release HD versions and Remasters/Remakes and continue the series, since it would be able to achieve a certain amount of sales. However, to get to this current period we are in, it took a few years.
Today, for example, I can play that old game: “Battle for Middle-Earth” with mods, I play with friends. Even though there are no servers, it is possible to play and have fun. (NOTE: I also play another series of games: “Command & Conquer” with mods. All with friends and LAN connection.)
Now, “Age of Empires 4” has extremely LIMITED support. The game has an expiration date that no one knows when it will arrive.
We live in an unstable world, where a war, severe climate change, global internet instability, or some global economic problem can happen.
AoE is not a series that makes a lot of money for the company, if compared with other titles, and maintaining and paying for servers for an infinite time is out of the question.
Now, regarding the synchronization error… I have a modern gaming PC, high-speed fiber optic internet and yet the game still gives a synchronization error??? What do you mean???.. It’s the ONLY game here at home that gives this problem. In addition to having limited support, it still gives an error! Thank goodness it only happens sometimes… but it’s discouraging.
No further comments…
- I hope for bug fixes and instabilities
- And if it’s to keep AoE4 alive for a few long generations… hope for the addition of a LAN mode, at the very least!