I’ve been collecting stuff about AOE4 in a document, both clear statements and hints, but haven’t had the time of organizing it a bit to share it here. There was more, but I omitted everything that didn’t involve any official party.
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- 21st August 2017
AOE4 is announced at Gamescom in Germany with art trailer and the following official info: developed by Relic Entertainment, PC and Windows 10 exclusive.
In addition, trailer drops massive hint it is going to remain historic, NOT futuristic. “It’s time to battle through history once more in the latest entry of the landmark Age of Empires franchise.”
Source: YouTube video - see official description/info bellow trailer, not actual trailer.
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Relic Entertainment releases statement about intention to “fuse historical context with deep strategic gameplay” for AOE4.
Furthermore, it defines AOE as “known for its strategic gameplay founded on historical civilizations”.
Source: Relic News while 2nd quote is from the description of AOE on Relic’s fist page
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Quinn Duffy from Relic Entertainment is Game Director of AOE4. Has previously worked on the following titles: Homeworld, Impossible Creatures, Company of Heroes 1, Company of Heroes 1: Opposing Fronts, Space Marine, and as Game Director for Company of Heroes 2.
He had this to say about how he sees AOE games: “Nothing feels out of place, there’s these amazing holistic environments that players can get into, there’s deep levels of strategy, and always new things to explore and to learn. And when you have a nice big community there’s always people influencing how the game is played, how it changes over time, how the meta experience of the game evolves and it keeps them fresh year after year after year.”
Source: His LinkedIn profile and others, will not list exact links here because I consider them private, while the quote is from History of Age of Empires video YouTube min 09:39
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- 28th August 2017 (although recorded right after Gamescom event)
Shannon Loftis, Microsoft Studios - General Manager, further clarifies AOE4 is going to remain historic and not futuristic, while also stating it’s not intended for Xbox release.
Interviewer: Will it always have to be historic or will we see the future one day? [about AOE4]
Shannon Loftis: I think there’s a lot of history that we haven’t explored, so let’s go ahead and get through human history first, and then we can talk about what comes next.
Interviewer: Any chance of Age of Empires ever getting on Xbox as well?
Shannon: We’re focusing on PC now because that’s really the heart of RTS and where RTS lives, but you know, never say never.
Source: Link with video min 08:45 (start from 07:00 for the whole part in English)
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Adam Isgreen, Microsoft Studios — Creative Director on AOE4, RTS pioneer with an impressive CV, having worked on Command and Conquer and many other titles, is now working “on the Microsoft side making sure Age 4 is going to be a true Age of Empires game” and revealing that Relic “has been working for quite a while on Age4” [before official announcement].
Source: Same video min 09:50 + his LinkedIn profile for his CV
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- 30th September 2017
Shannon Loftis, Microsoft Studios — General Manager, is interviewed by gamezone.de (translated with Google Translate) where she further emphasizes AOE4 is going to be a PC game by mentioning “a time when we can focus on Microsoft as a gaming company and not Microsoft as a console company, so the return to the Age of Empires brand was just right” and also “[…]because we know that the best input device for a game as complex as Age of Empires is mouse and keyboard, we focus exclusively on the PC.”, tries to alleviate fears about Relic’s style for fast real time strategy games with little or no base construction by saying “we are very aware of what makes Age of Empires great. […]It is absolutely the case that building a base and discovering the historical background is a big part of what makes Age to Age. We intend to remain absolutely true to these cornerstones.” Furthermore, she says they are focusing on “making the mouse and keyboard experience as good as possible and returning to the roots of Age of Empires”. Lastly, she mentions the 3 Definitive Editions for the previous games have “definitely different development teams” and they “would not hold Age 4 back for the other Definitive Editions”, meaning they won’t necessarily be released in order.
Source: German written interview
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- 6th October 2017
Quinn Duffy (AOE4 Director) and Carolina (AOE4 developer) mentioning AOE4 during a Homeworld 18th anniversary stream and some other RTS related things.
“I could see a return of the classics; else do you think we would develop Age of Empires 4? So I think there’s a good possibility real strategy games come back. I think things are cyclical, they improvised enormously in the 90s, and I think Relic is one of the few companies that do these kind of games.” — Q. Duffy about classic RTS vs MOBA today.
“If you look on forums like Dawn of War’s or Blizzard’s you can see people saying we should go back to the roots of RTS when it was thriving in the 90s. Instead of establishing the genre for what is known, right now it is a genre that struggles to innovate within its own yard. You have to make sure you only do the right amount of innovation without changing the formula, like you see in these remasters.” — Carolina about classic RTS vs MOBA today.
Source: Video and written down
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- 1st December 2018
AOE4 developer Carolina talks about implementing a progressive system in their (Relic’s) games, probably AOE4 as well.
“We’re thinking a lot about progression in RTS games and how those systems could focus on helping players develop their skills. It would be great to build progression systems that actually help players get better at the game, not just arbitrarily leveling up or unlocking power. We believe this will create better value for a player’s time investment and be more meaningful, while respecting the competitive nature of our games.“
Source: Relic News
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- 3rd January 2018
Relic employee expresses major concerns for the studio and their “next big game” (most likely referring to AOE4), doubting the game’s direction and the team’s cohesion. However, it is impossible to know for sure whether this was an official/legit review.
Source: Glassdoor
Discussed here: Forums thread
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- No particular date
Relic lists job opening for Social Systems & Progression Game Designer among many others, to work on AOE4. One of the requirements for this position is: Experience designing progression systems and live economies.
If I’m not mistaken, ‘live economies’ suggests a microtransactions system for such a game - paying real money for in-game virtual goods. Unfortunately, this strengthens previous assumptions, explaining a potential (and unnatural) existence of a progression system in an RTS game, system which is often required to facilitate microtransactions.
Sources: Social Systems & Progression Designer job listing
All Relic’s job listings
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