Is a reboot of Age Of Empires part of Microsoft’s new strategy?

A new Microsoft studio is being formed to work on a new entry in a ‘beloved strategy game franchise’, but is it really Age Of Empires?

Technically Microsoft hasn’t said anything about Age Of Empires yet, but when making a list of their first party strategy games, particularly the ‘beloved’ ones, Age Of Empires is the only name that comes to mind.

Whatever is going on it must be a pretty big deal, because Microsoft are setting up a whole new studio to work on the game. Called Decisive Games, there are multiple job listings on Microsoft.com, all based in the company’s Redmond HQ and with the following description:



The Decisive Games team is focused on world class strategy game development, and is building a studio that will bring the next installment in a beloved strategy game franchise to the next generation of gamers around the world. This is a highly-collaborative, agile team, with a play-centric approach to game development.


There’s also a reference to creating ‘the next-generation of awesome games for Windows and Xbox’, but we get the impression that’s more of a generation statement for publisher Microsoft Studios, rather than confirmation that the game will be on both console and PC.

Age Of Empires II – a massive hit in its day

Free-to-play title Age Of Empires Online started in August 2011 and was shut down in July of last year. The last proper entry in the series though, by original creator Ensemble Studios, was Age Of Empires III in 2005.

Microsoft closed down Ensemble in 2009, just weeks after they finished work on real-time strategy Halo Wars. It’s possible the job listing could be referring to a sequel to that, but given its lukewarm reception by fans we’re not sure describing it as beloved is necessarily accurate.

There aren’t any other obvious contenders though, with Microsoft’s only other major strategy series being the Zoo Tycoon series – which they already have a developer for and which fared poorly as an Xbox One launch title.

They also have access to Lionhead’s back catalogue, including Black & White and (possibly – it was originally published by Activision) The Movies. But that doesn’t seem particularly likely.

Of course there’s nothing stopping them from buying the rights to another strategy series that they’ve previously had nothing to do with, but if that’s the case then all bets are off.

Email gamecentral@ukmetro.co.uk, leave a comment below, and follow us on Twitter