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Forums - Microsoft Discussion - Microsoft is building an Age of Empires studio.

"While there was only one major acquisition announced during Xbox's E3 2019 press conference, Microsoft has one more new studio up its sleeve. In a blog post shared after the show, Microsoft snuck in that it has created a brand new studio for Age of Empires headed by Microsoft veteran Shannon Loftis. The news follows last night's announcement of Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition, which updates the classic strategy game with 4K visuals and a brand new campaign, The Last Khans. It will launch this autumn."
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2019-06-10-microsoft-forms-dedicated-age-of-empires-studio

So that's 15 studios under XGS. It's weird they did not announce it during their show but instead announced it through a blog post.



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Like I said in the other thread, this makes me think development of AoE4 under Relic hasn't been going too well. Might not see that for a while yet.



I'm more interested right now in AoE 2 Definitive. Will this be a completely new purchase for AoE 2 HD owners, or will we at least get it discounted?



 SW-5120-1900-6153

Barkley said:
Like I said in the other thread, this makes me think development of AoE4 under Relic hasn't been going too well. Might not see that for a while yet.

That, and Microsoft realizing that they need more studios to feed Xbox and PC with exclusive content. Also, developing in-house would certainly mean more control over where the IP is heading.

Just waiting for Microsoft to call the Studio Ensemble Studios...



That's really cool news, AoE is one of my favourite game series!



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Would have been better if they kept Ensemble Studios around, but it is still great for the PC community that Microsoft is now building out it's game studios!



--::{PC Gaming Master Race}::--

Well a lot of people will love this new.



duduspace11 "Well, since we are estimating costs, Pokemon Red/Blue did cost Nintendo about $50m to make back in 1996"

http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/post.php?id=8808363

Mr Puggsly: "Hehe, I said good profit. You said big profit. Frankly, not losing money is what I meant by good. Don't get hung up on semantics"

http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/post.php?id=9008994

Azzanation: "PS5 wouldn't sold out at launch without scalpers."

Bofferbrauer2 said:
Barkley said:
Like I said in the other thread, this makes me think development of AoE4 under Relic hasn't been going too well. Might not see that for a while yet.

That, and Microsoft realizing that they need more studios to feed Xbox and PC with exclusive content. Also, developing in-house would certainly mean more control over where the IP is heading.

Just waiting for Microsoft to call the Studio Ensemble Studios...

I had a feeling they would need to do this at some point. They need to feed Xbox gamers with something exclusive, but that would also dampen their newly (for the 4th friggin time) branched relationship with PC gamers, so they'd need to make something exclusive for them.

MS would either have to make everything for both platforms or make something special for each of them, or simply risk losing one side again. 

Happy to see them finally making another RTS studio, after years and years, but I do not want them breaking this studio down, after a few years, the way EA did with Victory Bioware.



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So pay up motherfuckers you belong to "V"

I read a rumor that said MS was getting two new studios. This must have been the second one.



Doesn't seem at all weird to not announce this very prominently, if all they have for a product is "Definitive Edition" with new scenario.
If development of new version was hitting problems, they very well may be planning to toss out much of that work to start over fresh.
People complain about announcing games too far in advance of release date, yet when MS doesn't do that, they still complain. LOL