nanarchy said:
I would actually say the current gaming climate it is far less of a risk as RTS and esport are huge right now. If they manage to balance AoE as well as some of the historical games then it could be absolutely massive. Personally I could not give a crap about esports but anything that helps me get another AoE can't be all bad. |
That's very true. The thing is ... it's honestly always awkward to speculate if it's safer or not as safe to release a game from a niche genre. With the rise of indie games(not to say AoE is indie) and youtube commentary, it's easier than ever for niche products to be consumed. Go on the steam store and see how games that are popular on there are wholly original or unique. BUT, it seems like a lot of big publishers are more scared by this current landscape then the landscapes in the past. In the past, it was perfectly ok to have triple A games be entirely exclusive to PC. The mid 2000's produced some of the most graphically impressive games for years on end exclusively on PC, like Crysis and Stalker. You can't get away with that nowadays and make a profit while being exclusive. That doesn't have anything to do with AoE, but it's an example of how even with more popularity and awareness there are some things to consider.
Especially Microsoft, a company who's consistently published more niche triple A or AA games and has constantly gotten low returns over this generation. Personally with a decent budget and good PC marketing though, I think it will be successful either way. I just can see how MS would be worried.
