So, of course, given this is the final game in the older Age Of franchise to remake, and, well, how they’re making new expansions for it… Surely? Surely, right? Age of Empires V is just sitting there, in the ether, unmade. “It does sound a lot like you’re in a position where you kind of want to make something new?” I asked, my voice going ridiculously high at the end as I try to goad them into an answer I know they won’t give. I came closer than I thought!

“So…” began Yuen. “I…” he continued. “We…” he added. “I would love…” he so temptingly continued. And then catching himself went back to the clearly rehearsed line of, “So, we are launching the game on September 4, our goal is this will be a game that will continue to be updated and nurtured and…” Just imagine me turning down the volume at this point. So I tried again.

“I know you don’t want to answer this, but you must be tempted make a whole new one! You’ve got everything in place, right? Teams in place, all these experts…”

“Yes,” says Yuen, gently cutting me off. “We do have a lot of people that are very interesting in building more Age.” Come on, come on. “And that is definitely something that we need to…” YES?! “Right now, we need to focus on making Age of Mythology: Retold the best game out there.” Goddammit.

How The Age Of Mythology Retold Devs Welcome The Modern Era

I think they could give Age of Mythology 2 to Forgotten Empires, at this point they've remastered everything and Forgotten Empires also assisted on Age of Empires IV so they have a huge amount of experience on the Age of franchises, so I would absolutely trust them on a full fledged title, meanwhile Relic Entertainment can work on Age of Empires V because they're going to need the work.

I asked Zakhar Bocharov of GSC Game World about its turbulent release, and here's what he had to say: "It was an ambitious game from the beginning. Then we got COVID. Then we got war. Then we got relocation. Then we had fire in Prague. Then we had Russian hacks. Then we got delays." Despite this, there was an air of triumph in Bocharov's tone; they were close.

"So, I just covered seven years in my head, and I was thinking, 'damn, it was a really bad business idea'." Bocharov's emphasis here is on the financial costs, rather than the game as a whole. "Every delay costs a lot for us. Five delays – the budget is way more than it was to start … For me, when we delay, we understand the reaction. We understand people are tired of waiting. You really want it to release as well. We just do what's necessary," Bocharov said. "We're on the finish line. It's just about delivering the vision and experience now."

STALKER 2 Devs Joke Developing It "Was A Really Bad Business Idea" - VideoGamer

They even lost developers in the war against Russia.

@G2ThaUNiT We have work to do, we've got to prove them wrong. 🫡

We gonna buy ALL the copies!!

Playing 6 hours a day (which for most is almost the whole freetime they have between work and sleeptime) means playing more than a month and doing nothing else in your freetime to reach 200 hours. That shows how much 200 hours really are

I seriously have no idea how people can do that to their own life with something  they don't enjoy a lot