What drives the decision to release new DLC for AoE2 in addition to AoE 4?
Since the AoE2:DE version is the most popular in the series… In terms of reviews on Steam, I’m seeing 3 times more AoE2:DE compared to AoE4:AE. The average number of players is now up to twice as high according to the Steam charts.
Upon release, AoE4 was of course more popular than its older siblings, but after a month or two the average player count dropped below AoE2:DE.
AoE2: DE ingame engine is 2D vs. AoE4: AE is 3D, which can have a huge impact on how much work needs to be developed for one or the other.
But what seems most important to me is the purpose of this particular expansion:
It serves as a port of Age of Empires content in the Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition client.
The expansion will contain all 16 civilizations available in Age of Empires: Definitive Edition.
In other words, they move existing content (possibly reusable assets) from AoE1 to AoE2:DE. Relatively little work for a larger audience, who value the work more… I would expect this to translate directly into more sales and lower costs.
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