There’s a big announcement about the Age of Empires franchise coming up this week from Gamescom in Germany, and it’ll be part of the Inside Xbox showcase presented by Microsoft.
The announcement is set for August 19, or this coming Monday, at 17:00 CEST (8:00 PT), and it’ll be taking place in Cologne’s Gloria Theater. Fans around the world will be able to tune in via Mixer, Twitch, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter.
The official Age of Empires Twitter account has a post telling fans to tune in to the presentation for “some exciting news” about the franchise, but didn’t go into detail about what they’re planning on revealing. It’ll be part of a larger presentation that includes reveals for Ghost Recon: Breakpoint, Gears 5, Battletoads, and more.
So what does Microsoft have up its sleeve for Gamescom? There are at least two Age of Empires projects in the pipeline right now, one of which is the Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition. That game will feature remastered 4K visuals, remastered audio, and a new campaign called The Last Khans. It’s due out sometime this fall, and this upcoming announcement may be related to that release date.
But odds are pretty good that instead, Microsoft plans on revealing more about Age of Empire 4, which is currently in development by Relic, the folks who made the Company of Heroes and Dawn of War series.
So far, all we’ve really seen on Age of Empires 4 is the trailer above, which is really just a slideshow of Age of Empires concept art. Hopefully, Relic will be ready to show off some gameplay during its slot in Monday’s showcase.
But when we spoke with series creative director Adam Isgreen a couple months ago, he said there’s another possibility: it may be an announcement about the Age of Empires III Definitive Edition too. Or it could include information on all three titles! We don’t know, but we’ll be watching for sure.
Isgreen did say that we ought to be learning more about Age of Empires 4 – perhaps including the Age of Empires 4 release date – at either Gamescom or XO this year, so we’re hoping it’s the former.