The legacy of Ensemble Studios continues as this week we learn that Microsoft has announced a brand new Age of Empires game – Age of Empires IV, a continuation of the main series unlike some of the other games released in recent times. Relic Entertainment are set to carry the torch as developers on this new game. The Sega owned studio is similar to Creative Assembly, another Sega studio who worked on Halo Wars 2. There is no release date set for Age 4 just yet, there is however, a very awesome new teaser trailer!

The trailer takes us through the ages of the previous games and it looks like Age IV is set to be in a whole new Age.

History of Age of Empires

Microsoft Studios in celebration of the new Age 4 announcement has sat down with some folks from Ensemble Studios to talk about the history of the Age of Empires franchise from the very beginning to where it is today. The video features key Ensemble staffers such as Ensemble Founders – Tony Goodman and John Boog-Scott alongside producers and designers such as Dave Pottinger, Rick Goodman, Paul Bettner, Tim Deen, Matt Pritchard and of course the legendary Bruce Shelley. The video features some interesting look backs at the origin of Ensemble and the very early beginnings of Age of Empires. Who knew that one of the very first tech demos just allowed you to chop trees. However from these early demos Microsoft quickly saw the light and soon signed up Ensemble to produce what would become Age of Empires.

The history video is a real treat for Age and Ensemble fans, it brings all the teams together from the Ensemble veterans to the new teams at Skybox and Forgotten Empires who have been keeping the franchise moving with HD releases of Age of Empires 2 and Mythology and Age of Empires 1 definitive edition being just round the corner. Check out the excellent video below:

Age of Empires 2 and 3 Definitive Editions on route

If a definitive edition of the original Age of Empires was not enough the team at Forgotten Empires and Skybox are also set to release new 4K editions of Age of Empires 2 and 3.  These classic Ensemble games really are standing the test of time, entertaining millions and millions many years after original release. I have no doubt the original Ensembles staffers must be so proud of just how many people their games have entertained year after year. These definitive editions join the already announced Age 1  Definitive Edition and already released Age of Mythology Extended Edition and Halo Wars Definitive Edition. This means that every title Ensemble Studios has ever released will have had its own remaster! Truly an outstanding accomplishment!