Age of Empires II

Did You Know?

• A demo of The Age of Kings was released on October 16, 1999, featuring the learning campaign, a random map sample, and MSN Gaming Zone play.
• Numerous incomplete versions of the game were leaked and sold illegally throughout the Pacific Rim, including outside Microsoft's offices in South Korea.
• The game saw a resurgence in popularity between the 2019 re-release and global lockdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

Development

Even before the first Age of Empires was finished, Ensemble Studios had already agreed with Microsoft to make a follow-up. They decided to move the setting to the Middle Ages, feeling it was a natural step forward from the original’s ancient world. The goal was to keep the same wide appeal without copying the first game too closely. Their plan was to finish the sequel in one year by reusing the Genie engine and old code, but after a few months they saw they couldn’t hit that quality mark. They told Microsoft they needed another year, and as a stopgap they made Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome, a simple expansion pack that came out for Christmas 1998. To meet the new deadline, they brought on more programmers, artists, and designers. They also completely rebuilt the movement system to fix the pathfinding problems that had bothered players of the original. The game ended up taking two years, with 50 people working full-time and a budget under $10 million. For the artificial intelligence, Ensemble worked to create a smarter system that still didn’t cheat by giving itself extra resources. Mario Grimani led this effort. The sequel also added a triggers system to the scenario editor, letting players set up messages or events based on specific conditions. This new AI and the triggers worked together often in the single-player campaigns.

Reception

Three months after its release in January 2000, Microsoft had shipped two million copies of The Age of Kings. The game topped sales charts in the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Australia, and South Korea. It spent the next two and a half years on top 20 sales lists. In October 1999 it was the top-selling game, and it was the fourth highest-selling game of 1999. In the United States alone, sales totaled 469,376 units by the end of 1999, generating $20.2 million in revenue, the second-highest domestic gross that year. Domestic sales rose by 442,318 units from January through October 2000, and it finished 2000 as the seventh-largest computer game hit in the US with 595,016 sales and $26.2 million in revenue. In 2001, US sales of 478,557 units placed it tenth for the year. In Germany, it debuted first on Media Control's sales charts in October 1999 and spent 17 weeks in the rankings by March 2000. It received a Platinum award from the VUD within one month, indicating 200,000 sales across Germany, Switzerland, and Austria, and reached Double-Platinum status by February 2000. The game later received a Platinum sales award from ELSPA for at least 300,000 copies sold in the United Kingdom. The game has a 92% positive rating on Metacritic based on 21 critics' reviews.

Expansions and sequels

A PlayStation 2 port was released by Konami in 2001 for Europe and in 2002 for Japan. A Nintendo DS spinoff, Age of Empires: The Age of Kings, was released in 2006. An expansion for The Age of Kings, The Conquerors, was released in 2000, introducing unique technologies for each civilization and five new civilizations: the Aztecs, Mayans, Huns, Koreans, and Spanish. The Aztecs and Mayans represent the New World with a distinctive architectural style. In 2005, a mobile version called Age of Empires II Mobile was released for Java mobile devices by In-Fusio, with simplified gameplay and graphics. The success of Age of Empires II spurred the franchise: Age of Empires III was released in 2005, portraying European colonization of the Americas, with design largely similar to its predecessor. The multiplayer-only Age of Empires Online was released in 2012, featuring free access with premium content earnable or purchasable; active development ended on January 1, 2014, and servers shut down on July 1, 2014. In 2012, Hidden Path Entertainment began work on a high-definition remake, Age of Empires II: HD Edition, released on April 9, 2013, with improved graphics, widescreen support, and new multiplayer options through Steam. It received mixed reviews, with a Metacritic score of 68 out of 100, and critics noted it changed little from the original, though Steam Workshop integration was praised.