We Need To Talk About Age of Empires 2.

Hiring mod teams. Listening to feedback. Developing sustainably. Age of Empires shows us what happens when a team is allowed to do the job right.

00:00 The Numbers Are Insane
00:33 Treating A Beloved Game Right
01:08 From 94% To 30%
03:03 Developed By A Mod Team
04:57 Where It All Went Wrong
07:00 The Battle for Greece Is Genuinely Exciting
10:23 Why Isn't This Normal?
12:13 Live Services Killed This, People Don't Understand Why

[scrublord]

To be clear, Microsoft DID try to kill our AoE community multiple times but talented individuals of the community made us our own platform to play on and balance the game. It wasn't until after we kept playing without them for 15 years that they came back.

[xGoodOldSmurfehx]

This is a bit wrong. Microsoft tried to kill of Age of Empires 2 and it's community several times.
The AoE2 community said "No, piss off." every time. Microsoft eventually realised that they were better off continuing and expanding on the game rather than trying to kill it.

The Definitive Edition now is nothing like the original version even post-patching. It has been expanded by more than 10 folds. The reason the game is enduring is it's community that refuses to give in to Microsoft's demands over the years. Microsoft knows full and well that they have lost the fight against the AoE2 community and that they are not going to win a fight with them no matter what they do.

It's just like the Red Alert 2 community that refuses to die off despite EA's best attempts to kill it off.

[DiluviumEyesofThunder]

Age of Empires 2, in my opinion, is to strategy games what chess is to board games, not the most flashy or popular, but it's simple and easy to grasp ruleset make it universal, and timeless.

[Matjodk]

AOE2 DE was a success because the players kept the game alive through voobly ( A free browser page used to run AOE2 ) for years. When Microsoft did nothing with it.
Then people like T90 Official hosted AOE2 tournaments on Voobly. getting 50.000+ viewers. And AOE2 streams having a healthy viewership as well on average.
First Microsoft tried with AOE2 HD. It sucked. And people still used voobly.
Then came DE.
And this is not an attack on Microsoft. They have done well ( despite the fact they still have not fixed matchmaking or game finding )
But seeing the fans keeping the game alive, and then choosing to step back in. Is good.
However. Its all because of Voobly, and the players and caster who ran the game and tournaments, for many years.
That is why Age of Empires 2 DE is a success.

[romangeneral]

This was my first RTS game all the way back in the 90s.
Great game...

[gishathosaurus]

Age of Empires is fucking killing it right now... I just wish they kept the rotting skeletons in the battlefield! I know it's a little nitpick, but it's a small little detail that gives this army game so much immersion. Still, good on them though, wish Blizzard did the same instead of letting Starcraft down on life support

[Gnollface]

That was really well put, ive never thought about it like that before:
""if you earn money buy selling people skins, then skins will be the thing you optimize around. If you earn money buy selling content, content will be the thing you optimize around."

[buildinasentry]

Age 1 through 3 (including Myth) were my childhood. Having all these wonderful remasters is such a gift. Still play them with my brother and father, alternating games as we see fit.

[tzeneth]

That end part just makes me think of all the hidden skins you had to do crazy things to unlock. I remember some fighting game skins being the equivalent of old myths because of how weird they were to unlock and you weren't sure the people were telling the truth.

[Sinnehh]

Honestly T90s youtube channel of random game modes and pros in this game helped keep my eyes on it for years. Got love how his forest nothing video basicly went viral and he became person to show case AoE2 games.

[grifinorange]

Aoe2 still being big floors me. I love the game i just couldnt have dreamed that a community would crop up around a 25 year old game albeit a heavily updated/modified version of it.

[PierceArner]

13:05 _“If something is free, it means YOU ARE THE PRODUCT.”_ This right here flawlessly captures the deep loathing of everything about the Live Service industry & gacha models worming their way into the games industry.

I'm beyond utterly sick of them because it proves that the game is merely a psychologically exploitive monetization model to extract whatever money it can from its userbase, _rather than provide them with something of ACTUAL VALUE._

We're happy to pay for games that treat us and the game property with respect — not one that treat us & the IP as a commodity to be bled dry until our love for the product turns to ash in our mouths (see: Overwatch 2).

[JT-mtku]

Its not that companies dont want to hire people passionate about their games its that they dont want to pay them. Everything is outsourced to studios full of unskilled employees pumped out on a conveyer belt who will work grueling hours for next to nothing.

[Trazynn]

You should talk about Heroes of the Storm. Since the acquisition it has slowly started receiving balance updates again. After years of silence.

[foxdeleon]

The captions say Age of Vampires 😅

I'd want to play that too.

[Maxarcc]

I just got into this game. There's incredible depth and there are so many unique challenges to overcome. When you play online it will be difficult in the beginning, but try to learn from your mistakes and don't give up! It's such an amazing and rewarding game.

[nevernerevarine]

For those in the back who couldn't hear:
SMALL TEAMS, DEFINED SCOPE & REASONABLE EXPECTATIONS!

[LMan]

Age of Empires II DE is one of the best remasters to date, hands down. I wanted the orginal AoE DE to be just as good, but it wasn't even close. They kept the overall UI and such a little too "true" to the actual original.

[YLLPal]

The modder to paid developer pipeline has to be one of the coolest ways to keep a game sincere and fun and keep the community engaged.

[ethans]

It makes me so happy seeing Age of Empires not just survive, but thrive.