Age of Empires IV: Anniversary Edition News

Age of Empires 4 Season One kicks off the Festival of Ages next week

2022's first major update for RTS game Age of Empires IV, titled Festival of Ages, is due to arrive next week. The update introduces ranked multiplayer seasons, a content editor, mods, seasonal events, and a host of balance and quality-of-life tweaks. Developer Relic Entertainment showed off the new updates and features in a trailer and a developer livestream.

Possibly the most exciting introduction for players will be the content editor, which is launching in an initial beta state and allows players to tweak a wealth of options, create their own maps, and rebalance units to their desires, so you can finally give your favourite civilisation the overpowered units they always deserved. Players will also be able to craft entire mods if they wish - a few examples of which can currently be experienced in the Public Update Preview beta.

The other major addition with this update is the introduction of Seasons. As the name suggests, things will kick off with Season One upon the launch of the update, with Season Two set to follow in the coming months. These will feature Ranked Seasons for competitive multiplayer, allowing players to prove who's truly the best of the best, as well as Seasonal Events which will offer rewards for completing in-game challenges.

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Welcome to the Festival of Ages!

Celebrate with us as we welcome you to the Season One update to Age of Empires IV: Festival of Ages!

Landing soon, the first major update of 2022 brings Ranked Seasons, the Content Editor beta (and Mods!), Seasonal Events, Major Balance changes, as well as a ton of quality-of-life changes to Age of Empires IV! But don’t let us just tell you about it – check out the Season Update trailer:

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Read on to see all the changes and new additions that are coming to Age of Empires IV, as well as where to check out specific deeper dives into the major features that will be released with the Season One update.

Plus, join us on stream TODAY, March 31st, at 2:30PM PT on Twitch for a preview of what’s to come in our Season One update!

Customize Your Battle with the Content Editor

In the coming days, we’ll be diving deeper into the newest tool that will change how you do battle in Age of Empires IV – the Content Editor. The Age of Empires IV Content Editor (Beta) will be your one-stop shop for custom play. Want to create your own highly specialized map? Want to play with a French Knight that’s overpowered to the nth degree? With this tool at your fingertips, you get the complete say on how to play. 

We’ll be taking a closer look at some of the internally made mods by the dev team, as well as some of the more specific features of the Content Editor (Beta), along with helpful tips on how to start making your very own mod.

Plus, stay tuned for an upcoming livestream as we talk about the Content Editor (Beta), mods, and maps with the development team.

All About Seasons

After that it’s all going to be about Seasons! Seasons in Age of Empires IV consists of new content and rewards to progress towards and unlock over a set period of time. This includes both the Ranked Seasons for those who want to take on the challenge to climb the competitive ladder, and Seasonal Events where you can unlock rewards by completing in-game challenges.

We’ll be previewing these soon, including what kind of challenges and rewards will be available when the update goes live!

Balance & Game Updates

With the Season One Update, it’ll come with a whole host of balance and quality-of-life changes, including global build queue, hotkey improvements, and more. Stay tuned for the entire release notes, as they’ll go live when the update goes live later next week.

That’s not all – there's also two additions to the Age of Empires IV line-up including a brand-new Advanced Combat Art of War challenge, aimed at preparing you for more complex combat scenarios, as well as the new MegaRandom map.

And this is just the start – as mentioned in our updated roadmap, Season One is only the beginning. Check out the Roadmap to see what else is in store for Age of Empires IV later this year!

Edit 3/31/2022: A previous version of this blog indicated an incorrect date for the upcoming patch.

Earn College Credit with UArizona-Created Content!

Current and future University of Arizona and Arizona Online students can now earn credit toward their college degrees when they interact with special educational content while playing Age of Empires IV.

The University of Arizona Illuminated History Experience, developed by two Department of History faculty members – associate professor of medieval history Paul Milliman and associate professor of Roman history and department head Alison Futrell – in collaboration with game designers from World’s Edge game studio and Relic Entertainment, is now available on the Age of Empires website. The educational material supplements the historical storytelling in the Age of Empires IV campaign and enables players to take part in additional out-of-game content, including testing their knowledge of the historical time period.

Based on admission status with the University of Arizona and Arizona Online, engaging with the content could allow players to earn one academic credit at the university.

“It’s a really innovative way to learn,” Futrell said. “We don’t know of any partnerships like this between a university and video game designers anywhere else in the world. We hope that both students on the University of Arizona main campus and Age of Empires players will be excited about the course and interested in other classes the history department offers.”

As with any college course, there are some required materials. Prospective students will need to have access to Age of Empires IV on Steam. All players will need to be signed into the game using an Xbox Live account, available for free.

Professor Futrell, based out of the UArizona main campus, is available for in-person interviews. Online interviews with Milliman or the game designers can be arranged by request.

Media contact:
Jason Ground
University Communications
Office: 520-621-8563| Cell: 520-954-0175
[email protected]

FAQ Forum University of Arizona Info

EGCTV’s Golden League Starts this Weekend!

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The Golden League, hosted by Elite Gaming Channel, is the latest Age of Empires IV event. With a prize pool of $125,000, it’s the biggest in franchise history. Over ten grueling weeks of action, all online, all leading to one champion!

The Golden League is broadcast live at 15 GMT on every Saturday and Sunday for the entirety of the event! So tune in and join us as some of your favorite commentators including Aussie Drongo, Turin, Lidakor, Dave, Nili, Killer Pigeon, Mitoe, and others, guide you through the action!

To kick things off, 64 of the greatest players in AoE IV begin by taking each other on in three bracket rounds, each with a unique theme. Depending on their performance in these brackets, the players will score points on the Golden League Table! At the end of these three brutal rounds, only the top 8 that somehow emerge somewhat unscathed will progress to the Elite Playoffs, where they’ll battle once more in a round robin group stage. The top two in each group will then progress to the Final Four where a champion will be crowned!

View the Golden League Brackets

Round 1: Open Battlefields

The first round is Open Battlefields! Here players will have nowhere to hide as they fight on the most open of maps! This is the first opportunity to begin scoring some valuable points to qualify for the Golden League Elite Playoffs.

Round 2: Off-Meta Combat

In the second round, players are forced to show off their versatility as we enter the Off-Meta Combat round, where the three strongest civilizations on each map will be banned! Players will be forced to rely on strategic gameplay with the five remaining civilizations. Here is a chance for strong players to reinforce their positions atop the league, or for challengers to knock them down and emerge victorious!

Round 3: Exclusive Conclusion

The final preliminary round is the Exclusive Conclusion, where each player will have the opportunity to draft unique civilizations that they alone will be able to play with in their match. This is the last opportunity to accumulate points to qualify for the Golden League Elite Playoffs!

Schedule

The Golden League starts every Saturday and Sunday at 15GMT from March 26 until May 29!

Open Battlefields: March 26 – 27 & April 2 – 3
Off-Meta Combat: April 9 – 10 & 16 – 17
Exclusive Conclusion: April 23 – 24 & April 30 – May 1
Playoff Group Stage: May 7 – 8, 14 – 15 & 21 – 22
Final Four: May 28 – 29

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Learn More About Golden League

If you want to follow the progress of players as they take on the Golden League, as well as more information on the rules and broadcasts, be sure to check out the interactive league table at www.elitegamingchannel.com.

Watch LIVE on Twitch Catch VODs On Youtube View Brackets

Server Maintenance - Wednesday, March 23

WHAT: Server Maintenance (Matchmaking Servers)
WHEN: Wednesday, March 23 @ 2:00p PT / 5:00p ET / 21:00 UTC (Countdown)
EST. DOWNTIME: 1-2 HOURS

[h3]GAMES & PLATFORMS IMPACTED[/h3]

Age of Empires: Definitive Edition (Steam / Microsoft Store)
Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition (Steam / Microsoft Store)
Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition (Steam / Microsoft Store)
Age of Empires IV (Steam / Microsoft Store)

[h3]OBJECTIVES[/h3]

Routine server updates and maintenance.

[h3]DETAILS[/h3]This coming Wednesday, March 23rd, the platform team will be taking the multiplayer servers down for regular maintenance. Please note:

Ranked matchmaking will disabled exactly one hour before the maintenance window to prevent disruption to newly-formed matches.

Any matches still in progress at the start of the maintenance window will be disrupted when it begins.

DURING THE MAINTENANCE WINDOW, YOU WILL STILL BE ABLE TO LAUNCH THE GAME, BUT WILL NOT BE ABLE TO MATCHMAKE OR ACCESS ANY ONLINE FEATURES.

To prevent any interruptions, we recommend wrapping up any games at least 10 minutes before the maintenance window. The downtime is expected to last 1 to 2 hours. You can watch this thread with any changes to the schedule as they arise, as well as the all-clear when the maintenance is complete.

Thank you for your patience!