The Dawn of War developers are making a new Age of Empires game

It’s been a long time (12 years!) since we’ve seen a proper new Age of Empires game. The long-lasting historical strategy game seemed to fade away after developer Ensemble Studios closed its doors in 2009. 

But today, Microsoft announced that Sega-owned developer Relic Entertainment would be picking up the banner and will release a fourth installment in the Age of Empires series. 

You’re probably already familiar with Relic’s pedigree, since they worked on the Dawn of War and Company of Heroes strategy games. But what’s interesting is that this is the second major strategy IP that Microsoft has licensed out to a Sega-owned studio. Earlier this year, Creative Assembly released Halo Wars 2, which was a sequel to the last game made by the aforementioned Ensemble Studios. 

If the news of more Age of Empires brings back fond memories for you, be sure to read our classic postmortem on the second game in the series.