More than a million people per month are still playing Age of Empires
I won't post the entire interview here, although it is brief, because the site does deserve the traffic. Their perspective on why the series endures is really interesting.
I think the enduring success of Age of Empires is amazing. I was one of those people who got Age of Empires in a cereal box. I played so much of that game. I never properly played the sequels, and I've actually been waiting for the Age of Empires II remaster to get back into the series. I considered getting the remaster of the first game when it released, but the Microsoft Store was such a disaster at the time that it put me off especially since my internet really isn't very good. My impression is that AOE II HD being on Steam has been the key driver for the series over the past several years. In 2018, it had sold 5.8 million copies on Steam. It'll be even higher now.The game has concurrent player peaks of over 10,000 players every day for years. Age of Empires is one of those game series that is hugely popular with a demographic that sits outside the traditional "gamer" demographics that the AAA developers chase. It's similar to Minecraft, although I think its main audience is probably quite a bit older. People just keep coming back. People don't get tired of it. It has flourished in an industry where most attempts to revive the RTS have failed.
If Age of Empires 4 nails what people love about the series, it will be a massive success, especially since MS will be selling it on Steam. And I think it will probably drive significant PC Game Pass numbers.
