{"id":189268,"date":"2025-09-25T00:02:28","date_gmt":"2025-09-25T00:02:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.xbox.com\/en-us\/?p=152216"},"modified":"2025-09-25T00:02:28","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T00:02:28","slug":"castles-kings-and-community-an-interview-with-the-team-behind-age-of-empires-iv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/castles-kings-and-community-an-interview-with-the-team-behind-age-of-empires-iv\/","title":{"rendered":"Castles, Kings, and Community: An Interview with the Team Behind Age of Empires IV"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Later this year, <em>Age of Empires IV<\/em> will usher in the latest chapter of this long running and acclaimed RTS franchise, sending us back to the age of castles, kings, and empires. As part of the Age of Empires: Fan Preview event (<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/news.xbox.com\/en-us\/2021\/04\/10\/age-of-empires-fan-preview-recap\/\">check out the full recap here<\/a><\/strong>), we had a chance to sit down with Relic Entertainment\u2019s Game Director Quinn Duffy and Narrative Lead Philippe Boulle as well as World\u2019s Edge Director of Customer Voice Emma Bridle to talk more about the upcoming strategy game, its unique blend of history and gameplay, and how its passionate community has kept the series alive for over two decades.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<p><strong>Xbox Wire: Relic Entertainment has a strong pedigree of creating excellent strategy games (<em>Company of Heroes<\/em>, etc.). What experiences are you drawing from in developing those games that you\u2019re bringing to <em>Age of Empires IV<\/em>? Is there a studio mantra that you aspire to?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Quinn Duffy<\/strong>: I think what we\u2019re building on most strongly is our approach to historical strategy games and linking history and authenticity to gameplay. We want to make sure we\u2019re capturing the history and what makes the civilizations in Age of Empires unique, but we want to be able to turn those into gameplay elements that are balanced, that are understood by players, and that provide some fun options for players of the franchise to explore the new civilizations.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Philippe Boulle<\/strong>: Yeah, absolutely. One of the things we had done on previous projects like <em>Company of Heroes<\/em> is to try and evoke a documentary style or period film style and this time we could go and do it. We could build full on, BBC-level documentaries that led you into each mission and out of them and stitched the missions together so that you understood the historical context.<\/p>\n<p>So, it\u2019s that attention to detail, that understanding, that we were celebrating real cultures and real events and real people and bringing a sense of respect and appreciation and celebration to those moments.<\/p>\n<p>I think that\u2019s the big thing Relic was able to bring to the table into a franchise that was already wonderful, that had so many great things going for it. We didn\u2019t come in here to make a Relic game that had Age of Empires printed on it. We were here to make an Age of Empires game.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" src=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/castles-kings-and-community-an-interview-with-the-team-behind-age-of-empires-iv.jpg\" alt=\"Age of Empires IV\" class=\"wp-image-152218\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>Xbox Wire: What are some of the lessons that you\u2019ve learned through the replaying the Age of Empire Definitive Editions. What are some of the things you\u2019ve seen that have aided in the development of <em>Age of Empires IV<\/em>?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Quinn Duffy<\/strong>: Oh, lots of things. I think our development of <em>Age of Empires IV<\/em> pre-dates the Definitive Editions as well. We started before those were out, but playing the original games, the HD version of <em>Age II<\/em> that was out on Steam in 2013, we saw the reemergence of Age back then. Maybe not the complete depth of it, but the important thing was involving the community, the people who were passionate about those games. You can play those games and there\u2019s things you can appreciate but there are people who\u2019ve been playing them for 20 years, and they understand this incredible nuance and they understand the formula of what makes a great Age experience.<\/p>\n<p>So, we brought the community in in 2017 and we\u2019ve been working with them all the way through development. That\u2019s people who\u2019ve played <em>Age I<\/em>, <em>II<\/em>, <em>III,<\/em> <em>Age Online<\/em>, <em>Mythology<\/em>\u2026 they\u2019re all represented. There\u2019s modders in the mix as well, so we tried to capture all aspects of the community. And we\u2019ve been working a lot with Forgotten Empires who did the Definitive Editions of the games. They\u2019re helping us out with a number of aspects for <em>Age of Empires IV<\/em> in terms of balance and how they built the Art of War challenges. I\u2019m sure Emma can talk more about that as well.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Emma Bridle<\/strong>: Yes, evolving the Definitive Editions, running them as a service, adding new content, rebalancing, fixing as we go. We\u2019ve really learned that the Age community &#8212; not that we didn\u2019t know it before &#8212; are super passionate and let us know what they want to see in our games. So that means building really strong feedback loops, gathering everything they\u2019re telling us, taking it to the game teams and then informing the community on how we evolve the game.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s been a great process. It obviously helps inform how we\u2019ll run <em>Age IV<\/em>, and having the community really involved in every game in some kind of way, whether through the [Community] Council or once the game is out, that providing us that feedback has really helped us to make the games better for our players. They get a seat at the table for development, and we get to work in partnership with them. It\u2019s very collaborative between Relic and Forgotten Empires and all our partner teams and World\u2019s Edge and the community. We\u2019re all working together which is wonderful.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" src=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/castles-kings-and-community-an-interview-with-the-team-behind-age-of-empires-iv-1.jpg\" alt=\"Age of Empires IV\" class=\"wp-image-152219\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>Xbox Wire: On the topic of the Community Council, obviously it sounds like it\u2019s had a tremendous impact on the development of <em>Age of Empires IV<\/em>. And it seems like at an early point you realized their importance. Was involving them ever a hard sell to the development team?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Philippe Boulle<\/strong>: Not at all. We\u2019re very aware that if it weren\u2019t for the Age community, we wouldn\u2019t be making <em>Age of Empires IV<\/em>. They are the ones who have brought this franchise back and who kept it alive and are its beating heart. The idea of making an Age of Empires game without the community was a non-starter from the get-go. It was important to Microsoft when they came to Relic, and it was important to Relic when we started the conversation.<\/p>\n<p>Without the community, this game wouldn\u2019t be happening in the first place, but it also would be nowhere near as good a game as it is now. Obviously, there\u2019s been years of work with the Community Council behind the scenes on <em>Age IV<\/em> and that\u2019s just a prelude of years of future work with the community on this game once it launches.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Emma Bridle<\/strong>: There are tangible things in the game that are a result of feedback from the Community Council. We actually issued a charter to them, to theme it to the period, as we understand that they were giving us time and energy outside of their lives and their jobs and we committed to ensuring that they knew what changes we were making, what impact they were having, how they were shaping the game.<\/p>\n<p>The feedback wasn\u2019t going into a void. Every piece of it was being digested and taken to the game teams and reviewed. We\u2019ve really committed to letting them know what changes we\u2019ve made so they know how they\u2019re playing a part in shaping the game. And that\u2019s everything from the look of icons in the UI all the way to the game systems. So, they really played a part in the game as people will see it as we head towards launch.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" src=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/castles-kings-and-community-an-interview-with-the-team-behind-age-of-empires-iv-2.jpg\" alt=\"Age of Empires IV\" class=\"wp-image-152221\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>Xbox Wire: What are some of the steps you\u2019re taking to welcome new players to Age of Empires who have never played an entry in this series, or even an RTS before? With the game coming to Xbox Game Pass, you\u2019re going to have a great influx of players. What are some of the things you\u2019re preparing yourselves for with that?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Philippe Boulle: <\/strong>I\u2019ve had the pleasure to work on some of the opening experience for the player and we\u2019re really trying to roll out that red carpet and welcome people who may not be familiar with Age, with strategy games, and really just put the best parts of the game forward.<\/p>\n<p>We walk you through that Age -up experience, that core Age fun of going from a small village to a large town and unroll the mechanics for you there. And then the campaigns serve as the big way to introduce mechanics. You create that historical context so you can understand what\u2019s happening and we can introduce different parts of the game one step at a time.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, there\u2019s people who will want to jump straight into multiplayer or straight into skirmish versus the A.I. All those things are available, and people can do that, but I think for newcomers that sort of walk into the front end of the game and going into a historical campaign with these wonderful films, giving you the context and then enough help on the ground, that you can get going. And the missions are designed to let you explore that space at your own pace.<\/p>\n<p>I think we\u2019ll be welcoming a huge number of new players, certainly from Xbox Game Pass. But even just the core joy of Age in the same way that <em>Age I<\/em> and <em>Age II <\/em>20 years ago brought in this whole audience of people who were captivated by the historical narrative, and by the connection with their own cultures, with their own lives, I think we\u2019re set up to the same thing this time.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" src=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/castles-kings-and-community-an-interview-with-the-team-behind-age-of-empires-iv-3.jpg\" alt=\"Age of Empires IV\" class=\"wp-image-152222\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>Xbox Wire: Was returning the series to the Middle Ages always intended to be the focus for <em>Age of Empires IV<\/em>? Can you go into some detail on what weighed you in this direction?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Quinn Duffy<\/strong>: I think my first reaction when I was pulled into the room that we got this offer to meet with Microsoft about Age of Empires and my head immediately went to <em>Age of Empires II<\/em>. That\u2019s my formative experience. I loved that period of history; there\u2019s the breadth of content, the emergence of literal empires from all over the world, so there\u2019s great source material to draw from. It felt like the perfect place to start a new Age of Empires platform just because of the number of stories, the romanticism of the period, the exciting history of the period; there\u2019s great conflict between great empires. Immediately that\u2019s where my brain went. And I think Microsoft had many of the same intentions. They saw how popular <em>Age II<\/em> was and felt like a natural place to return to.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Philippe Boulle<\/strong>: The breadth of the Middle Ages gives us so much to work with. There are so many stories to get into there. It\u2019s also a nice hybrid of stories that resonate directly with our lived experience. You\u2019re talking about the events that created what we think of as England. This is stuff that resonates with people and the same is true of cultures from around the world.<\/p>\n<p>But it\u2019s also lots of stories that we don\u2019t know as much about. Stories of the Mongols, and the stories of the details of why the Normans invaded England and so on. So, we can tell stories that can relate to today, but also surprise people, delight people, with new perspectives they haven\u2019t thought of. We have four historical campaigns and eight civilizations at launch, each of those represents yet another story to tell. And that\u2019s just getting started. There\u2019s an infinite number of more stories to dive into in that period.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" src=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/castles-kings-and-community-an-interview-with-the-team-behind-age-of-empires-iv-4.jpg\" alt=\"Age of Empires IV\" class=\"wp-image-152220\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>Xbox Wire: How do you determine the balance between authenticity and entertainment in retelling history in <em>Age of Empires IV<\/em>?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Philippe Boulle<\/strong>: That\u2019s something we spent a lot of time thinking about, is how we could celebrate history in the best way and celebrate these cultures. We absolutely are a game and must think about game concepts, but our presentation of history is more than just moment-to-moment gameplay. There are also the films that come around it during the campaign, with additional materials to provide context.<\/p>\n<p>So, when it came to those documentary things, we really wanted to strive for the highest level of authenticity and really echoing the best understanding of those periods. We worked with historians and documentary film makers and medieval weapons experts to really get those right. When it came to the moment-to-moment gameplay, we wanted to use all those historical facts as inspiration and motivation for creating those gameplay experiences. What makes a civilization unique, what makes a particular historical battle special\u2026 we wanted to lean into those things. But we also need to deal with making sure you can see your units on the field, making sure you understand what your capabilities are, and making sure the gameplay is compelling, and fun, and balanced. That\u2019s always a big discussion.<\/p>\n<p>I honestly feel that history was much more of an asset than something we had to work around. It was something that inspired many of those game design choices. So, we ended up with gameplay that is just as much a celebration of those cultures and that history and the films that surround it.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" src=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/castles-kings-and-community-an-interview-with-the-team-behind-age-of-empires-iv-5.jpg\" alt=\"Age of Empires IV Interview Hero Image\" class=\"wp-image-152217\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>Xbox Wire: What are some of the steps you\u2019re taking to ensure all the cultures featured in <em>Age of Empires IV<\/em> are authentic representations and being considerate of their history?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Philippe Boulle<\/strong>: We\u2019ve worked with cultural experts and linguistics and historians tied to these cultures and had deep conversations with them, presenting our ideas, taking ideas on board from them, working to make sure that we\u2019re always coming to these cultures with that spirit of celebration. We want to show what makes each of these cultures magnificent. What makes them resonate today. We want to do that in a way that echoes for people who identify as that culture currently.<\/p>\n<p>[For example] we used Mongolian voice actors from Mongolia to do all the voices, we worked with Mongolian musicians, we worked with historians and horse experts in Mongolia to get all those ideas right. And did that across all the cultures. The idea is to create a sort of cultural resonance that if you identify as part of the culture or see yourself as a decedent of that culture. You see elements of yourself and feel that we\u2019re getting it. If you\u2019re not, then you\u2019re discovering something new. We hope that will resonate across all the civilizations.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<p>A special thanks to Quinn, Philippe, and Emma for taking the time to talk to us today. We\u2019ll have more to share about <em>Age of Empires IV <\/em>in the coming months as we get closer to its release date later this year. Be sure to check out our <strong>Age of Empires: Fan Preview event recap<\/strong> for even more Age-related news and updates and keep it tuned here to Xbox Wire for all the latest gaming news for Xbox and Windows 10 PC.<\/p>\n<p>Related:<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/news.xbox.com\/en-us\/2021\/04\/10\/age-of-empires-fan-preview-recap\/\">Age of Empires: Fan Preview Recap &#8211; Everything Revealed at Today\u2019s Global Community Event<\/a><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/news.xbox.com\/en-us\/2021\/04\/08\/unto-the-end-feature\/\">Unto The End: A Souls-like Where Fighting Isn\u2019t Your Only Option<\/a><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/news.xbox.com\/en-us\/2021\/04\/07\/xbox-sessions-stars-of-workaholics-reunite-to-play-outriders-on-xbox-series-x\/\">Xbox Sessions: Stars of \u201cWorkaholics\u201d Reunite to Play Outriders on Xbox Series X<\/a><br \/> <a href=\"https:\/\/news.xbox.com\/en-us\/2021\/04\/10\/age-of-empires-4-interview\/\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Later this year, Age of Empires IV will usher in the latest chapter of this long running and acclaimed RTS franchise, sending us back to the age of castles, kings, and empires. As part of the Age of Empires: Fan Preview event (check out the full recap here), we had a chance to sit down with Relic Entertainment\u2019s Game Director Quinn Duffy and Narrative Lead Philippe Boulle as well as World\u2019s Edge Director of Customer Voice Emma Bridle to talk more about the upcoming strategy game, its unique blend of history and gameplay, and how its passionate community has kept the series alive for over two decades. Xbox Wire: Relic Entertainment has a strong pedigree of creating excellent strategy games (Company of Heroes, etc.). What&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"excerpt-more\"><a class=\"blog-excerpt button\" href=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/castles-kings-and-community-an-interview-with-the-team-behind-age-of-empires-iv\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":189269,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-189268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-xbox-wire"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Castles, Kings, and Community: An Interview with the Team Behind Age of Empires IV | Arcader News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Later this year, Age of Empires IV will usher in the latest chapter of this long running and acclaimed RTS franchise, sending us back to the age of\" 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