• Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition: We’ll reveal a brand-new campaign-focused expansion and an extended look at exclusive gameplay.
  
• Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition: After giving our players a new way to play for free in 2023, we are excited to reveal a new DLC with new civilizations.
  
• Age of Empires IV: Coming off our best-selling expansion ever with The Sultans Ascend, we will share updates on an upcoming brand-new season and a new in-game reward.
  
• Age of Empires Mobile: TiMi Studios, the award-winning developer, will share a first-time look at gameplay and give us a behind the scenes look into their studio. The team will share their passion for Age of Empires and their vision to bring the franchise to new and existing fans alike.
  
• Age of Mythology: Retold: The team will take us behind the curtain in the studio to show how they are developing this beloved game for a new, modern experience. Fans can expect a unique unveiling of a few mythological creatures that you won’t want to miss.
  

• Welyn’s Twitch
  
• Age of Empires Twitch
  
• Age of Empires YouTube
  
• Age of Empires Steam Page
  
• Age of Empires.com
  
• Bilibili, HuyaTV and DouyuTV for our fans in China (delayed localized stream)
  

💬 DISCUSS: Official Forum
💬 DISCUSS: Steam Forum
🗣 JOIN: Official Discord

Please Note: As part of updating to this latest build, any saved games and observable matches made on previous builds will be unable to be loaded or replayed.

This is just a small taste of what is coming in the latest update. For a more complete list, please visit our site and check out our blog. Happy Gaming!

Season Theme and Event

New! Lunar Faire 2024

We’re excited to have you all join us for Lunar Faire in a few short days with an awesome seasonal event set to start February 1st and run through February 22nd! Make way for the Year of the Dragon!

Login Reward

[table][tr][td][/td][td]Log in on February 16 to receive a profile icon of a Chinese lantern with firecrackers going off![/td][/tr][/table]

Map Pool Rotation

With a new update comes an opportunity to refresh the map pools! This update features two maps that have not seen ranked play yet: Forts and Waterholes.

Some familiar maps have made their return — giving brand new civilizations a chance to flex their refreshing gameplay on familiar battlegrounds.

1v1 Ranked Map Pool

Maps rotating out for 9.2

1. Hidden Valley
   
2. Rocky River
   
3. Canal
   
4. Golden Heights
   

Maps rotating in

1. Forts
   
2. Boulder Bay
   
3. Mongolian Heights
   
4. Four Lakes
   

New 1v1 Ranked Map Pool

• Dry Arabia
  
• Cliffside
  
• Himeyama
  
• Forts
  
• Gorge
  
• Boulder Bay
  
• Mongolian Heights
  
• Golden Pit
  
• Four Lakes
  

Team Ranked Map Pool

Maps rotating out for 9.2

1. Hidden Valley
   
2. Volcanic Island
   
3. Hideout
   
4. Golden Heights
   

Maps rotating in

1. Forts
   
2. Canal
   
3. Hill and Dale
   
4. Waterholes
   

New Team Ranked Map Pool

• Dry Arabia
  
• Cliffside
  
• Himeyama
  
• Forts
  
• Gorge
  
• Canal
  
• Hill and Dale
  
• Golden Pit
  
• Waterholes
  

Xbox Update: Xbox Home Share

After we launched The Sultans Ascend expansion last year, we heard that Xbox Home share wasn’t working as expecting. This has been fixed in this latest update.

Design Update

• Our main focus this update has been to improve the balance of new Civilizations.
  
• The Japanese sacred choice design has been reworked, with six new technologies that are unlocked at either the Shinto Shrine or Buddhist Temple; based on your Castle Age Landmark selection.

Crash Fixes

We’ve identified and fixed a number of high frequency crashes and desyncs, this should lead to better game stability with this update.

This is just a small taste of what is coming in the latest update. For a more complete list, please visit our site and check out our blog. Happy Gaming!

:alertalert: DISCLAIMER

This list is subject to change and should not be considered a comprehensive list of all the known issues we’re tracking. The above is to inform you of the team’s current priorities, which will change as other issues arise or take precedence.

For the latest updates and announcements, please visit our social channels.

GAMES & PLATFORMS IMPACTED

• 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)
  

OBJECTIVES

• Routine server updates and maintenance.

DETAILS

• 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.
  

☃️ Steam Winter Sale ☃️

Age of Empires IV

Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition

Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition

Age of Empires: Definitive Edition

Age of Mythology

💬 DISCUSS: Official Forum
💬 DISCUSS: Steam Forum
🗣 JOIN: Official Discord

Please Note: As part of updating to this latest build, any saved games and observable matches made on previous builds will be unable to be loaded or replayed.

Official Mod: Free Camera

In Patch 9.1.370 we mentioned a new official mod called “Free Camera”. In case you missed that announcement, the mod is out now for you to enjoy!

Known Issues

Tons o’ Toys Challenge Long Trip Not Unlocking
We are aware that the in-game text for “Long Trip” incorrectly indicates this challenge is unlocked by playing a 2v2 multiplayer Empire Wars match. The correct unlock requirement is:

• 🔒 Play a 2v2 multiplayer match versus 2 AI opponents.

Upcoming

Late January/Early February Patch
We are planning for our next minor patch to release in early 2024, with a target of late January or early February.

:alertalert: DISCLAIMER

This list is subject to change and should not be considered a comprehensive list of all the known issues we’re tracking. The above is to inform you of the team’s current priorities, which will change as other issues arise or take precedence.

For the latest updates and announcements, please visit our social channels.

• Stability fixes for campaign and multiplayer.
  
• Additional fixes to improve server latency, meant to pair with improvements made in recent server maintenances.
  
• Adjustments to several maps.
  
• Several corrections to localization.
  
• A new official mod: Free Camera.
  
• Balance changes focused around the Japanese and Byzantines, as well as the variant civilizations.
  
• …plus bug fixes and further balance improvements.

💬 DISCUSS: Official Forum
💬 DISCUSS: Steam Forum
🗣 JOIN: Official Discord

Please Note: As part of updating to this latest build, any saved games and observable matches made on previous builds will be unable to be loaded or replayed.

This is just a small taste of what is coming in the latest update. For a more complete list, please visit our site and check out our blog. Happy Gaming!

Seasonal Event: Tons o' Toys

Stay frosty this winter season with our Tons o’ Toys seasonal event! Complete these cool challenges to unlock a flurry of in-game rewards. Unwrap these presents while you can! Tons o’ Toys is scheduled to run from mid-December through 11:59pm PT on Jan 11th, 2024 (07:59 UTC on Jan 12th, 2024).

We will be releasing a small hotfix build to light-up this event early next-week. If there is any delay of this event, we will communicate this status on the Age of Empires IV game news channel of our Discord.



In-game text for the “Long Trip” incorrectly indicates this challenge is unlocked by playing an Empire Wars match. Please refer to the above challenge list for the updated text.

Login Event – Surprise Inside

[table][tr][td][/td][td]A gift just for you! Starting in mid-December, login to Age of Empires IV to claim a special present-themed sigil for your Coat of Arms! This login event will start alongside Tons o’ Toys, and run through 11:59pm PT on December 19th (19:59 UTC on December 20th).[/td][/tr][/table]

Seasonal Biome - Winter

A snowy, northern landscape in the chill of winter.

The Winter biome will be available in-game starting today (December 6th) and will be available in skirmish and custom lobbies until a planned patch in early 2024.

Stability Fixes

A number of compounding events led to server issues reported on November 18th and 19th. Since then, we’ve taken several steps to improve server latency and stability, including the previously communicated server maintenance windows on November 23rd and 29th. This patch also includes some game-side fixes meant to act in tandem with improvements already made to the server. Thank you all for the reports during this time.

Map Adjustments

Our most recent major update introduced 3 new maps, while our expansion added an additional 10. Several balance changes and bug fixes have been made to some of these and existing maps, detailed in Maps section further on.

Localization

Several players have noted that some of the translations in our expansion were inconsistent with the quality of localization for Age of Empires IV. Thanks to community reporting, we have identified some of these mistranslations and today’s patch fixes many of them, especially with our Chinese localizations.

We welcome further input and discussion on the Age Forums, where our community heroes have already been hard at work. Thank you!

New Official Mod: Free Camera

By popular request, we are introducing a new official mod to allow creators to freely move the camera for taking videos and screenshots. The “Free Camera” mod unlocks the camera from its default constraints and allows movement around without limit.

Balance Changes

With the introduction of 2 new civilizations and 4 variant civilizations, most of today’s balance changes are focused on the impact these new additions have had on recent gameplay and as such there are more balance changes than typical for our minor patches. You can read more about these in the Civilization-Specific Changes section below.

This is just a small taste of what is coming in the latest update. For a more complete list, please visit our site and check out our blog. Happy Gaming!

:alertalert: DISCLAIMER

This list is subject to change and should not be considered a comprehensive list of all the known issues we’re tracking. The above is to inform you of the team’s current priorities, which will change as other issues arise or take precedence.

For the latest updates and announcements, please visit our social channels.

GAMES & PLATFORMS IMPACTED

• 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)
  

OBJECTIVES

• Routine server updates and maintenance.

DETAILS

• 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.
  

Get the Official Sountrack Now!