Back at E3, Microsoft announced a remaster of the original Age of Empires from 1997, with the game set to arrive on October 19 to the Windows Store, marking the series' 20th anniversary. But, it seems everything has not gone to plan. Less than a week before Age of Empires: Definitive Edition was supposed to launch, the developer has now announced that it has been delayed.
While the developer did not give an exact reason as to why the delay occurred, or why did it happen so close to the launch, it said the following:
When we set out to re-release the original Age of Empires (as ‘Age of Empires: Definitive Edition’), we had many debates over the extent of restoration that we should undertake. The challenge of re-releasing a classic is just that: it’s a classic and it deserves to be treated with careful reverence. At the same time, in a living, thriving genre, norms continually evolve, technology advances, and player expectations change. This is as true for RTS as for any other genre. So, the challenge is to recreate the experience not as it *actually* was but as we all remember it. How can we modernize the game while preserving the fun, discovery and magic of that first experience?
All is not lost, however, as the developer will be inviting thousands of more players to the game's closed beta for testing and gathering feedback on its various components, ranging from the single-player campaign, multiplayer, as well as other systems. Interested players can sign-up to the closed beta on the official website here.
Although, something that is lost is the game's release date, as the developer did not share a new one, only saying that it is "targeting early 2018". On the other hand, Age of Empires: Definitive Edition's store page on the Windows Store states that the release date is set for December 31, 2018, but we assume this is probably a mistake.
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