The strategy game Age of Empires 4 was released on October 28. During the first weekend, 74,000 players were online simultaneously: a success for the series and the real-time strategy genre. The title is especially popular in Germany and Switzerland. Reviews praise the multiplayer mode.
This is how Age of Empires 4 performs on Steam:
- In the Global Top Sellers on Steam, Age of Empires IV currently holds the number 1 spot ahead of Forza Horizon 5, The Forest, and New World – indicating solid sales figures.
- In terms of player count, Age of Empires 4 reached a peak of 73,928 players online on Sunday. This is relatively high for a strategy game and surpasses successful strategy titles like Vermintide 2 or X:Com Enemy Unknown, according to PC Gamer.
- In reviews on Steam, Age of Empires is currently rated “Very Positive” – which corresponds to 83% positive reviews.
The strategy game expert from GameStar, Maurice Weber, critically addresses Age of Empires 4:
Germans simply love Age of Empires
Where is Age of Empires most popular? If you look at the search interest for Age of Empires 4 on Google Trends, interest is highest in Switzerland. Germany follows closely behind. In the German-speaking world, it seems that people simply love the series – Germans traditionally have a strong preference for strategy games, we also love games where we really have to work hard.
Surprisingly, Age of Empires 4 is also quite popular in China, Estonia, the Czech Republic, and New Zealand.
In the USA, interest in Age of Empires is low, with interest being only about one-third as high as in Germany.
The Germans’ preference for the strategy series is also reflected in the reviews: there are many German reviews – usually, English dominates the review section.
“Multiplayer success all around”
What do people say about the multiplayer? Age of Empires has always been known for its heated multiplayer battles, where players start in different corners of a map, build their bases, and clash over the course of the match.
In the first reviews, a positive picture emerges regarding the game’s multiplayer mode:
- It is said that the civilizations differ greatly from each other – this is better here than in Age of Empires 2
- One user says the multiplayer is “a complete success” – there are many different ways to play each civilization
- Other users criticize the state of the game, saying there are still many bugs in the title – it feels more like a beta
