A job listing online has sparked rumors that theAge of Empiresfranchise could be following recent industry trends by moving to Unreal Engine 5 going forward. Epic’s UE5 has become something of an industry standard of late, with many developers choosing to move away from proprietary engines in favor of it. Now, it appears thatAge of Empirescould take the same route.
Looking at the history ofeveryAge of Empiresgameis interesting. The first two titles in the series used the Genie Engine, whileAge of Empires 3would use the BANG! engine, a proprietary engine created by Ensemble Studios. This would also be used forAge of MythologyandAge of Empiresonline. The most recent game in the series,Age of Empires 4, used Essence Engine 5.0, yet another proprietary engine from Relic Entertainment. Old versions of the engine were used for games likeCompany of HeroesandWarhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 2.
A job listing for a Principal Build Lead Engineer atAge of Empiressupport studio World’s Edge has sparked some rumors about a potential move to Unreal Engine 5 for the franchise going forward. Among the requirements is “6+ years of professional experience in AAA scale Unreal Engine game development,” and one of the preferred qualifications is a “Deep understanding of Unreal Engine’s build pipeline and asset management systems.” Given World’s Edge exists solely (so far) to work onAge of Empires, it’s not a stretch to think that one of thebest action RTS franchiseswill use UE5 going forward. Right now, though, this remains a rumor.
Job Listing Hints at Age of Empires Move to Unreal Engine 5
At the moment, it seems as though there’s a big industry shift towards Unreal Engine 5. Some believe this is a bad thing, as it can give games a similar feeling. However, this is mitigated by solid art design to distinguish one game from another. Having one engine so widely used means studios can hire individuals already familiar with the technology, and get them working on creative things quicker, rather than having to bring them up to scratch on in-house engine details for a period. The biggest franchise tomake the move to Unreal Engine 5 so far isHalo, which last month revealed it will be using the engine for all its future titles. Don’t expect UE5 to go anywhere anytime soon.
A move to Unreal Engine 5 isn’t the only rumor floating around about the future of theAge of Empiresfranchise at the moment. It was recentlyrumored thatAge of Empirescould come to PlayStation, which would be a slight surprise given Microsoft owns it. Stranger things have happened, though. Gamers will have to wait and see if any of these interesting rumors come to fruition in the future.
