Gaming
Esports
Community-led: how fans of Age of Empires are shaping the game's future
From a beloved '90s game franchise to a unique competitive offering, we look at how Microsoft's World's Edge studio teamed up with the community to set the stage for Age of Empires' esports future.
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The first Age of Empires game was released in 1997 to critical success, and the franchise now has a full 25 years of advancements, upgrades, memories and achievements behind it. From blurry yet characterful origins to the crisp and beautifully realised battlefields of today, Age of Empires has grown into one of the best-known real-time strategy (RTS) franchises, winning multiple awards and starting life-long obsessions for many fans.
When people think of esports, they may still conjure up images of running and shooting or MOBAs filling stadiums. However, while the FPS and battle royale genres have done well in the esports ecosphere, Age of Empires has been diligently, yet slowly carving out a place for RTS games. The series has given rise to a new kind of esports energy, and a whole world of both exciting community-driven tournaments and major events like Red Bull Wololo.
But how did this move from a humble '90s game into a big-name esports contender come about? A big part of this growth involved funding and support from World's Edge, a studio created by Microsoft singularly to oversee the Age of Empires franchise and its future. The small team came together in 2019 and have since encouraged Age of Empires’ development, as well as provided funding and support to the thriving fan-centred esports scene.
We spoke to Will McCahill, Studio Business Lead at World's Edge, about how Age of Empires developed into the international giant it is today and the complex interwoven relationship that Microsoft is cultivating with the franchise's grassroots community.
Just getting started
The success of World's Edge may have something to do with many of the staff already being well-versed in Age of Empires, explains McCahill. "I'm a longtime Age of Empires fan, it was my favourite game as a kid growing up. My parents have a picture of me in second grade holding up Age of Empires II looking very excited."
The team came together somewhat informally – certainly not in the form World's Edge takes now – but gradually grew into an Age of Empires-loving group, who round off their days with a pretty apt ritual. "In late 2015 the Age of Empires franchise was part of Xbox Global Publishing, it wasn't its own studio. But with the formation of World’s Edge in 2019 and with our development partners around the world, we’re dedicated to growing Age of Empires for our players. So now I'm here, the business lead for World's Edge, and I'm still playing the game all the time. My team gets together multiple times a week to play Age of Empires at 4:30pm to end the day."
When the team first came together, the Age of Empires esports scene had a long way to go, and McCahill and co spent some time advocating for tournaments in unusual circumstances. "Myself and the community team went and secured funding from different teams within Microsoft. We pitched that there's this Age of Empires thing, and an amazing group of people who are putting together a tournament, and it's going to be in some guy's apartment. A lot of people thought it was a weird thing to do, but we asked them to trust us as we knew it was going to be big and people would love it. And it just took off from there."
For those of you wondering, McCahill is referencing the excellent Nili’s Apartment Cup tournament series!
Castle Heidelberg was home to Red Bull Wololo V
© Julian Schilase/ Red Bull
Microsoft isn't going to dictate what an Age of Empires tournament is going to look like. It's a community driven thing
Community spirit
As McCahill says, the community around Age of Empires had already self-funded and self-organised several esports tournaments before Microsoft ever got involved. "If you look at how the scene was organised before us there was already a $110,000 tournament that had nothing to do with us," he says. "So we just came alongside and said, 'here's some extra funding to help' and they continued to grow themselves. I think the Microsoft effort was a natural outcropping of what was already being done by the community."
This symbiotic relationship between Microsoft and the wider Age of Empires community continued and soon they were able to sponsor larger tournaments. But McCahill says the difference between Age of Empires and other esports is that the emphasis is still on organic community growth and input. "Microsoft isn't going to dictate what an Age of Empires tournament is going to look like. It's a community-driven thing that we try to guide and support."
This approach extends to how they support the competitive Age of Empires community, with McCahill explaining that "when we offer money to growing streamers we're saying, we like what you're doing, do more of that".
"It's not like we don't do huge official events, Red Bull Wololo: Legacy is a massive thing we're involved in, but even then, the difference is in how it's run," says McCahill. "All the talent is still community people who have been streaming Age of Empires for a long time. It's just got a very different feel."
Wildest dreams
The international element of the community was a pleasant surprise for McCahill, who says he's been "delighted by the community all over the globe". He adds: "It's super cool that, for example, a Vietnamese community have built their own scene, created their own esports group, and have local businesses sponsoring them. They got there before streaming was even a thing, running ads and other efforts to support themselves. I just keep being surprised by the amount of dedication."
Even knowing and loving Age of Empires and seeing the community go from strength to strength, McCahill and his team could never have anticipated the sheer scale of the esports scene. "It's a dream come true," he says, "I never thought this would happen. As a fan who saw the HD version come out in 2013 and got excited to play with friends, to go from there to where we are now. There are massive tournaments and we're renting a castle! So, did I ever think we'd be renting a castle to play Age of Empires in and host a massive event? No, that was beyond my wildest dreams."
Find out more about Red Bull Wololo: Legacy
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