Microsoft doesn’t have a lot of “beloved” strategy IPs under its belt. There’s Age of Empires and Halo Wars, and few actually played, much less enjoyed the latter game.
So when we heard that Microsoft was hiring a senior games developer to join their team for “an established and well-loved” strategy franchise, our minds immediately leaped to the thought of Age of Empires.
Presumably, the game will be in development for the PC and/or Xbox One and not the Windows Phone or their Surface tablets.
"Microsoft Studios is looking for a highly experienced senior games developer to help build and lead the team for a new AAA title within an established and well-loved strategy game franchise," states the listing on the Microsoft Careers website.
Age of Empires Online was the studio’s last effort with the franchise, which is set to shutter its servers on July 1, 2014. The series’ original creators, Ensemble Studios, closed down in 2008. At both junctures, Microsoft denied that it would be the end of the series, and it looks like this development means it’s getting booted back up again. At least, we hope that to be the case. It’d be weird if they came up with a new Halo Wars game.
Source: CVG.
