Xbox Game Studios is an American video game publisher based in Redmond, Washington. It was established in March 2000, spun out from an internal Games Group, for the development and publishing of video games for Microsoft Windows. It has since expanded to include games and other interactive entertainment for the namesake Xbox platforms, other desktop operating systems, Windows Mobile and other mobile platforms, web-based portals, and other game consoles.
Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings is a real-time strategy video game developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft. Released in 1999 for Microsoft Windows and Macintosh in 2001, it is the second game in the Age of Empires series. The Age of Kings is set in the Middle Ages and contains 13 playable civilizations. Players aim to gather resources, which they use to build towns, create armies, and defeat their enemies. There are 5 historically based campaigns, which conscript the player to specialized and story-backed conditions, and 3 additional single-player game modes; multiplayer is also supported.
Age of Empires III is a real-time strategy video game developed by Microsoft Corporation's Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft Game Studios. The Mac version was ported over and developed and published by Destineer's MacSoft. The PC version was released on October 18, 2005, in North America and November 4, 2005, in Europe, while the Mac version was released on November 21, 2006, in North America and September 29, 2006, in Europe. An N-Gage version of the game developed by Glu Mobile was released on April 28, 2009. It is the third game of the Age of Empires series and the sequel to Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings. A remaster titled Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition was released on October 15, 2020. Its successor, Age of Empires IV was released October 28, 2021, for Windows.
Age of Mythology is a real-time strategy video game developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft Game Studios. It was released on October 31, 2002 in North America and on November 14, 2002 in Europe.
Age of Empires is a series of historical real-time strategy video games, originally developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Xbox Game Studios. The first game was Age of Empires, released in 1997. Nine total games within the series have been released so far as of October 28, 2021.
The Genie Engine is a game engine developed by Ensemble Studios and used in several computer games, such as Age of Empires, Age of Empires II and its expansions and Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds. Some of those games have been ported to the Apple Mac.
Tantalus Media is an Australian video game developer based in Melbourne. It was founded in 1994 by programmers Andrew Bailey and Trevor Nuridin. Since its inception, Tantalus has developed almost 100 games and has won multiple game awards. In March 2021, Keywords Studios acquired 85% of Tantalus Media for US$46.8 million.
Age of Empires (AoE) is a real-time strategy video game based on history, developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft, and the first game in the Age of Empires series. The game uses the Genie Engine, a 2D sprite-based game engine. The game allows the user to act as the leader of an ancient civilization by advancing it through four ages, gaining access to new and improved units with each advance.
Halo Wars is a real-time strategy (RTS) video game developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox 360 video game console. It was released in Australia on February 26, 2009; in Europe on February 27; and in North America on March 3. The game is set in the science fiction universe of the Halo series in the year 2531, 21 years before the events of Halo: Combat Evolved. The player leads human soldiers aboard the warship Spirit of Fire in an effort to stop an ancient fleet of ships from falling into the hands of the genocidal alien Covenant.
SkyBox Labs Inc. is a Canadian video game developer located in Burnaby, British Columbia. Founded in 2011 by Derek MacNeil, Shyang Kong and Steven Silvester formerly from EA Vancouver, they are mostly known for their work with Xbox Game Studios on the Halo, Age of Empires and Minecraft franchises.
Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition is a 2019 real-time strategy video game developed by World's Edge and Forgotten Empires and published by Xbox Game Studios. It is a remaster of the 1999 game Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings, celebrating the 20th anniversary of the original. It features significantly improved visuals, supports 4K resolution, and includes all previous expansions from the original and HD Edition. In addition, the game includes The Last Khans, an expansion that adds four new civilizations based on Central Asia and Eastern Europe, as well as four new campaigns. Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition was released for Windows on November 14, 2019, and was ported to Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S on January 31, 2023.
Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition is a real-time strategy video game developed by Tantalus Media and Forgotten Empires and published by Xbox Game Studios. It is a remaster of the 2005 game Age of Empires III, celebrating the 15th anniversary of the original. It features improved visuals, a remastered soundtrack, two new game modes, and four new civilizations, plus African and Mediterranean-themed downloadable content as of June 2022. The Mediterranean expansion introduces the Italians as a playable civilization, which was planned for the original version of the game but did not appear. It includes all previous expansions from the original game. It was released on October 15, 2020 for Windows.
Age of Empires IV is a real-time strategy video game developed by Relic Entertainment in partnership with World's Edge and published by Xbox Game Studios. It is the fourth installment of the Age of Empires series, and the first installment not developed by Ensemble Studios. The game was released on October 28, 2021 for Windows, and on August 22, 2023 for Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S.
World's Edge is an American video game developer and a studio of Xbox Game Studios based in Redmond, Washington. They were established in June 2019 to oversee the Age of Empires franchise. The studio works with external studios such as Forgotten Empires, Tantalus Media and Relic Entertainment to bring back the franchise.
Age of Mythology: Retold is a real-time strategy video game developed by World's Edge and Forgotten Empires and published by Xbox Game Studios. It serves as a remastered version of Age of Mythology, originally developed by Ensemble Studios and released in 2002. It was first revealed on October 25, 2022. The game was released on September 4, 2024, for Windows and Xbox Series X/S. The game received generally positive reviews from critics.
