Xbox Game Studios and TiMi Studios, a subsidiary of Tencent, have announced their first joint project. They will develop a mobile version of Age of Empires. According to analysts, such a partnership will help Xbox strengthen in the Asian market and attract a new audience to its “big” franchises
Age of Empires IV
The fact that TiMi Studios, Xbox Game Studios, as well as the World’s Edge company are working on an adaptation of Age of Empires, analyst Daniel Ahmad said.
On Twitter, he posted a post with a teaser of the upcoming game.
Tencent's TiMi Studios Group has confirmed it is working with Xbox Game Studios and subsidiary World's Edge to adapt the Age of Empires IP for smartphones.
The game is being developed by TiMi Studios under the title 'Return to Empire' and is set to launch in China. pic.twitter.com/xGNjQZjeKE
— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) August 12, 2021
The new game will be released under the name Return to Empire. It will remain a historical RTS, the events of which will unfold in the empires of Europe and Asia.
So far, only Chinese residents will be able to play this version of the cult franchise. But it is not known when the release will take place in China. It is also unknown whether Return to Empire will ever have an international release.
Ahmad noted that the deal with TiMi Studios is extremely important for Microsoft. The fact is that now the key strategy of the company’s gaming direction is the expansion of “big” franchises to new platforms and markets.
Microsoft sees potential for growth not only in PC games and cloud gaming, but also in mobile. Therefore, she intends to engage in both the development of the Xbox Game Pass and the development of midcore mobile titles based on her popular franchises.
Moreover, according to Ahmad, for Microsoft, the market of premium console or PC games and the market of mobile freeplay are two fundamentally different markets. Despite the fact that with the development of cloud technologies, premium titles have become possible to run on smartphones, a different audience is playing in the mobile frituplay. Therefore, by adapting franchises to mobile, the company increases their popularity more.
In addition, there is an opinion that a partnership specifically with TiMi Studios will allow Microsoft to reach Asian gamers and strengthen its position in this region.
Recall that the cooperation between the two companies became known in May. Then it was reported that they would create game content together, but without details.