Microsoft cancels announced DLC for Age of Empires 3: Definitive Edition

A previously announced DLC for Age of Empires 3: Definitive Edition will not be developed after all.

“Last year as part of the New Year New Age event we announced another DLC for Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition. After serious consideration, this DLC has been canceled,” a statement made on the official website said. “Please understand, this decision was not made lightly.”

In the statement, Microsoft’s Age of Empires team clarified that the announcement of the DLC had been made to “ensure that Age III: DE players felt part of the franchise celebration” — but “pushing to ensure that the game was included meant we announced content before it had been built, and we now feel that announcement was premature.”

“We know that this is a huge disappointment, and many of you were excited for more content,” the team added.

It looks like Microsoft intends to put Age of Empires 3: Definitive Edition into maintenance mode, foregoing the addition of brand-new content to the game.

“Whilst we will not be moving forwards with this DLC content for Age III: DE, we will continue to maintain servers, rotate civs through the free trial version, and provide Customer Support for any issues you may encounter whilst playing,” the statement explained.

Age of Empires 3 has always lived in the long shadow of the more popular Age of Empires 2 and it seems like its Definitive Edition was unable to step out of it. While Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition is still pulling in over 20,000 concurrent players on Steam during its daily peaks, Age of Empires 3: Definitive Edition attracts about a quarter of that number.

In contrast to the setting sun of Age of Empires 3, its predecessor continues to receive ever bigger and more ambitious expansions like Victors and Vanquished.