Age of Empires Future Uncertain as Microsoft Layoffs Hit World's Edge

Microsoft's recent round of layoffs may have killed off plans for a new Age of Empires game, according to reports from former employees. The layoffs, which affected World's Edge, the internal studio responsible for overseeing the Age of Empires franchise, seem to have cancelled a project that was in development. This is based on comments from Adam Isgreen, who noted that ahead of the firings, World's Edge had 'some great plans for what's next.'

Isgreen, who worked on some of the biggest names in RTS since 1993, including Command & Conquer and Star Wars: Empire At War, was one of several key figures to leave the studio. The layoffs also affected Andrew Martz, a Senior Software Engineer who had joined from Gearbox.

The hope had been that World's Edge would be working on Age of Empires V, a brand new project rather than a remake. However, it seems this is no longer the case, with one former employee stating that 'our next project was cancelled.'