Co-founder convinced magazines the game was innovative

Apr 25, 2012 00:21 GMT  ·  By

The Age of Empires series might now be reduced to an online-only free-to-play game, but it was once one of the biggest sellers of the industry and a series that was closely watched by the media.

Tony Goodman, one of the co-founders of the now-defunct Ensemble Studios, has told Gamasutra that, “Magazines like to report massive blockbusters or colossal failures. Everything in between is not news.

“I don't like leaving marketing and public relations to chance, so while Microsoft was doing their public relations campaign, I did mine. The key was to get a 'first follower' -- a well-known opinion leader who is an early advocate of your product.”

The developer used key words like revolutionary and phenomenon to describe his still-in-development game and he succeeded in creating anticipation for it, even if many were not inclined to believe his hype.

Goodman added, “When the first early previews began appearing, they were using the terms that we seeded: 'revolutionary' and 'phenomenal'. These early opinions were then picked up and echoed by other publications, creating a snowball effect. Eventually, all the publications would get on board with this message just so they didn't look out of touch.”

Age of Empires was a real-time strategy series that tackled historical periods and allowed players to take on the role of well-known historical figures from Roman Emperors to American revolutionary leaders.

The game also offered multiplayer modes that appealed to both history lovers and competitive players, especially for the second game in the series.

After the launch of Age of Empires III and its two expansions, The Warchiefs and Asian Dynasties, Ensemble Studios was closed down by Microsoft and its core developers left to create their own companies or chosen to work on the online only spin-off for the franchise.