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Taking a Look at the Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition Closed Beta

The Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition multiplayer closed beta has been active since shortly after our E3 2019 announcement, and we’re thrilled to have shared this pre-launch journey with more than 50,000 passionate fans so far! We intend to keep the closed beta running from now until shortly before the game’s Nov. 14 launch to give additional Age Insiders hands-on time with the game and to ensure we’re continuing our work toward a truly definitive edition of Age of Empires II. That said, we think now is the perfect time to provide the wider community with a “sneak peek” of the victories we’ve seen in beta.

A Fabulous Community

We’ve always known Age fans to be passionate, and you haven’t disappointed us since we relaunched the Age of Empires Insider Program in June 2019. In approximately four months’ time, nearly 90,000 fans have registered for our Insider Program, indicating they’d like to contribute to and stay up to date on the future of all our Age titles.

We’ve been growing our Age II: DE beta audience based on the information provided at the time of registration and have equipped each beta participant with multiple tools for providing us with feedback about the beta as they’ve lobbied up and grown their empires. Since June, thousands of fans have provided us with their input via the forums and surveys, and we’ve been able to make more than 300 changes based on that feedback — spanning from UI and AI to the soundtrack and game balance.

A Major Impact

The Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition closed beta community has been focused on multiplayer, and as a result, we’ve gathered a ton of helpful data and community feedback to ensure the matchmaking and lobby experiences give our players what they want.

  • Civilization balance changes. Balance has always been vital to Age games, and we’ve already implemented several changes to new and existing civs based on suggestions provided during the beta.
  • Play Multiplayer your way. Tons of new quality of life improvements have been added to our multiplayer lobby and matchmaking systems based on your requests. For example, the game now remembers whether you prefer to queue for matchmaking or join a custom lobby, helping you get into the games you want even faster, and plays an audio cue when a successful match is made.
  • Connection quality indicator. There are Age players all over the world, who we anticipate will be hosting and hopping into games starting Nov. 14. To better empower our community, we’ve implemented a Connection Quality indicator to give you a better idea of which servers and matches to join.
  • New speed options. Thanks in part to beta feedback Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition includes a variety of speed options, based on whether you’re looking to play for fun or more competitively. This includes 1x, 1.5x, 1.69x and 2x speed options.
  • Updated lobby music! We know this may sound small, but early on, our beta participants let us know that the lobby music should keep them uplifted and excited. As a result, we shifted our direction so that the lobby now rotates through a number of the game’s more upbeat tracks.

And That’s Just the Beginning!

These changes, and many others, came about because of feedback from the Age of Empires Insiders. But even though the beta’s almost over, we’re not done yet! We will soon share our post-launch plans for continued support and updates to the game, and we couldn’t be more excited to be on this journey together with our community!

Thanks to each and every one of you for taking the time to register as an Age Insider, join us in the beta, pre-order the game or reach out via our social channels to share your excitement. We’re just as excited as you are about Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition and can’t wait to continue sharing the game, both in beta and beyond!

Become an Age Insider!

Insiders unlock access to exclusive news, updates, and opportunities to provide feedback about future releases. Here are some of the perks:

  • Access to private forums where you can interact with Age developers
  • The chance to join exclusive beta opportunities through Steam and the Windows Store
  • Channels to provide feedback and inspire quality changes in your favorite Age titles