Well its been clear (to me at least) that MS is NOT going to publish TWO history themed RTS's at the same time. There strategy is becoming clearer.
ES has recently announced that the next AOE game will be have a fantasy setting. This leads me to beleive that BHG's game WILL have a HISTORICAL setting.
It makes sense - take AOE's very successful 2D engine into the fantasy realm, where there is a large market, but not (AFAIK) the kind of talent that ES brings to the table. ES's emphasis on fun over historical accuracy is an ASSET there. Brian, wih his pattern of excellent, serious games, is ideally suited to design a deep history game. Shogun, EU, the city builders, etc have already shown that there is no reason not to do this in an RTS. And from MS point of view, the AOE engine has already been milked in the history market, its time for something different.
I suspect that MS will have not one but TWO hits on its hands. One from ES, and one from BHG.
Lord of the Mark
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