Age of Empires
Age of Empires is a series of historical real-time strategy video games, originally developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft Studios. The first title of the series was "Age of Empires", released in 1997. Seven titles and three spin-offs have been released.
Empires: Dawn of the Modern World
Empires: Dawn of the Modern World is a 2003 real-time strategy video game developed by Stainless Steel Studios and published by Activision. Set in a world-historical period that extends from the Middle Ages to World War II, the game tasks players with guiding one of nine rival great civilizations to victory. Customer surveys from Stainless Steel's previous game, "Empire Earth", were used as a starting point for "Empires": these inspired the team to take a more minimalist design approach, and to include civilizations without overlapping styles of play. "Empires" was positively received by critics, who enjoyed its multiplayer component. However, certain reviewers disliked its single-player mode, and opinion clashed on the game's level of uniqueness compared to competitors such as "Rise of Nations". The sales of "Empires", when combined with those of "Empire Earth", totaled 2.5 million units by 2004.