While the initial release date was set for coming Thursday, October 19th, the developing team Forgotten Empires and Microsoft have decided that Age of Empires: Definitive Edition will be under development for at least a few months more.
https://www.ageofempires.com/news/age-empires-de-release-update/
The Heavenly Escort Night of the Dragon Corlis (DE) Dark Forest 2v2 (DE) New Random Maps Night Mode Lengthen Combat Mode The Big Hill 512x512, 768x768, 1024x1024 map sizes All Map Sizes All Map Sizes (AoK) BTI Soundtrack
As a beta tester for DE myself I can only agree that this is the most smart move to do - and to deliver the game in a good fully functional (definitive!) state, rather than patching things up. This also means that you can still sign up to become a beta tester yourself, as more people will be invited to join over the coming weeks. Aside from a first look into the game, you can provide essential feedback, suggestions and bug reports - so the end result will be nothing less than a classic 8th wonder of the world!"When we set out to re-release the original Age of Empires (as 'Age of Empires: Definitive Edition'), we had many debates over the extent of restoration that we should undertake. The challenge of re-releasing a classic is just that: it's a classic and it deserves to be treated with careful reverence. At the same time, in a living, thriving genre, norms continually evolve, technology advances, and player expectations change. This is as true for RTS as for any other genre. So, the challenge is to recreate the experience not as it *actually* was but as we all remember it. How can we modernize the game while preserving the fun, discovery and magic of that first experience?
To that end, rather than a final release of Age of Empires: Definitive Edition on October 19, we will instead be inviting thousands more players from the community into our closed beta between now and launch to allow for more in-depth testing across single player campaign, multiplayer balance, fine-tuning the lobby, etc.
We don't have a final release date to share quite yet, but are targeting early 2018. In the meantime, we will be actively engaging with everyone participating in the closed beta to gather additional feedback, set up multiplayer sessions, and ensure that the Age of Empires: Definitive Edition that we are delivering is the Definitive Edition that you want."
The Heavenly Escort Night of the Dragon Corlis (DE) Dark Forest 2v2 (DE) New Random Maps Night Mode Lengthen Combat Mode The Big Hill 512x512, 768x768, 1024x1024 map sizes All Map Sizes All Map Sizes (AoK) BTI Soundtrack
[This message has been edited by PhatFish (edited 10-14-2017 @ 08:20 AM).]