Seems like that Age of Empires mobile game is actually happening

polygon.com:

Age of Empires fans know that getting a version of the game on mobile has been a long struggle. However, a new contender is set to be released soon. World’s Edge has unveiled new details for the upcoming Age of Empires Mobile at its “New Year, New Age” event on Friday, and the game looks to contain most of what you’d get in the regular console or PC version.

The free-to-play game is being developed by Tencent-owned TiMi Studio Group, which worked on Call of Duty Mobile with Activision, along with the studio World’s Edge, which is owned by Xbox. Age of Empires Mobile is now available for pre-registration on iOS and Android globally. There’s no word on a release date yet (although the iOS page says it’s expected on Aug. 19) but it’s expected to launch later in 2024.

The announcement claims that Age of Empires Mobile will replicate a lot of the gameplay with which fans are familiar, like fast-paced combat, real-time strategy, base-building, and online PvP multiplayer, but with controls that are optimized for mobile devices, Players will be able to make teams with a number of famous leaders from history and across the Age of Empires franchise, like Julius Caesar, King Arthur, Hannibal, Joan of Arc, Cleopatra, and more. Developers promise players will be able to battle it out with tons of other people online — just like they would in the regular versions (although they can also play solo).

“We grew up playing Age of Empires on our PCs and believe we can offer a new but similarly exciting experience for mobile players,” Brayden Fan, a general manager for TiMi, said in a press release.

This isn’t the first time Microsoft has tried to release a mobile version of the game. Back in June 2013, Microsoft was trying its hand at mobile game development, with one of its first projects being an Age of Empires mobile game. The IP was licensed out to KLabGames, which would develop a free-to-play version for iOS and Android (and later for Windows Phone, if you really want to date the