Age of Empires: Definitive Edition delayed to early 2018, closed beta extended

That's rather disappointing news for Age of Empires fans.

A little under one week before it was set to release, Age of Empires: Definite Edition has been delayed.

The game was announced at E3 2017 during the PC Gaming Show, and given an October 19 release date during gamescom back in August.

Yesterday, the Age of Empires development team stated the game need more time in the oven. To that end, thousands will be invited to join those who've been testing the game since the closed beta kicked off in August.

Players will be invited between now and launch to allow for more "in-depth testing across single-player campaign, multiplayer balance, fine-tuning the lobby." If you want a chance to participate, you can sign up for the beta through the official Age of Empires website.

"When we set out to re-release the original Age of Empires, we had many debates over the extent of restoration that we should undertake," reads the statement. "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?"

A final release date for Age of Empires: Definitive Edition hasn't been set, but the target is early 2018.

Definitive Editions for Age of Empires 2 and 3 are also part of the development schedule alongside Age of Empires 4.

The latter is being developed by Relic Entertainment.