Call of Duty Mobile and Pokemon Unite dev lift the lid on Age of Empires Mobile, and how they plan to bring the beloved strategy series "to a broader audience on a mobile platform"

The developer behind Call of Duty Mobile and Pokemon Unite has revealed what it's bringing and leaving behind from Age of Empires to ensure its new strategy game helps the series find "a broader audience" on mobile. 

As part of the Age of Empires: New Year, New Age broadcast event, TiMi Studios and series developer World's Edge have lifted the lid on what the new mobile strategy game is all about. Talking to GamesRadar+ beforehand, Age of Empires Mobile producer Robin Xin says the team's vision from the start "has always been to bring the strategy experience of a top-class franchise to a broader audience on a mobile platform."

You're still getting all the gameplay elements you'll recognize from the Age series, like base building and resource management, alongside more specific callbacks like returning historical heroes, classic structures,  music and sound effects, and so on. 

As for "innovations," Xin says alliance gameplay will focus on "close cooperation and fierce competition," as well as "large-scale siege gameplay and historical hero commanders," who have a more prominent role in pre-battle strategy and are all new additions to the series.

Digging into what the mobile transformation can actually bring to the Age of Empires series that hasn't been done before, XIn points to the more streamlined controls and UI you get from mobile.

"This includes different controls to make it easier to manage troops, a more clear and simple user interface, or UI, that fits the needs of mobile players," he says. "Age of Empires Mobile is going to give players a chance to lean into strategic planning while adding new gameplay as well.

"We’ve incorporated some new single-player modes that are based on real-time strategy and made some distinct changes to our multiplayer modes. One of the big updates is our alliance gameplay, which pits massive player alliances against one another in epic siege wars. You’ll take on players from all over the world and we expect those who are most cooperative to play with their allies will win."

There's also good news for fans of Age of Empire's sillier, cherished features that have become beloved community memes, like the "Wololo" monk sound.

"We’ve included a few well-known elements (sorry no spoilers) to invoke prior Age of Empires experiences," Xin says when asked if the team is incorporating all the meme-like elements fans know and love. "But we expect Age of Empires Mobile to be a first-time experience with the franchise for many of our players. So our goal is not only to call back to prior games but also to offer new content that can be used to make new memes and memories."

Age of Empires Mobile begins beta testing soon on Apple and Android, and you can pre-register at those links if you're keen to jump in.

Here are the best Android and the best iPhone games you can play while you wait.