The first Empire Earth game made its debut 15 years ago and quickly became one of the most popular real-time strategy games. The games, which are often compared to Age of Empires, caught the attention of gamers because they featured a number of nations and expansion packs.
Empire Earth was released in 2001 and was developed by Stainless Steel Studios and published by Sierra Entertainment. The game impressed fans and critics right away, with many giving it good reviews. Sales were really good too, with two million units sold. The success led to an expansion pack and sequels. The game included more than 20 nations and 14 epochs.
In 2003, Empires: Dawn of the Modern World was released. It is not a sequel to Empire Earth but did feature a lot of things from the first game. The game only had nine civilizations this time but still received good reviews.
Empire Earth II, III and Expansion Packs
Empire Earth II was released two years later and was not developed by Stainless Steel Studios. The second game came with weather effects, improved graphics but was similar to the first game. The game was entertaining but the reviews were not as good as previous releases.
In 2006, Empire Earth II received its first expansion pack called Empire Earth II: The Art of Supremacy. The expansion pack added new civilizations, units, campaigns and features. But the release was disappointing to many fans and critics, who were not happy about the lack of innovation, especially from the campaigns.
The series continued with Empire Earth III and things did not go well. The game, released in 2007, was not well received and contained just five epochs. Critics were not happy with the bugs, combat and a few other things. This would be the last release for the PC.
Mobile Version
Before Empire Earth III, the studio released a mobile version of the game called Empire Earth Mobile. This time, the game was turn-based strategy, making it a little different from the others in the series. The game featured only four types of units and ten campaign levels. This was also the first time that the game did not feature citizens. Empire Earth Mobile has just three game modes, including multiplayer. Empire Earth Mobile continued the success of the first games, receiving good reviews.
The games were great at the beginning, so what went wrong? No one really knows but the reviews got worse and worse with every release. Fans and critics were not happy with the lack of innovation and that continued throughout the last expansion and release.
Empire Earth III was released eight years ago and some fans still want to see a fourth game. The third release was not a success but most of the other games did well. A fourth game has not been announced and the future of the series does not look good.
What happened to the Empire Earth Series – 2024 Update
The Empire Earth Series was renowned for its broad scope, spanning over 500,000 years of world history. However, in the years following its last release, the game series has somewhat faded into the background, leading many fans to question what happened to Empire Earth.
The original Empire Earth, launched in 2001, was a hit among gaming enthusiasts due to its detailed gameplay mechanics and vast historical timeline. Its success spurred the development and release of two sequels: Empire Earth II in 2005 and Empire Earth III in 2007. The Empire Earth Series distinguished itself from other similar games with its unique feature of enabling players to experience multiple epochs within a single game, from the prehistoric age to the nano age.
However, after the release of Empire Earth III, the series seemed to lose momentum. This was primarily due to disappointing sales figures and poor critical reception for this third installment. Unlike its predecessors, Empire Earth III failed to captivate players with its simplified gameplay mechanics and lackluster storyline. This led to a significant decline in its player base and ultimately marked the beginning of a dormant period for the series.
The downfall of the Empire Earth Series was further cemented when Mad Doc Software, the developer behind Empire Earth II and III, was acquired by Rockstar Games in 2008. The acquisition resulted in the discontinuation of any further developments or updates for the series. Furthermore, Sierra Entertainment, the game’s publisher, was absorbed by Activision Blizzard in 2008 which seemed to put an end to any hope for a revival of the Empire Earth Series.
Despite numerous pleas from fans for a reboot or remastering of the original games in recent years, there has been no announcement or indication of any intention to revive the series.
EE1 no doubts about it
the last one was horrible. EE1 is tops by a mile. Same game, don’t change anything, just redo the graphics for a start + add first person ground-level gameplay. (ship or tank sim too)
empire earth 1 just needs fresh graphics and new units ..maybe mix in more sim city building type research/tek ..the gameplay and combat teamplay is unrivaled in rts
Empire Earth 1 is the best in the series. I really loved it, from the second one on, they stopped the heroes unit, which I felt pretty disappointed with it. The hero unit in EE1 is so lovable and you can turn the tide of the battle with them. I wish they would make a HD version of EE1 without any change to the content, especially, not to remove/change the hero units.
I preferred Empire Earth II over the others. Creating multiples and toggling infinite creation of units is invaluable. EE3 felt too much like Risk, which is a good game in itself, but if I want Risk, I’ll play that instead. While I see the comparisons with Age of Empires, I always preferred Empire Earth because of the freedom to have prehistoric through space age civilizations in the same game, while each Age of Empires installment covers a specific subset of epochs. I did enjoy the campaigns on all though. Another feature I enjoyed about EE2 (and didn’t try on others, so I don’t know if they allowed it) was the ability to download real-world maps from NOAA and import them into the game for custom campaigns.