Age of Empires 4: The Sultans Ascend Becomes Best-Selling DLC In Series’ History

Age of Empires 4 has proven to be a great real-time strategy simulator despite the healthy rivalry with the series’ previous releases. Its DLCs are no exception, elevating the base game with an influx of content and gameplay. The recently released expansion dubbed The Sultans Ascend has now become the series’ best-selling in the franchise’s history. The massive milestone was confirmed by none other than the devs on Twitter recently.

The Sultans Ascend brings the largest content update to #AgeofEmpiresIV: Anniversary Edition with two new civs, four innovative variant civs, an eight-mission campaign, and ten new maps.

And thanks to you, it's the best-selling expansion in Age franchise history! pic.twitter.com/Ah05WKrJOx

— Age of Empires (@AgeOfEmpires) December 15, 2023

The Twitter page has kept details about the new achievement quite short and vague, leaving room for many speculations. It is unclear whether the team meant that the DLC completely surpassed every other expansion ever released for all Age of Empires games in the past or the sales only take into account the first 24 hours. It is likely to be the former scenario because of the delay in announcement, but no sales figures were provided.

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Overall, it is still a massive feat despite the vagueness of the developers. Age of Empires 4: The Sultans Ascend has been touted as an expansion that serves every facet of the game with new content and leaves almost no area untouched. The new campaign is set in the Middle East and features eight new missions. It revolves around well-known Muslim leaders and the ensuing resistance in the fight against the European Crusades. 

There are ten new maps, unlockables, rewards, achievements, two biomes, and more. Regardless, the biggest addition is the inclusion of two new civilizations —the Japanese and the Byzantines— and four playable variants of current civilizations. These variants reimagine beloved civilizations first included in the core launch of the game.

Age of Empires 4 launched to rave reviews on October 28, 2021, for PC, followed by August 22, 2023, for Xbox One, Xbox Series S, and Xbox Series X. It has been praised for the unique additions but was also criticized for failing to innovate on the olden formula. The real-time strategy has also bagged a couple of awards since its launch.