Promoted Fanboy: The team behind the Forgotten Empires unofficial expansion for Age of Empires II (released in December 2012) was later hired in order to make said mod an official part of the game. They're credited with reviving the franchise as a whole with their work in the HD editions of II and Age of Mythology as well as the Definitive Editions of II and Age of Empires III.
The hardcover artbook included in the collector's edition of III shows a Vietnam-era American soldier and a Space Marine for a hypothetical 4th and 5th game, respectively. However, when Relic Entertainment was brought onboard to make IV, they opted to make another game set in the medieval era, despite having also made Company of Heroesnote not set in the Vietnam War, but it is set in World War II, which would fit the pattern of covering further time periods and Dawn of Warnote a licensed game of Warhammer 40,000, which is one of the most prominent depictions of the Space Marine genre.
included in the collector's edition of III shows a Vietnam-era American soldier and a Space Marine for a hypothetical 4th and 5th game, respectively. However, when Relic Entertainment was brought onboard to make IV, they opted to make another game set in the medieval era, despite having also made Company of Heroesnote and Dawn of Warnote .
