Age of Empires esports: where players compete in real-life castles

Age of Empires is truly one of the all-time greats, not just in the Real Time Strategy (RTS) genre but gaming in general. 

Through nine separate games and countless ports, expansions and remasters, Age of Empires has maintained most of the charm it had since its initial launch in 1997. The basics are very simple: the player controls a civilisation, manages its economy and military, and advances through the ages to unlock better technology.

Although it never quite reached the esports pedigree that some of its competitors from the 90s — such as StarCraft and WarCraft — reached, Age of Empires always appealed to fans of single-player RTS games. As such, the franchise has sold over 25m copies since its inception.

However, whilst most are content to build cities, advance through the ages and take on the game’s challenges, some players still want to see how they stack up against others. 

When it comes to esports, Age of Empires continues with the theme of being a more niche-oriented game, but it also has an impressive number of esports players and teams that are a part of its ecosystem. The current edition of the game, Age of Empires 4, has been built from the ground up to be more esports-friendly, including built-in matchmaking and other multiplayer capabilities.

However, Age of Empires’ most vibrant esports scene does not come from the franchise’s latest iteration. Instead, players largely opt for Age of Empires 2, a game that was first launched in 1999 and has since been remastered and updated several times, with the last update being its Definitive Edition in 2019. 

One of the key players in Age of Empires’ resurgence was Red Bull, a company known for putting a unique spin on its esports events. Red Bull does not organise many events, but those that take place, such as the Red Bull Home Ground (VALORANT) or Red Bull League of Its Own (League of Legends), are always unique. There are also other tournament organisers in the Age of Empires esports space, such as organisation GamerLegion as well as casters and hosts Tristan ‘T90Official’ Berry and Sven ‘Nili’ Reichardt, keeping the scene alive and well in 2024. Interestingly, both Berry and Reichardt organise impressive events through their personal brands, which is not often seen in other esports games. 

Red Bull Wololo (inspired by the famous voice line that Age of Empires priests say when selected) is an esports tournament organised by the energy drink goliath. It features many of the world’s best AoE players, with the unique twist being that it takes place in a real-world castle instead of a regular ‘traditional’ esports venue. The event has been taking place regularly since 2020 and has since seen six editions, but only the last three have been LAN events in castles.

The first time Wololo brought Age of Empires pros to a real castle was for Wololo 5, with the event held at the Heidelberg Castle in Germany. The castle itself is almost 900 years old and consists of several wings, some of which are ruined. The castle is imposing over Heidelberg, making it a popular tourist attraction and a defining landmark of the city. 

The Wololo tournament returned to Heidelberg once more for Wololo: Legacy in 2022 and has since moved to Spain in 2024. The Castillo de Almodóvar del Río, which sits on a hilltop near the town of the same name, is around 15 kilometres from the Spanish city Cordoba. The castle was built in the seventh and eighth centuries but has been renovated entirely in the 1930s. Same as Heidelberg, the castle is a major tourist attraction and has a commanding presence over the countryside.

The Wololo tournaments also have strong prize pools for Age of Empires and RTS games in general. The latest edition had a pool of $138,000 (~£106,000) just for Age of Empires 2 and the Red Bull Wololo: Legacy had a $200,000 (~£153,800) prize pool. This is exceptionally impressive for a one-versus-one tournament in an old RTS game. Viewership-wise, the Wololo tournaments are consistently the most-watched events in the game’s ecosystem. According to Esports Charts, the most-watched AoE event in history is the Red Bull Wololo: Legacy, attracting more than 110,000 peak viewers. Red Bull Wololo: El Reinaldo concluded in early October 2024 and had just under 90,000 viewers at its peak. 

The events themselves are usually divided into several segments across different games. For example, the latest Wololo tournament featured competitions in Age of Empires 1, 2, 4, and Age of Mythology. Traditionally, the Age of Empires 2 tournaments are the most watched and have the highest prize pool. 

Although the Age of Empires franchise has spanned large portions of history, the most popular game, Age of Empires 2: The Age of Kings, takes place in what is usually perceived as the medieval period — roughly 1,000 years of history between the early middle ages and Renaissance era. As such, the game makes frequent use of castles as a gameplay element. Simply put, hosting an esports tournament in a castle is a very logical decision for Age of Empire, despite the organisational difficulties that could occur.

Ultimately, the event is an esports tournament, meaning that there’s a lot that can go wrong from a digital and connectivity standpoint if the venue isn’t accustomed to LAN environments. A castle is hardly the perfect place to hold a large-scale LAN event due to a number of issues, ranging from audience size to logistics. As such, it’s important that whilst the venue fits the AoE theme, it can still withstand the production and digital capabilities to pull off an event. 

Another thing is the marketing aspect. One must not forget that Red Bull is known for its bold marketing ideas. Making a unique event in a unique location is on-brand for the company. Hosting an event in an actual castle creates a marketing buzz around the event, attracting not just fans of gaming and esports, but also the general public. 

Red Bull Wololo events have a way of finding their way into fans and players’ hearts. It’s interesting that an energy drink brand has managed to bolster the esports scene for a franchise that is 20 years old. But as is often the case in esports, impressive stories usually unfold in the unlikeliest of ways.