Hey Anno Community,
Time sure flies! Has it already been a year since you all first joined us in the age of the industrial revolution? Turns out the answer is yes, and what an incredible year it has been for all of us. So, let us look back at the first year of Anno 1800 together!
April 16, 2019: Anno 1800, the seventh game in the equally beloved and long-running Anno series is released, inviting PC gamers worldwide into the age of the industrial revolution
April 29, 2019: Thanks to all of you, we can announce that Anno 1800 is officially the fastest selling game in the franchise’s 20-year history! Thanks everyone
June 5, 2019: “The Anarchist” Dr. Hugo Mercier joins the party as the first new content release for the game, including a new NPC opponent (or ally), new quests and items. Alongside Hugo come new menus for construction projects like the world fair, dig site and court of justice.
July 30, 2019: Annoholics start the hunt for “Sunken Treasures” with our first DLC from the Season 1 Pass, which includs major new features like the diving bell system and item crafting with Old Nate, and of course the ever popular Crown Falls island, which has become the centerpiece of many a building record attempt. On the free side of things, Game Update 4 brings with it a higher zoom level, overall performance improvements, reworked expedition rewards and improvements to the trade route menu.
August 19, 2019: Not only does Anno 1800 make an appearance at the first ever gamescom Opening Night Live event alongside some of the biggest games of the year, but it also gives players a first glimpse at “Botanica” and “The Passage”, plus the announcement of the all-new day and night mode that many of you had been hoping for!
September 5, 2019: Our second Season 1 DLC, Botanica, makes your cities bloom with the new botanical garden, while bringing a lot of free improvements as part of Game Update 5. Among those are the beloved day and night mode, new plaza tiles for your cultural buildings, new botanical expeditions, ships being able to escort between sessions and… ghost ships. So many ghost ships.
October 1, 2019: As a result of the ghost ship invasion of 2019, we announce a change to our development roadmap, combining the free Game Update for the co-op and statistics features with the release of “The Passage” for December. We also announce a larger scale test to give community members to chance to help us fine-tune this huge update prior to release.
December 10, 2019: Marking the biggest day since release for Anno 1800, December 10 has something for everyone! “The Passage” invites players for a dangerous journey into the arctic, the statistics system gives everyone the ability to fine-tune their economy even further, the co-op mode unites former enemies, and the “Holiday Pack” allows Annoholics to construct a beautiful Christmas Market in their cities.
December 12, 2019: What’s the best way to end the year on a high note? Awards! Anno 1800 is the big winner at the 2019 edition of the German Developer Award, winning across all nominated categories, including the main award for the “Best German Game”. Dankeschön!
February 28, 2020: All good things must come to an end, and so we say goodbye to two long-time veterans of the Anno franchise, with Anno 1800’s Executive Producer Burkhard Ratheiser and Senior Creative Director Dirk Riegert moving on to other projects here at Ubisoft Mainz. In their stead, we welcome our new Game Director Manuel Reinher and Senior Producer Charles Harribey.
March 9, 2020: After an extended content break, Anno 1800 is back and firing on all cylinders with the announcement of the Season 2 Pass. For the first time ever in the history of the series, an Anno game will get a second year of support, including several free Game Updates and three all new DLCs! In addition, we have to say “thank you” to everyone in the community once more, as we announce that the game had attracted more than a million players by December 2019!
March 24, 2020: Only two weeks after the announcement, the new “Seat of Power” DLC kicks of Season 2 of Anno 1800 in style, inviting you to construct a magnificent palace. Alongside the new DLC comes Game Update 7, including several improvements like a difficulty setting for the influence system, improved multi-copy and reworked item pools for the diving bell system.
As you can see, we have been busy, and continue to be so with all the future goodness coming to the game. This Summer, we will invite you to give your farms a big boost with “Bright Harvest”, before travelling to the “Land of Lions” in Fall. And we are of course also working on new Free Updates, including an overview of all your items, and the much-rumored return of the “Great Eastern”.
Before we leave you for today, we again want to stress how all the above has only been possible thanks to your passion and support of Anno over the years. As a small token of our gratitude, we are releasing the “Imperial Pack” (Anno 1800’s Pre-Order Bonus) and all Twitch Drop Ornaments from 2019 to all our players for free… today! So the next time you start the game, you will have access to 10 additional ornaments, as well as the Imperial skins for the command ship and train engine.
Thanks for playing, stay tuned to the Anno Union for future news, and (most importantly) stay safe and healthy!
Thanks,
The Anno 1800 Team