Welcome to the Age of Empires IV Technical Stress Test! 

 

The Age of Empires IV Technical Stress test is now open through September 20th at 10 a.m. PT (17:00 UTC)! Access instructions for both Microsoft Store and Steam are listed below.

This beta is open to all and is not under Insider NDA. Invite your friends, family, or anyone who would enjoy hands-on time with Age of Empires IV—the more matches played, the better! The objective of this session is testing network load, stability and various systems ahead of launch next month. Click here to read all about the Technical Stress Test.  

Please check your graphics settings – for some users, the auto-detection may be setting Image Quality and Gameplay Scale at levels not correct for your machine.

If you have any problems following the steps for access, or need additional support, please join us in the official Age of Empires forums. This will allow your fellow beta participants—in addition to members of the dev team—to help you out in the quickest manner.  

In addition to support, you can also find release notes and known issues in the forums. We also encourage you to make use of the in-game social tools, as well as to join the official Age of Empires Discord for matchmaking:

 

Join us in Discord

 

⚠️ If you have joined us for past betas, please remove any previous data from your machine by following these steps: 

1. Open File Explorer
2. Go to Quick Access > Documents > My Games
3. Look for a folder named Cardinal or Age of Empires IV – Beta and delete it 
4. Please check your graphics settings – for some users, the auto-detection may be setting Image Quality and Gameplay Scale at levels not correct for your machine. 

 

Play on Microsoft Store

First download the Xbox Insider Hub from the Microsoft Store and then join the Xbox Insider Program following the instructions below.  

1. Sign in and launch the Xbox Insider Hub on your PC
2. Navigate to Previews > Age of Empires IV Technical Stress Test
3. Select Join
4. You will then be directed to the Microsoft Store to download and install 

 

Play on Steam

Due to high interest, access will be sent out in batches. We appreciate your patience during our gradual rollout!

To play via Steam, you must first download and install the Steam client. Then follow the instructions below. 

1. Sign in and launch Steam
2. Search for Age of Empires IV
3. Scroll down the store page to the Join the Ages of Empires IV Technical Stress Test section and click Request Access  
4. Steam will indicate next steps in the pop-up to follow

 

How to Pre-Order

Like what you see? The game is available for pre-order now on Windows Store and Steam and will be playable starting October 28, on Xbox Game Pass for PC!

Pre-Order Now