Development and Release
The Art of Conquest expansion pack for Empire Earth was announced in May 2002 by Sierra (the game's original publisher, later taken over by Vivendi). The development of the game was turned over to Mad Doc Software from Stainless Steel Studios because Stainless Steel were already working on Empires: Dawn of the Modern World. According to Steve Beinner, the brand manager of the Empire Earth series, Empire Earth's expansion pack was planned even before the original game was released. The developers listened to feedback from the game community and planned the new features and release schedule accordingly. In an interview with IGN.com, Steve Beinner said "People were asking for additional scenarios and extra units. That's based upon surveys we did and distributors on a worldwide basis."
Work on Art of Conquest began in early 2002, with a planned release date later that same year. The developers decided "the game won't be present at E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo), because of the tight development schedule and the fact that Sierra didn't want the developers to be distracted by creating an E3 demo." Beta testing for Art of Conquest began on 5 August 2002, and consisted of a single multiplayer map that could be played through all 15 of the expansion pack's ages, allowing players to try out all the new features of the game. Art of Conquest was included in the release of the Empire Earth Gold Edition, which was a re-release of both Empire Earth and Art of Conquest.
Read more about this topic: Empire Earth: The Art Of Conquest
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