Rise of Nations

Rise of Nations is a real-time strategy video game developed by Big Huge Games and published by Microsoft Game Studios in May 2003. Designed as a fusion of concepts from turn-based strategy games with the real-time strategy genre, the game's development was led by Brian Reynolds, who founded Big Huge Games following his involvement in the development of the turn-based strategy games Civilization II and Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri. In contrast to previous historical real-time strategy games, Rise of Nations is based on the entirety of history, taking place from the ancient era to the modern age, and features eighteen civilizations, playable across eight ages of world history. The game features several innovations on the real-time strategy genre, introducing novel features such as territory and attrition influenced by the turn-based strategy and 4X genres. Rise of Nations received positive reception upon release, with praise directed to its novel features in the genre and broader scope of gameplay. Several contemporary and retrospective publications have nominated the game in lists of the best strategy games of the year and of all time. An expansion titled Rise of Nations: Thrones and Patriots, was released in 2004, featuring additional monuments, nations, governments, and campaigns. A spin-off title with a fantasy theme, Rise of Legends, was released in 2006. Big Huge Games was acquired by 38 Studios in 2009, who sold the rights to Rise of Nations to Microsoft following their closure in 2012. Rise of Nations was published by Microsoft as a digital re-release as Rise of Nations: Extended Edition by developer SkyBox Labs in 2014 for Steam and 2017 for Microsoft Store.

Source: Wikipedia CC BY-SA 4.0 — Rise of Nations · retrieved October 19, 2026

Developer

Big Huge Games

Publisher

Xbox Game Studios

First release

May 20, 2003

Series

Rise of Nations

Cover

Official thumbnail

Record ID

Q454621