High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Age of Empires III (sometimes abbreviated AoE III) is a real-time strategy (RTS) game developed by Microsoft Corporation`s Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft Game Studios. The Mac version was ported over and developed by Destineer`s MacSoft Games and published by Destineer and MacSoft Games. The PC Version was released on October 18, 2005 in North America and November 4, 2005 in Europe, while the Mac version was released on November 21, 2006 in North America and September 29, 2006 in Europe. It is the third game of the Age of Empires series and the sequel to Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings. The game portrays the European colonization of the Americas, between approximately 1492 and 1850 AD (expanded in Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs to 1876). There are eight European civilizations to play within the game.