The current status of the Empire Earth License is that Rebellion owns it and has control over whether there will be an Empire Earth 4. Sierra no longer exists after Vivendi Games and Activision merged and so Rebellion picked up the Empire Earth IP. MadDoc, the previous developer of the series (not including the first) on the 4th of April 2008 were taken over by Rockstar Games and renamed to Rockstar New England and would not have any more part in the Empire Earth series.

If you wish to show support for a development of an Empire Earth 4 then please sign the Empire Earth 4 Petition. I have written an article on what Rebellion should do if they decide to develop the game, click here to read it.

The game that started the series and even today is highly regarded by fans. Released on November 23 2001 by Stainless Studio and sold over 1 million units worldwide. Empire Earth for me is what started my addiction for strategy games and it is still my favourite. Commanding huge bloody battles from the Stone Age to the Nano age was an idea perfectly executed by Stainless Studio.

On November 3, 2008 the servers to Empire Earth and Art of Conquest were permantely shutdown by Activision. Save EE has created their own lobby that automatically lists Direct Connect (by IP) games hosted by players.

"From the lead designer of Age of Empires comes Empire Earth a real-time strategy game that lets you control the destiny of a fledgling civilization through 500,000 years of human history. Choose any point in time and establish a civilization to transcend the ages and dominate the earth."

The expansion pack to the original Empire Earth, Art of Conquest was developed by MadDoc software and was released on 6 May 2003. The expansion didn't differ much from the original but it didn't really need to. The pack provided 3 new campaigns, a space age, new units and civilisations and several other additions.

"The Art of Conquest expansion pack for Empire Earth includes three new single-player campaigns set in ancient Rome, the Pacific theater of World War II, and Asia in the 22nd century. In addition, each of the 21 predesigned civilizations in the game gains a unique power, building, or unit. Examples include: the Kingdom of Italy's metallurgy power, which allows it to pay building costs with gold or iron interchangeably; Great Britain's S.A.S. unit which can plant demolitions and swim across water; and the United States' market building which allows that civilization to trade abundant resources for scarce ones."

The 2nd edition to the empire earth franchise and even though a few disagree, this game was brilliant. Included features such as dynamic weather that affects the performance of units, a citizen manager, diplomacy system, a war planner to coordinate attacks with allies and more. Developed by MadDoc and released on April 26th 2005, Empire Earth 2 had a lot to prove after its predecessor and is a worthy successor.

"As with previous installments in the series, Empire Earth 2 challenges you to create, build, and lead a civilization to transcend the ages. Empire Earth 2, however, builds the series by adding new units, powers, leaders, and bonuses to all of the game's 14 civilizations. Cities, territories, and borders are now tradable resources, much like they are in the real world. For the first time in the series, ambient weather and seasons with fog and snowfall affect gameplay, forcing players to adapt their strategies to the changing environment."

Released on the 15th February 2006, Art of Supremacy was not as impressive as its former expansion pack Art of Conquest. 3 new campaigns, more civilisations, a new hero system and new multiplayer modes. The expansion lacked originality with the campaigns being very generic and plain.

"Empire Earth II: The Art of Supremacy is an expansion to the real-time historic strategy game Empire Earth II. The Art of Supremacy expansion brings graphical upgrades to the game, as well as new civilizations, such as the Russians, the French, and the Zulu. As you play through the three all-new campaigns, you can explore new time periods with new units and wonders. Experience gained during combat can help your units become more powerful and can be carried over to future missions. Empire Earth II: The Art of Supremacy also features customizable civilizations that let you tailor the experience to your particular gameplay style."

The third edition to the series developed by MadDoc had a different style to the previous games. The idea was to simplify the game and let the player focus more on military and less on economy. This involved cutting down the epochs to 5 and resources down to 2 (not including the tech tree resource) and only having 3 civilisations. The game involved an interactive globe of the earth where you could take territories and eventually conquer the world.

Sadly when released on November 6, 2007 the game was full of bugs and not enjoyable to play. Horrible AI to 'comical' sounds from the units, big performance issues and no storyline to follow except to simply conquer the world. The game was a disaster with the critics, with IGN giving 5.4/10 and GameStop giving it 3.5/10. I hope this third edition does not end this great series.

"Empire Earth III puts the EARTH into Empire Earth by introducing a spectacular global perspective to conquering the world. The globe serves as the battleground between the 3 unique factions (Western, Middle-Eastern, and Eastern) that have been created with a stunning new artistic vision. All of human history and beyond - Across the entire globe - Empire Earth III commands all. Empire Earth III lets players battle across the entire globe as they make their bid for world domination."

Empire Earth Mobile is a turn based mobile strategy game released on October 25th 2005. It has only 4 epochs (Stone, Middle, Modern and Nano) and the style of play consists of having a limited number of symbols on the map that once taken by a soldier becomes a building. To win the game you must try and reach these symbols before your opponent does and then destroy your opponent. There are 3 modes, adventure, skirmish and multiplayer. The game is a much more simple then its pc rival and doesn't have much depth to it, however for a mobile phone game its good enough and has been awarded 7.4/10 by IGN.

"Based on the award-winning gameplay of the original PC title, Empire Earth Mobile will allow players to command the past, present and future, while building a civilization across four ages. To succeed, players must balance resource management and conquest across 10 campaign levels. Empire Earth Mobile features a full combat system combined with rich strategic resource management, providing players with the means to capture and control enemy territory and move forward in time. Each age brings its own challenges, new units and additional complexity. Courage, determination and wits will be needed to become the master of Empire Earth!"