• Anno 1800
  • Union Update

The Anno Year 2020 in Review

Hey Anno Community,

2020 is soon coming to an end – a good time to recap what the year had in store for Anno 1800, and to look at what’s to come in 2021.

We were off to a great start, and in early March were not only able to proudly celebrate that Anno 1800 had reached more than 1 million players in its first 8 month on the market (which earned you all a free commemorative in-game ornament) – but also to announce Season 2!

In December 2019 we had let you know that we were planning more for the game but the full extent of it we only unveiled in March in a dedicated live stream (“Hey Anno Community!”) – which also marked the last regular developer stream in a year that proved to be challenging for all of us.

The first of three DLCs – “Seat of Power” – as well as the first Annoversary were just around the corner and with two more DLC scheduled for later that year, there still was plenty to do.

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Our great community platform, the Anno Union, stayed at the centre of it all to keep you updated on the world of Anno – and even got a major visual and functional overhaul during the Summer.

For everyone who loves a good read, the release of all our DLC (and the History Editions) were accompanied by detailed DevBlogs describing the features and the development of the new content. From “Seat of Power” over “Bright Harvest” to “Land of Lions” (for which we wrote a total of 4 lengthy DevBlogs!) and the two Cosmetic DLC “Amusements Pack” and “City Lights Pack” we made sure you know in advance what you can expect.

The latter were based on a community voting in April, with the “City Lights Pack” coming in such a close second, that we felt compelled to realize it as well.

When talking about the Anno Union, we can’t do so without the visual stimulation and inspiration we got from the screenshot and postcard contest as well as the regular Union Updates with artworks and impressions from the community. We continue to be amazed by the awesome city designs and stunning screenshots you all create!
And even though the COVID-imposed restrictions lead to far less live streams from us than we would’ve liked, we thankfully have an amazingly active community creating video guides or streaming their adventures and record attempts online – regularly accompanied by Twitch Drop events around each DLC release.

 

Looking back, we continue to be extremely proud of the success of Anno 1800 in general and Season 2 in particular. Your continued feedback since release, be it reporting issues or sharing your ideas and discussing balance topics played a big role throughout the last years – and will continue shaping Anno 1800 and its development, with Season 3’s DLC and Game Updates being inspired by community feedback and wishes!

Thank you for your continued support! 😊

The success of Anno 1800 also led to it receiving its own boardgame adaption this year! Anno 1800 – The Board Game was designed by Martin Wallace and published by KOSMOS (albeit in German). An English version is planned for 2021 and we are very happy to see the enthusiastic reception since its release in early Fall.

The Anno History Collection

Anno 1800, however, was not the only Anno title to shine this year. In late June we released the Anno History Collection which included the first four Anno games in reworked versions, which, for example, support higher resolutions and modern operating systems.

Prior to release, we went into detail with dedicated DevBlogs for all four titles regarding not only their respective development history but also regarding the challenges we faced and the changes that were done to each individual title.

It was great to watch so many of you return to old favourites – or discover never before played Anno titles – and we also greatly enjoyed the livestreams we held for each game, especially the multiplayer one for Anno 1404 (even if they were not quite on the normal technical level due to home office limitations). Many of you shared stories and experiences in the chat as well as in the forums, and it was great to read through them!

This way we heard of people revisiting old savegames from many years ago – and finishing them! Thanks to improvements to the games, for example the support for modern hardware, suddenly new resident records were possible, massive savegames from ‘back then’ became playable again and veterans shared these stories, their savegames and the maps they used across various Anno forums.

This wave of nostalgia also hit the writer of these lines, who relived some fond memories in Anno 1602, many years after getting the game gifted from his father to steer his son away from action games. With… moderate success.

Not only old savegames were dedusted, the modding community also became active immediately and started working on making their old projects compatible with the History Editions. This means you can also enjoy the changes and additions of community favourites like SBM, I.A.A.M. or D.E.A.P. with the History Editions.
Keep in mind, that while we love to see the efforts of the modding community, usage of these mods is not officially supported, and we cannot offer any assistance with issues you may run into using them!

Looking back at all this: What a year!

The continued success of the Anno brand in 2020 was accompanied by a global situation that no one expected. So, from early spring onwards we found ourselves cancelling events and workshops, attending lots of press events and meetings online and thinking about how much fun we had at gamescom in the last years. Additionally, working from home office brought its own challenges – but also opportunities.

We’re proud of our team shipping the enthusiastically received “Land of Lions” DLC despite these circumstances – and as we announced just a few weeks ago, we’re not stopping here:

2021 will bring new content and features to Anno 1800 and we’re excited to share more with you early next year.

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5 Comments
  1. o onurdmrbe11 December 21, 2020

    nuclear and computer first technology add please thank you .

    •   Ubi-Thorlof December 22, 2020

      That’s faaaar ahead of the time period Anno 1800 is set in 😉

      If you’re looking for more futuristic settings, maybe take a look at Anno 2070 or Anno 2205.

  2. S SSAlex40 December 21, 2020

    If not any new sessions then maybe more tier’s? Or more Items and such? Would be nice and enticing to at least get one new session, it would add to the excitement of everything honestly .

  3. L Lunathic22 December 20, 2020

    Anno is an excellent franchise and Anno 1800 is the best of every game. Keep going and I really hope we will get some good news about season 3 pass as a christmas gift ;D

  4. C C0stijn December 18, 2020

    Dear Anno Team,

    I’ve been a fan of the Anno games since 1503 and after playing every game in the franchise I have to say that I completely fell in love with Anno again this year. The DLCs have been great and I’ve really enjoyed reading the blog posts on Anno Union.

    Can’t wait to see what the future holds for the game.

    Good luck with all the work ahead!

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