Union Update: Upcoming livestreams & community spotlight

Posted on 30. May 2023 by Ubi-Thorlof

Hey Anno Community,

Today’s Union Update will mainly focus on a selection of great community creations in the “Spotlight” but first we want to announce two upcoming Annoversary livestreams:

The first will be an Anno 1503 livestream on this Friday, June 2nd, starting at 5PM CEST.
And next week Friday (9th) we’ll be following it up with an Anno 1602 livestream.

Our 1701 stream will likely happen towards the end of the month – we’ll keep you updated!

Community Spotlight

Today we have a very diverse Community Spotlight for you with multiple different pieces of community creations.

Let’s start with screenshots of the latest Cosmetic DLC: The “Fiesta” Pack.

First we have Tom D. who turned into a big fan of the purple Jacaranda trees and promptly distributed them all over his growing settlement on Manola:

Following that, we want to share Ionovia’s night-time screenshots (one of which we also used as a banner for today’s post)– including celebratory fireworks:

We also really loved Johnnyvanderzwaag’s “Deer in the forest” artwork they shared on Reddit:

A very cool surprise was recently posted by Taubenangriff, who shared almost 10min of alpha gameplay footage from their “New Horizons” mod for Anno 1800:

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To change things up, we’re travelling to the moon with AnnoEffect’s picture of their moon crater settlement from Anno 2205:

Finally, to prove that you can have Anno-related fun even outside the game:

We received an email with a fantastic recreation of the palace from “Seat of Power” – in Lego! The two Anno fans spent multiple months of turning over 100,000 stones into a 80kg heavy palace complex – complete with statues, park elements and a fountain. We were thoroughly impressed!

Last but not least, we have a piece of Anno 1602 nostalgia: Moebius created a rock version of the track “In the Beginning” which you veterans will surely recognise immediately:

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DevBlog: The “Fiesta” Pack Cosmetic DLC

Posted on 12. May 202313. June 2023 by Ubi-Thorlof

Hey Anno Community,

It’s May, the weather is getting sunnier and warmer: This should hopefully put both you and your citizens in the right mood for the upcoming Cosmetic DLC – the “Fiesta” Pack!

Now, we have already included a teaser at the end of our “Anno movies” videos, meaning that it’s no big surprise anymore that the “Fiesta” Pack is adding a bunch of new ornaments for the New World. Considering it’s the second most important region in Anno 1800, we have seen the comments asking for more ornaments and more ways to customize your cities there.

As the name suggests, the “Fiesta” Pack looks on the bright sides (literally) of life with ornaments that add even more colour and prepare your public places for festivities.

The “Fiesta” Pack Cosmetic DLC is now available! You can now add a bunch of festive ornaments to your cities by purchasing it on the Ubisoft Store, Steam Store, PlayStation store or Xbox store for the price of 4,99€ or your regional equivalent.

Let’s have a look at what you can expect:

Ornaments

On the ornament side, our focus was on spicing up your public spaces, like your market place or other plaza-type locations. For this matter, the pack contains bright and colourful festive banners and the purple Jacaranda tree. Combine this with the new groundplates and some vendors like the Fruit Stall or the Mate Stall.

It’s also about providing more space for the local culture and heritage, for example with the Mesoan Memorial or the Sunwell. Round things off with a few cacti and flower beds and your people will thank you – provided they don’t get too close to those cacti.

Skins

We did not only include ornaments in the “Fiesta” Pack, however, but also skins for two existing buildings:

The first is the Market Place itself, that now not only features a bright purple paint, but also more colour on its pillars as well as a rounder shape with an open market space in the middle

The second building profiting from a visual make-over is the Chapel. Following the rest of the Cosmetic DLC, the new Chapel skin comes with clean white paint job and multiple coloured spots on its façade and windows.

Of course, that’s not quite all the content of the Cosmetic DLC, and you have probably spotted several more ornaments on the screenshots above – and, we’ll have a list of all its content below.

The “Fiesta” Pack will release in 2 weeks, on May 23rd, for the usual price of 4,99€. We’re looking forward to seeing your reworked New World cities! How do you plan on implementing the new skins and ornaments?

List of full content

New model variation for the Chapel (with standard and plaza groundplate)
New model variation for the Market Place (with standard and plaza groundplate)
Public Bench (3 variants)
Organ Cactus
Rosy Pincushion
Fence Post Cactus
Traditional Path (groundplate)
Traditional Terracotta (groundplate)
Fountain of Inspiration
Sunwell
Jacaranda Tree (3 variants)
Palm Tree (3 variants)
Summer Pavillion
Mate Stall
Tropical Fruit Stall
Market Cart
Fried Corn Cart
Mesoan Memorial
Bright Banners (modular system)
Exotic Flower Bed (modular system)
Traditional Wall (modular system)
Brick Arch

Union Update: May patch, Anno movie fun and livestream

Posted on 28. April 202312. May 2023 by Ubi-Thorlof

Hey Anno Community,

April is coming to end, time for a quick overview of current news and upcoming events:

May 23 – patches for PC and Console

As we mentioned previously, we’ve been at work at Game Update 17.1 for PC and Patch 2 for Consoles. For all platforms, we’ll be releasing their respective updates on May 23rd.

As soon as the updates have been validated some time later in May, we’ll have the patch notes here on the Anno Union for you for both PC as well as PlayStation and Xbox Series X|S.

What about… Anno movies?

If you’ve followed our social channels, you may have seen our little (not quite serious) posts on Anno movies that could be shown in the New World cinema. If you missed them, you can find the two movie posters here and here. What kind of movie in the Anno universe would you love to see? Let us know!

(no, this is not an actual movie announcement, we just want so see your creativity 😉 )

Below you can find both video clips of our two New World characters visiting the cinema to watch said movies. And… maybe something else?

Live stream announcement

We also want to use this opportunity to announce next week’s livestream! Join us on Thursday, May 4th on twitch.tv/ubisoftbluebyte for a chill stream of playing Anno 1800.

You want us to showcase your savegame in any of our future livestreams? Then send them to anno-community@ubisoft.com – and feel free to add a brief description on what we should look out for!

Forums, Support and discussing Anno

As the ones of you who were frequenting the official Ubisoft forums know, said forums were decommissioned this week, including of course also the Anno forums.

If you were an avid user of the forum to discuss the game, report issues or seek gameplay help, there now is the (English-only) Ubisoft Discord server you can reach via this link.

For chats and discussions with other Anno players, we can also recommend heading to the Annoverse Discord server, with language channels for English, German, French and Russian. It’s also a great place to ask for help, share or find Stamps and find others for a multiplayer game.

Finally, there’s of course still the Anno Subreddit with its more forum-style approach.

Union Update: News, patch plans and a community spotlight

Posted on 14. April 202314. April 2023 by Ubi-Thorlof

Hey Anno Community,

It’s mid-April, the Anno 1800 Console Edition has been already out for one month, Game Update 17 is released… let’s give you a short news recap and a fantastic Community Spotlight in today’s Union Update.

Firstly: What about those Cosmetic DLC we mentioned earlier in the year? – Excellent question. As communicated previously, we still have 3 Cosmetic DLC releasing this year (both on PC and console), each focusing on aspects that may have been a bit neglected so far, when it comes to beautification.

We’ll have news and first pictures about the upcoming one (to be released in May) in the coming weeks – stay tuned!

Console & PC: Patches

We’ve also seen some questions about a patch for both the Console Edition as well as the PC version.

Right now, we’re working on a patch for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S to tackle some of the reports you sent us over the last weeks, like issues with the diplomacy menu, some crashes and graphical glitches.

On PC, while Game Update 17 was the last major update, we are investigating reports you sent us after the recent release to iron out problems like the always-visible version number or that some stamps are getting created with special characters which subsequently corrupts their file. We are planning to still address these, as well as any high-priority issues, with a patch.

We’ve also received some reports on desyncs on PC. As a workaround for the time being, please make sure that each players of your multiplayer match has started the game once after Game Update 17 and either changed some settings (graphics, audio, …) or loaded and saved the game. If you afterwards regularly close the game, the chance for desyncs should be significantly lower. Please also make sure that all participants either use exactly the same mods or have all mods deactivated before playing.

Keep an eye on the Anno Union and our social channels for news on the upcoming patches!

Annoverse Quiz Event

Finally, the team of the “Annoverse” Discord is soon holding an Annoversary event on their server, with quizes to all Anno titles – and you can win prizes if you can prove your knowledge! Head over the their Discord server and read more in the news and dedicated giveaway channels. It all starts on Monday, April 17th!

Modloader (PC)

Let’s also not forget about our “happy little accident” last week, when we released the integrated modloader for Anno 1800 on PC. This means, the game will now automatically recognise mods in your mod folder and load them for you. This means you won’t need the other one anymore – please delete the files and then verify your game files to prevent any conflicts.

We want both credit and thank meow/xforce (GitHub link), who created the original modloader you have been using for the last years – and whose code formed part of the basis of what we now added to the game. Your work has been an immense factor in enabling the modding community for our game as it is right now, thank you!

We take this opportunity to remind you that mods might cause issues with the game (bugs, glitches, potential blockers), especially when they haven’t been updated in a while. Therefore, please check for potential incompatibilities or ask around on the Modding Discord Server.

Community Spotlight

As you might already know, with the Annoversary Update we added the Stamp Feature to Anno 1800 (PC). In case you missed it, you can check out this blog to better understand how it works. If you created your own stamps already, don’t forget to share them with the rest of the Community! For example, the Annoverse Discord server has created a dedicated channel where anyone can share their Stamps.

The Anno Community is very dedicated, as we already know for a long time, and reallymilo has created a portal where you can share your Anno Stamps with the rest of the community: https://annostamps.com/

Speaking of Annoversary Update, we’ve seen some of you have been celebrating with fireworks and and lovely decorations in your cities. We hope you keep the celebrations going for a while and keep sharing those screenshots with us!

Let’s start with Qurphi, who shared on Reddit this lovely composition for the celebration. Why a 4 in the middle, you might ask? Well, Anno 1800 turns 4 this Sunday!

Mithaldriel has shared quite a few screenshots on the Annoverse Discord to show off the ongoing celebrations. We chose the one portraying the lovely skyline by night, with the Annoversary fireworks brightening the night sky. What a view!

Would you like to see more Annoversary fireworks? MaxiMALER effekt shared this screenshot on Steam, with a stunning view of the Research Institute and the Iron Tower, while fireworks burst with colours in the starry night. Bravo!

That’s it for this week, dear Annholics. We wish you a great weekend!

Union Update: Tips for getting started in Anno

Posted on 23. March 202323. March 2023 by Ubi-Thorlof

Hey Anno Community,

Hard to believe, but the Anno 1800 Console Edition is already one week old! And we were blown away by the reception – thank you very much for all the kind comments and the positive feedback you have written. We’re very happy that Anno 1800 is getting such a great reception on consoles, too!

You have also approached us with some issues you’ve encountered, from some graphical glitches to problems with the diplomacy menu. We’re currently taking a look at those and will keep you updated on any future patch plans for the Console Edition.

Getting Started in Anno

Starting off into a new game you haven’t played before is rarely easy, and we have seen an increasing number of questions of new players – on PC and console alike – with questions about maintaining a positive balance, upgrade strategies and general tips & tricks.

To help your onboarding in Anno 1800, we have listed several good resources and places to get answers to those questions below:

Tutorial Videos

You prefer advice in video form? No worries, we got you covered:

Check out the tutorial video with 7 Essential Tips we created in cooperation with our colleagues from Gameplan!

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Additionally, if you like your tips with a touch of entertainment, check out this guide in a proper Anno 1800 ambience: .

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Community Resources

Of course, with a fantastic community as we have the pleasure of working with on Anno, there are more channels for you to go to for advice, tips and generally ask any questions that pop up during your time with the game.

Firstly, in addition to the in-game “Annopedia” (accessible at any time when playing by opening the main menu) with information to almost all aspects of the game, there’s the awesome fan-created and maintained Wiki for Anno 1800! While its focus is the PC version of the game, you’ll still find plenty of useful information on mechanics, trade and the individual NPCs when playing on console.

For asking questions or discussing game elements, why not join the “Annoverse” Discord server and connect with the community there.

And lastly, there’s a dedicated subreddit for Anno 1800 as well as the (on average more active) general Anno subreddit – the latter also has a neat new thread with useful links.

We’ve seen that several of you have already found your way there, so, don’t hesitate to join our fantastic community and profit from their expertise to also lead your empire to glory and prosperity!

Spring Sale & Annoversary Update

Lastly, while the weather might not always give you Spring feelings quite yet, there is a Spring Sale for Anno on PC on both the Ubisoft Store and the Steam Store with discounts on the History Editions, Anno 2070 and 2205 as well as of course Anno 1800 and its DLC!

Plus, as we know that our community on PC is very much waiting for news on the Annoversary Update (releasing on April 4th!) after all the excitement about the Console Edition: We’ll have the full Release Notes for said update for you next week. So, stay tuned!

Twitch Drops: Anno 1800 Console Edition

Posted on 13. March 202322. March 2023 by Ubi-Thorlof

Hey Anno Community,

Over the last weeks we have talked a lot about Anno 1800 Console Edition, and now, the release is just a few days away!

As we have done in the past for all releases of the PC version, the release of Anno 1800 Console Edition will be accompanied by a Twitch Drops event where you can earn several ornaments, skins and company logos for the Console Edition.

Viewer: Earning Drops

The Twitch Drops event starts on March 16 – release day – and lasts till March 23.

Anyone watching any of the streamers who sign up for the Twitch Drops event for the mentioned periods will be able to unlock several items for Anno 1800 Console Edition:

By watching any of our partner streamers (see list at the end of this article), you can earn the “Anno Union Banner” for watching 1 hour and the “Celebratory Ship Skin” for the Ship of the Line for watching 2 hours.

In addition, there are 4 company logos, the “Anno Union Billboard” and the “Celebratory Ship Skin” for the Battlecruiser which you can earn from any Anno 1800 streamer. Each day of the Twitch Drops event, a new item can be earned in the order shown on the image below:

The only thing you need to do is to first link your Ubisoft account to your Twitch account and then watch the streamers during the event for the mentioned time to receive your loot for Console Edition.

After receiving a drop, you need to claim it via the Twitch inventory. You can find more information on Twitch Drops in general in this official FAQ.

*As PC player, you already own the mentioned logos/ornaments/skins.

Streamers: How to participate

Any streamer can participate by signing up for the event. Simply head to this page for your Twitch account, make sure to connect it with your Ubisoft account, and opt-in to the drops. You can find more info on Twitch Drops in this official FAQ from Twitch.

When you stream Anno 1800 Console Edition or Anno 1800 PC during the mentioned period, your viewers will be able to earn drops.

Partner Streamers

Below you can find a list of all partner streamers participating in the Twitch Drops event where you can earn the two items listed above for Anno 1800 Console Edition:

English

https://www.twitch.tv/tsm_theoddone
https://www.twitch.tv/Adam_Ayeee
https://www.twitch.tv/GalaxyAUS
https://www.twitch.tv/kratzy76au
https://www.twitch.tv/MissUltimateCanon
https://www.twitch.tv/StarMystique
https://www.twitch.tv/ThePowerOfGrint
https://www.twitch.tv/BenVoyonsDavid
https://www.twitch.tv/MadameZoum
https://www.twitch.tv/KiNGAlphaTv
https://www.twitch.tv/LycanMB
https://www.twitch.tv/RhystleMania
https://www.twitch.tv/Spamfish
https://www.twitch.tv/WhatDarrenPlays
https://www.twitch.tv/GhostGamingGG
https://www.twitch.tv/bajheera
https://www.twitch.tv/bikeman
https://www.twitch.tv/burkeblack
https://www.twitch.tv/chocotaco
https://www.twitch.tv/cringer
https://www.twitch.tv/danotage
https://www.twitch.tv/delrith
https://www.twitch.tv/fextralife
https://www.twitch.tv/fizziberry
https://www.twitch.tv/gassymexican/
https://www.twitch.tv/lokenplays
https://www.twitch.tv/miktastic
https://www.twitch.tv/mukluk
https://www.twitch.tv/sayastatic
https://www.twitch.tv/simcopter1/
https://www.twitch.tv/tangerinechant
https://www.twitch.tv/thatsoalykat
https://www.twitch.tv/tigerwriter
https://www.twitch.tv/toastplaysthis
https://www.twitch.tv/tsm_theoddone/
https://www.twitch.tv/DonyellFreak
https://www.twitch.tv/Eldirtysquirrel
https://www.twitch.tv/GWKennie
https://www.twitch.tv/HomieDrew
https://www.twitch.tv/JordawnTheJew
https://www.twitch.tv/KaMiKaZeVonDooM
https://www.twitch.tv/KingGeorge
https://www.twitch.tv/outerspvced
https://www.twitch.tv/SassyGamerLady
https://www.twitch.tv/SerenSantiagoTV
https://www.twitch.tv/Swstrangla82210
https://www.twitch.tv/TrevDaDruben

French

https://www.twitch.tv/azriette
https://www.twitch.tv/m4fgaming
https://www.twitch.tv/pressea
https://www.twitch.tv/scoksc2
https://www.twitch.tv/sir_thomas_
https://www.twitch.tv/zerator
https://www.twitch.tv/Jordanisen
https://www.twitch.tv/MiiLo_tf
https://www.twitch.tv/Phebusa
https://www.twitch.tv/Yrohh

Portuguese

https://www.twitch.tv/marcelowiek
https://www.twitch.tv/silence/

Spanish

https://www.twitch.tv/PixelbitsMX

Dutch

https://www.twitch.tv/Cohony

Polish

https://www.twitch.tv/Yuuhi

German

https://www.twitch.tv/abraxsus1983
https://www.twitch.tv/annitheduck
https://www.twitch.tv/arathrak
https://www.twitch.tv/baso
https://www.twitch.tv/battlebrothersger
https://www.twitch.tv/c4mlann
https://www.twitch.tv/d1rtyd3vil
https://www.twitch.tv/desman2k6
https://www.twitch.tv/edopeh
https://www.twitch.tv/fetter_zocker
https://www.twitch.tv/gebruedergames
https://www.twitch.tv/graenz
https://www.twitch.tv/invertmaster
https://www.twitch.tv/jessirocks
https://www.twitch.tv/maty
https://www.twitch.tv/mauriceweber
https://www.twitch.tv/maxim
https://www.twitch.tv/monstersandexplosions
https://www.twitch.tv/nivariasgaming
https://www.twitch.tv/Paragleiber
https://www.twitch.tv/pietsmiet
https://www.twitch.tv/pirolino1966
https://www.twitch.tv/radlerauge
https://www.twitch.tv/samy
https://www.twitch.tv/shurjoka
https://www.twitch.tv/sille184
https://www.twitch.tv/sirberlinstyle
https://www.twitch.tv/tolfus
https://www.twitch.tv/underwaterfrank
https://www.twitch.tv/Writing_Bull
https://www.twitch.tv/zazunotv
https://www.twitch.tv/vallegaming

Development of Anno 1800 Console Edition is supported by the German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action within the framework of computer games funding.

Union Update: Console DevDiary and Free Week

Posted on 2. March 20233. March 2023 by Ubi-Thorlof

Hey Anno Community,

With the release of Anno 1800 Console Edition drawing ever closer, we wanted to talk a bit more about our work on the project, talk about the why and how and the experience of the team. Check out our DevDiary Trailer below, with Charles, Elisabetta, Jan-Philipp, Lisa and Nicolas giving you some insights into the development of the console version:

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And as a little bonus, we have a small glimpse at the behind the scenes of the creation of the video:

Free Week – March 16-23

We’re also happy to announce a Free Week for Anno 1800, starting in two weeks’ time. Download and play the game on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Epic and Ubisoft Connect from March 16 till March 23rd. Or convince a friend to give it a try and join them for some multiplayer fun!

The Free Week contains the full base game experience, and as with our last Free Weeks, if you purchase the game afterwards, you can simply continue where you left off.

Anno 1800 Postlaunch-Soundtrack

Also releasing at the end of March is the full Anno 1800 postlaunch soundtrack!

While the limited edition “The Four Seasons” Vinyl from Black Screen Records has almost sold out by now (in record time): Don’t worry – you can still preorder from one of these stores. We’re of course also releasing the remaining soundtrack digitally.

The digital version of the soundtrack will make its way to the usual places like Spotify, iTunes in late March. We’ll of course update you as soon as it’s available.

Development of Anno 1800 Console Edition is supported by the German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action within the framework of computer games funding.

DevBlog: What’s in the Annoversary Update?

Posted on 24. February 202324. February 2023 by Ubi-Thorlof

Hey Anno Community,

With the playtest for the “Annoversary Update” (previously: “Jubilee Patch”) having concluded – thank you to everyone who participated and wrote us their feedback! – let’s talk both about our learnings from the test as well as (of course) about the upcoming Game Update itself!

So, what is the “Annoversary Update”?

The “Annoversary Update” is the last big free Game Update that we’re planning for Anno 1800 on PC (the update will not release for the Console Edition). It includes two larger new features, several quality-of-life improvements and a laaaarge number of bug fixes.

As the name implies, it’s releasing just in time for the 25^th Anniversary of the Anno series! That’s a quarter of a century full of Anno!

Specifically, the release is planned for April 4^th, and in addition to what we mentioned above, you can also look forward to a few surprises for the Annoversary in particular. We keep those for later 😉

Instead, let’s take a look at the contents of the Update.

The Creative Mode

The Creative Mode is a completely separate game mode, an alternative to campaign or sandbox mode. Important to note here also is, that this is NOT the intended way to play Anno 1800 since it does not simulate a regular game. Instead, it’s a mode targeted towards our beauty building community, making it easier to build the city (or industrial district) of your dreams!

Accordingly, in Creative Mode, multiple core mechanics are disabled or changed, for example:

Money is unlimited
The influence system is deactivated
You won’t have to worry about incidents
Buildings don’t need a street connection, don’t have construction costs, and don’t require input goods or workforce to function

Basically, it allows you to build whatever you want and as much as you want and – it’s in the name – be creative!

To further help with that, there are more special rules and changes compared to the regular game, like:

Immediately place any type of residence building without needing to upgrade
Place unlimited numbers of decorative versions of all monuments
Place any of the Museum, Zoo or Botanical Garden exhibits freely without having to first acquire them

The Creative Mode is intended as a playground to play around with and specifically for the beauty builders among you to have a less restrictive sandbox to build and design as you please. If you own any DLC or Cosmetic DLC, they will of course also be available in this mode.

Even if you’re not so much into beauty building, the mode might still be interesting for you because of the second feature we’re adding. Introducing…

The Stamp Feature

Yes, this certainly is something we have seen being requested a lot over the years: A way to save layouts and use them again later or even in a different savegame. And that’s exactly what the Stamp Feature does.

Like with the copy tool, you can select a number of buildings, streets, ornaments etc. that are then saved as a “stamp” in a separate menu. You can rename each stamp and select an icon (from any of the buildings included in the stamp) and there are folders you can sort your stamps into.

To make things much easier, you can organize and rename your folders and stamps also outside the game in the Windows File Explorer. Additionally, this allows you to share your stamps with other players, for example on Reddit or Discord. Be it a perfect production layout or a beautiful park for your city, we’re already looking forward to seeing your creations.

If a Stamp includes content that is either limited to the Creative Mode or part of a DLC you don’t own, you can still place it, but the unavailable objects are placed as blueprints and cannot be upgraded (or, in the case of DLC content: not until you own it).

More Quality-of-Life Improvements

In addition to these changes, there are also some smaller quality-of-life improvements in this update, a quick selection below:

Roads can now be upgraded/downgraded via the upgrade tool, like regular buildings
You’ll be able to enable fully colored minimap islands (an improvement we took from the Console Edition)
In Warehouses and the expedition preparation menu you can now search for specific goods
We’ve reworked the Happiness calculation for residences to better factor in Hotels/Tourists that previously had too little impact
Some smaller improvements for our modding community

Learnings from the Playtest

The recent playtest in particular helped us identify a few key areas where the two new features need some more context or explanations (esp. when it came to the Stamp Feature and the folders), and we’ll soon start working on those to have them ready upon the update’s release.

Additionally, our testers highlighted a few more bugs both with those new features, as well as in other areas, that they’d like us to tackle for the update, that we now have on our fix-list for the next weeks.

Once more, a big thank you to everyone who participated in the playtest and provided us with reports and feedback!

So… what’s left to say? The “Annoversary Update” will release on April 4^th, and as usual we will have the full Release Notes ready for you closer to that date when we have finalized the version.

In the coming weeks we’re getting ready for the launch of the Anno 1800 Console Edition which we’re very excited about. And at the end of March you can then expect news on the “Annoversary Update”. Stay tuned!

Union Update – Sign up for the “Jubilee Patch” playtest

Posted on 6. February 202313. February 2023 by Ubi-Thorlof

Hey Anno Community,

Today, we’re starting recruitment for the upcoming playtest for the “Jubilee Patch” which we have teased a couple of weeks ago.

The “Jubilee Patch” is our upcoming Free Game Update that not only includes a large number of bug fixes and improvements, but also additional quality-of-life additions and new features. We’d love to get your help in testing said update and in providing us with feedback on which aspects could still need some polishing or improving.

The overall goals for the playtest therefore are:

Test the new features developed for the “Jubilee Patch”
Test various QoL improvements
Test the general stability of the update

A large number of bugs have also been fixed already and will be in said playtest version, so, getting feedback from any of you who were affected by these problems will be especially valuable. This includes for example quest bugs like:

Anarchist Quests
Barbecue Quest (Skyline Tower, The High Life)
Inauguration Quest (Iron Tower, Tourist Season)

But also several of the bugs listed on our Trello Board:

Issues with the Flamethrower Monitor
AI attacking civilian buildings near the shore
Wrong checkmark behaviour in cultural buildings

The playtest is planned for February 16 to 19 – and you can sign up today! Just follow this link.*
We’ll be randomly selecting a few hundred players early next week, after which the invites will be sent out. Please be aware that you will have to sign an NDA (non-disclosure agreement) to participate.

Soon after the conclusion of the playtest, we’re going to share more details on the “Jubilee Patch” with everyone. Stay tuned until then, and don’t forget to sign up for the playtest!

(*the sign-up period has ended)

Union Update: Your questions about the Console Edition

Posted on 2. February 20232. February 2023 by Ubi-Thorlof

Hey everyone, hello Anno Community,

It’s been about two weeks since we unveiled the Anno 1800 Console Edition on Twitch, showing off what the team has been working on for while already. If you missed it, you can check out our full livestream here.

Both during and after the stream we have noticed a few questions popping up that we certainly want to answer – so, read on for more information on the console version. Let us know in the comments if there are any open questions left!

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And we have been filming another video this week, as you can see on the photo below. Stay tuned till late February, when some of our colleagues who worked on the Console Edition talk about the project.

Your frequently asked questions

On which platforms are you releasing Anno 1800 Console Edition?

Anno 1800 Console Edition will be available on PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series S|X on March 16th, 2023. As we wanted to provide the best gameplay experience, we decided to use the power of the next gen consoles, with which we felt we can deliver the same experience without cutting corners or removing features.

What versions of the Console Edition are available? Is there going to be a physical version of Anno 1800 Console Edition?

You can choose between the Standard Edition, which includes the full base game, for 40€ and the Deluxe Edition, which includes three additional Cosmetic DLC (Amusements Pack, City Lights Pack, Pedestrian Zone Pack), for 50€.

The Standard Edition is available as physical version at selected retailers.

Find out more by following this link.

Are there any major differences between the PC and the console version?

The Console Edition includes the base game of Anno 1800 with all major free updates released for the PC version over the last 4 years. Our mission was to provide the full Anno 1800 base game experience on consoles. For this end, we reworked the complete UI and controls, and also added an extended tutorial as well as the ‘Annopedia’, an in-game wiki with information on all the game’s features and mechanics.

Does the Console Edition support Cross-play & Cross-progression?

The Anno 1800 Console Edition allows multiplayer matches with a maximum of 16 players, with up to 4 players per team in co-op mode. However, the console version does only support multiplayer between players on the same platform.

Cross-progression between Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5 is supported.

What kind of input methods can I use with the Console Edition?

Our main focus during the development of Anno 1800 Console Edition was to achieve a smooth experience with a controller, for which the UI and controls were redesigned. It will therefore not support mouse and keyboard.

Since the PC version is optimized for mouse and keyboard input and for all the additional Season Pass DLC released there, we are currently not planning to add controller support to the PC version.

At what framerate will Anno 1800 Console Edition run?

Our focus for the Console Edition was to provide a smooth gameplay experience at all times considering the game’s complexity with large cities across two regions. The Console Edition therefore has a locked framerate of 30 FP on all consoles.

What are your plans for DLC content for the Console Edition?

For Anno 1800 Console Edition, we have decided to focus on the base game experience of Anno 1800 which already provides many hours of content, especially since we’ll be including the Free Game Updates that have been released for the PC version so far. Upon its release, the first 9 Cosmetic DLC that have already been released on PC will be available for purchase. The recently released “Dragon Garden” Pack as well as the three remaining Cosmetic DLC that are planned to be released in 2023 will become available later this year. There are no plans to release the Season Passes on console.

Did you stop further DLC development for the PC version (as you announced last year) because of the Console Edition?

No, the Console Edition is already in development since autumn 2021 and we continued releasing both content and free updates for PC since.

The team working on the Console Edition here at Ubisoft Mainz is made up of both veteran Anno developers, as well as new colleagues who joined us specifically for this project.

The plans to end main development for the PC version were independent from our plans for a version for console, as we felt that the PC version is in a good position with all the post launch content.

Are you already working on a new project, a new Anno game?

As we stated end of last year in our article on the future of Anno, part of the team is working on a new project that’s currently in an early conception stage. It’s too early to talk about it now but we’re always happy to read the ideas and wishes of our community.