Union Update: Happy Holidays 2024

Hey Anno Community,

What a year it has been!

Unbeknownst to you, we were all nervously preparing for the announcement of our new project – Anno 117: Pax Romana! Are we good at keeping secrets? YES. Prior to the reveal, whenever we noticed comments in chat during livestreams or full discussions on Discord or Reddit about a “Roman Anno”, we would secretly cheer inside. So, how often do WE think about the Roman Empire? Every. Single. Day.

It was a proud moment for us to see Anno 117: Pax Romana on the big Ubisoft Forward screen back in June, but seeing your reaction felt even more special.

Immortalising your omnipresent hope for a Roman Anno throughout the years, was also a big highlight for us – together with the help of the beloved Town Crier!

Not too long after the reveal, we jumped into the Community Contests dedicated to Anno 117: Pax Romana. Seeing your creativity in action was a blast, both with the Statue design and the quest writing. A big shout out to all participants and the winners of the two contests, once again! In January, we’ll have a first look at the Annocius statue for you and will later also update you on the “Weapon from the Stars” quest, when the team has done some more progress on the topic.

Last but not least, during our End of Year stream, we confirmed that Anno 117: Pax Romana will be available on Steam from Day 1! For a more detailed update on the game and what we’re currently working on, you can check out this blog.

2024 also marked the end of development for Anno 1800, with the release of the last three Cosmetic DLCs: we started the year with Steampunk vibes, then sailed through the high seas with some Pirates ornaments, and ended the year with sparkles and unicorns for the End of an Era. We’ve discussed at length how bittersweet this feels in last week’s blog, so you know that this game will always hold a special place in our hearts.

So, without getting too emotional (again), let’s celebrate this special moment with some new Anno 1800 wallpapers to complete your collection! Here you can now find the artworks for the Steampunk Pack, the Pirate Cove Pack, and the End of an Era Pack.

Every end of year, it’s a tradition to go through your Anno 1800 achievements. So, let’s see what has happened since 2019 by updating an old image from the week after release with new numbers – and comparing the two!

And then, five and a half years later… look at those numbers!

A look into 2025…

Alright, that was 2024 – what about the next year?

As you might know, good things always come in three – of course we’re talking about the Community Contests dedicated to Anno 117: Pax Romana! So far, you’ve excelled at the tasks you were given, but will you be up for the third and final one? To give you a tiny hint… the screenshots we recently shared might be a good inspiration! The live date for this contest is still not final, but we’re planning for early 2025, around January. Therefore, watch this space if you don’t want to miss out!

We won’t stop there, of course: You can expect many more news on Anno 117: Pax Romana next year. This is when we’ll deep-dive into the game, expect:

• Many DevBlogs
• Trailers
• Livestreams
• Playtests
• Events
• … more?

2025 is going to be a big year for Anno 117: Pax Romana. We know you’re excited to see more of the game and we’re very much looking forward to showing you… everything! More or less 😉

In the meantime, if you haven’t done it yet, don’t forget to wishlist Anno 117: Pax Romana on Ubisoft Connect, Steam, PlayStation and Xbox.

And with that, we’re saying “goodbye for now”: We wish you Happy Holidays and will take a few weeks of rest ourselves as well.

We’ll be back in January and can’t wait for what 2025 will bring.

The Anno Team