Unpopular Opinion/CMV: AOE4 has absolutely no chance of replacing AOE2 as it's just another good but casual and generic strategy game.

I'm seeing so many posts on Reddit, Youtube, and comments to streamers about if they're "going to switch to AOE4", similarly during the Redbull there was on stream discussion about how AOE4 could end AOE2s tenure. On Reddit there have been multiple top comments that it seems like the end of an era because AOE4 is coming out now. Anyone who thinks these things are remotely possible don't understand what makes AOE2 what it is.

The only thing that AOE4 shares with AOE2 above and beyond any other RTS game is the name, therefore why would it replace it if none of the other RTS games over the years have? AOE2 is a thing in of itself, has it's own community, pros, unique gameplay, and longevity/status and none of this can be replaced because the people who made AOE2 are retired and the pros / casters / players that created the community grew up with AOE2 and many are true masters at it from tens of thousands of hours in it. You can't replace that with a new game no matter how much money is pumped into it, it's the people around AOE2 that make it what it is.

If somehow AOE4 turned into a beast of a competitive esports game (currently it seems like another good but casual and generic strategy game that doesn't stand out from the many others), but even if it somehow turned into an esports game to rival Starcraft and Aoe2, it'll have it's own separate community and place in the world like they do.

Daut said in an interview once, half joking but half serious, that AOE2 is a masterpiece and it was created by accident. It would be like if we found Leonardo Da Vinci's descendant and he said he was going to paint a painting and then people thought it would replace Mona Lisa's position in the Louvre. That's a stretch of an analogy but you get my point xD.