Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings is a real-time strategy computer game set in the Midle Ages. It was released in 1999, and it is the second game of the Age of Empires series developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft. Because of its commercial success, an expansion pack was released: Age of Empires II: The Conquerors, followed by a Gold Edition, which bundled together the game and its expansion pack along with a bonus map and games recorded by Microsoft strategy experts.