Red Bull Wololo: Londinium finals was the most incredible esports event ever held. While that sounds like hyperbole, it is hard to imagine any other event matching the location, atmosphere, and feel of the Royal Albert Hall in London, one of the most beautiful venues in all of entertainment.
I’ve sat in the Singapore Indoor Stadium at TI11 with thousands. And I’ve been to music festivals surrounded by tens of thousands of people, the ground vibrating, my ears left ringing for days. But nothing has come close to how majestic, how beautiful a venue the Royal Albert Hall is. A genuine artifact, a Wonder, to use Age of Empires parlance, the Victorian structure elevated the event’s finals to a level beyond just a simple esports tournament.
Both contrasting and complimenting the Red Bull Wololo’s theming and computerized competition, Red Bull Wololo: Londinium was a spectacle. Capped off by the triumph of two game’s legendary players in a thrilling series.
Image Credit: Jaxon.gg/Michael Hassall
Originally opening in 1871, the The Royal Albert Hall has been added to for over a hundred years since, iterating and changing it. One of the latest additions, the South Porch, was inaugurated in 2004, but refurbishments and extensions are always continuing.
It is a quintessentially British building. There’s now 14 bars spread across the five stories of the tiered seating from floor, to boxes, and galleries. An archive that descends into the basement. New ‘Royal Red’ color theming was added just last year.
It’s a fitting theme, this ever altering and upgrading venue of a classic construct, for an Age of Empires esports final. Age of Empires II was originally released in 1999, a practically ancient title in video game terms. And after dozens of expansions, rereleases and DLCs, the game keeps thriving, with thousands of players, and a dedicated fan base that keeps turning up for these incredible events.
Perhaps even more fittingly, when opened, the Royal Albert Hall wasn’t very good at what it was supposed to do: Its acoustics were terrible, the sound echoed around the huge dome. For almost a hundred years, the building was not a great place to listen to music or watch theatre. Until the addition of acoustic diffusers, the huge hanging plates near the ceiling, in 1969.
Image Credit: Jaxon.gg/Michael Hassall
Similarly, Age of Empires IV, a game now regarded as one of the best in the RTS genre, didn’t release in a particularly good state. Poor balance, numerous issues, a player base who still loved its predecessors, a game seemingly trapped between retro style and new innovations. But six years later the game is in a great state, and all the better for it.
And while these similarities, these complimentary histories, made the Royal Albert Hall venue even better, the core of the quality came from the building itself. The incredible sound quality. The majestic structure of arches, pillars, and architectural details I lack the faculties and knowledge base to describe.
Hearing each track of the iconic Age of Empires soundtracks, songs I’ve heard a thousand or more times playing the game, played by the incredible London Contemporary Orchestra in a venue tailor made for those kinds of scores, was amazing.
It transported me back to being a child whose dad has just bought a new PC. One that came bundled with, as it happened, the original Age of Empires. It started an obsession, and when the second game released a few years later, it was a must-buy. And being just educational enough, made its way onto mine.
It’s almost redundant to say, but this kind of event doesn’t happen without a huge amount of work behind the scenes. According to Nissa, costume designer and a creative behind the scenes at the past Wololo events, planning begins months in advance, with meetings to determine theme, scope, etc.
The stunning costumes, that transformed casters and hosts into 18th century sailors and mariners, were partly lent by London-based cinema and stage costuming company Angels, but organized into a consistent “uniform,” by Nissa and her team.
“We’ve tried to create a little storytelling element of we are on a ship cruising into London and we arrive at our destination which is the Royal Albert Hall. So we have the ship’s captain and sailors that are working on a ship. The ship’s captain or like the more leading position leaders on this sailing ship are our hosts, Riley and Zoe.
So there’s rank between them and each caster has a different rank and up until we’ve arrived at the Royal Albert Hall every talent has been dressed as a sailor or as a marine that is supposed to be present on a ship that is making its way towards our final destination here and now that we’ve arrived at the Royal Albert Hall they have transformed into London citizens because we have arrived”
And even the draft, normally held in-game, and on PCs (obviously), was transformed into an analog, manual event with chess-like pieces representing each civilization. It’s amazing how simplifying, de-digitizing elements of the game can make it even better, especially to give things a momentous feeling. I’d liken it to the coin flip at a sporting event, or the manual reading of bingo balls. A small act of ceremony that elevates everything alongside it.
Red Bull Londinium. Image Credit: Red Bull Gaming
And if just the venue and experience had been fantastic, that would have been great. That would have been an amazing experience. Instead, we were also treated to two of the best Age of Empires finals of all time.
First, in Age of Empires IV, Alexis “MarineLorD” Eusebio overcame Daniel “Wam01” Svoboda in a best-of-five series that went the distance and showed just how special the Age of Empires IV scene can be. MarineLorD has been battling the brothers, Wam01 and Adam “1puppypaw” Svoboda for years, meeting either in the finals or semi-finals at seemingly every event. And this time, once again, he was able to come out on top.
That familiarity, the fact both MarineLorD and Wam01 have played so many finals, and even practice together, helped the victory. Even if it made it a lot closer than he would have liked, according to the MarineLorD himself:
“[Wam01] plays very well. Every time we were playing and practicing, it was always very close, 3-2, 2-3. So I knew it would be super close if he was playing that well. But I didn’t expect him to play that well in the final because he was never on a big stage like that unlike me so I was like maybe I have a bigger advantage because of that but he played very well.”
Then in Age of Empires II, we had what many were calling the greatest Age of Empires finals of all time as the two Vitality teammates Hamzah “Hera” El-Baher and Kai “Liereyy” Kallinger clashed at the peak of the event.
What initially looked like a stomp for Liereyy, with a 3-0 start, turned around in game four, with Hera coming back to win five-straight for the victory. The crux of the victory, however, came in game seven on Rampart, with Hera on Vikings (A suggestion from Twitch streamer Atrioc, sent by Discord during an intermission), a hugely long game that went to a points victory.
In his own words, Hera didn’t even think he could win that game:
“I thought I was dead. I completely flipped the game with the castle because my position was absolutely horrible. I flipped the game 20 villagers forward, not even looking. I sent them forward. If he spotted them and killed them, the game ends on the spot. If the castle doesn’t go up, the game ends on the spot. Flipped the game, expected it to be a quick GG, and somehow I managed to claw back from that. And I just feel like other players would have resigned, and I’m happy I found that literally one percent chance to win.”
Hera and Liereyy shake hands following the finals of Red Bull Londinium. Image Credit: Red Bull Gaming
Red Bull Wololo wrapped its eight edition with Londinium. An event that started in the depths of covid lockdown with just a set and some theming has transformed into a travelling roadshow that outdoes itself each time with incredible locations. From the first two editions at Heidelberg Castle to Almodvar Del Rio for El Renado in 2024, and now the Royal Albert Hall, Wololo is getting a reputation for the spectacular.
So where to next to top this incredible event? We suggested to MarineLorD a chateau in France could be ideal for a next venue:
“I mean I’m not sure which chateau. I think like for Chateau Versailles might be way too expensive! But for sure France would be amazing. I have a Gentle Mates behind me, they have so many supporters. So it would be quite huge in France for sure. So yeah, that would be a dream”
Age of Empires II champ Hera had his own suggestion:
“I’d love to see a Red Bull, it would have to be Buenos Aires, Argentina. I’ve been living there for a few years. The passion there from the AoE 2 crowd is absolutely unreal. It’s unheard of. They’re huge supporters of the game. I think bringing an event there would be electric. And there’s a lot of nice venues that you can pick from.”
Buenos Aires would definitely be a change of scenery. And a perfect chance to embrace some of the other civilizations in Age of Empires, like the Mapuche, a recent but strong addition to the game in the Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition – The Last Chieftains DLC.
Caster Benjamin “DeMu” Baker had a novel suggestion:
“But I dare say in the future, maybe like some space station out there somewhere, know? Going for the full global reach. But no, honestly, I don’t know. I don’t know, I think castles have been cool for the old age aspect. Cathedrals could be something that could be nice, but it doesn’t get too much better than the Royal Albert Hall. Unless, say, if we played it in a big stadium that’s super popular, like say Wembley.”
Regardless of where Red Bull Wololo heads next, its aim will remain clear: Keep Age of Empires in the minds and hearts of its fans. The events are a collaboration, of course, between the Age of Empires developers, World’s Edge, and Red Bull, and it’s clear that one of the reasons behind the collaboration is to make sure the fans that love the game know about the new DLCs and launches the games have.
In 2026 alone, World’s Edge launched a major DLC for AoE II, the aforementioned Last Chieftains, and an upcoming one for Age of Empires IV, Yue Fei’s Legacy. The franchise as a whole is also launching Age of Empires Mobile: PC Edition later this year. While as a whole, Age of Empires needs four hands to count its age, the energy it has, both from the developers’ side and the fans doesn’t seem likely to wain. DeMu put it best when answering about what games need to do to match Age of Empire’s longevity:
“[Age of Empires] isn’t a unique case in the sense that you have games that have been around for quite some time that still get a lot of support, but it’s those that get a lot of support that last. So if I think about a very popular title like League of Legends or Counter-Strike, which is now Counter-Strike 2, they are constantly pushed by their devs. It very much shines through when the devs still care about a product, no matter how long ago it was.”
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Featured Image Credit: Red Bull Gaming.
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