The modern "updated" cracks (2020-2025) are often hosted on dangerous sites. Because the game is old, hackers bundle cryptocurrency miners, keyloggers, or adware into the aomx.exe or aomx-crack.exe . A legitimate crack is exactly the same size as the original executable (within 5KB). If the file size is vastly different, it is malware.

Original discs are now over 20 years old and prone to "disc rot" or scratching.

The original Age of Mythology game requires a CD to be inserted into the computer's CD drive to play. This can be inconvenient for players who want to play the game on multiple devices or don't have access to a CD drive. Moreover, with the rise of digital distribution platforms, gamers expect to play their favorite games without the need for physical media.