Anno 1503

Anno 1503 begins with the player in control of a ship filled with men and material searching for an island to settle. After finding a suitable site, city-building begins. Resources begin as food and cloth, but progress into more complicated and different goods. Eventually, citizens become Aristocrats, and require at least ten different goods and numerous services, such as access to a large church or a bathhouse.

The game is constructed around one human player and three computer AI players. As in Anno 1602, the AI is progressive, meaning that it advances along with the human player. The AI also has adjustable personalities, which the player customizes before the beginning of a game. Each different player, human or computer, is represented by a color.

Anno 1503 began development in January 1999, following the success of 1998's Anno 1602. Publisher Sunflowers Interactive announced it in November of that year. In April 2001, Electronic Arts signed a deal with Sunflowers to secure distribution rights to the title outside German-speaking territories and Japan and that they would handle localisation for ten different languages.

An add-on titled Treasures, Monsters & Pirates was released in 2004. Electronic Arts also published this title outside Germany.

Commercial expectations for Anno 1503 were high, as its predecessor, Anno 1602, was the German market's all-time best-selling video game by 2002. Retailers pre-purchased 450,000 units of the game ahead of its launch, and it became a hit that "dominated" the charts in German-speaking countries during its first months of release, according to 4players. It debuted at #1 on GfK's weekly computer game sales charts for the German market, following the title's release on October 25. Anno 1503 proceeded to claim first place on German firm Media Control's chart for the month as a whole, after reaching domestic sales of 115,000 units during its first three days.

Tim Pototzki of GamesMarkt wrote that the game's early performance "astonished" Germany. The Verband der Unterhaltungssoftware Deutschland (VUD) soon awarded the game "Gold" status, indicating sales of at least 100,000 units across Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. Anno 1503 finished its first seven days with a total of 160,000 sales in the German market, and went on to hold the #1 position on GfK's charts in its second and third weeks.