Arriving in 2023 when it launches on Xbox consoles
Today marks the 25th anniversary of strategy classic Age Of Empires, and to celebrate Xbox Game Studios have announced a ream of updates coming toAge Of Empires II: Definitive Editionnext year.
Technically, the main bit of news fromtonight’s anniversary streamis that both Age Of Empires II: DE andAge Of Empires IVwill be arriving on Xbox consoles in 2023 (that, andAge Of Mythology is coming back), but the upshot of all that is that the PC versions will be getting the very same benefits, including controller support, crossplay with consoles and cloud gaming support.
Age Of Empires II: Definitive Edition will be arriving on Xbox consoles on January 31st 2023, with Age Of Empires IV following “later” that year.
While I’m sure many PC AOE-ers will continue to use a mouse and keyboard to play these real-timestrategy games, it’s always nice to see more input options become available.
It also sounds like Xbox have put a decent amount of thought into making them a viable option, too.
“We knew that bringing the complexity of RTS to Xbox consoles was a massive task and one we had to approach carefully and thoughtfully,” director of customer voice at World’s Edge Emma Bridle wrote on theXbox News Wire.
“The team has been working hard to bring an experience that not only feels great using a controller, but also teaches players how to play on Xbox.
A new tutorial designed specifically for controller input paired with a new user experience for console will help players get started.
Weve also added a new game AI which helps make resource management in a strategy game efficient and intuitive.”
As mentioned above, Age Of Empires II: Definitive Edition will also be getting optional crossplay support between all platforms when the console edition arrives, allowing PC peeps to play with Xbox-ers.
These new additions have all been highly-requested features from players themselves, according to Bridle, who she called “the beating heart of the franchise” inour new 25th anniversary interviewwith the World’s Edge development team.
Nic Reuben spoke to both Bridle and creative director Adam Isgreen about how the series has evolved over the last quarter century, and it’s chock full of fascinating insights.
Age Of Empires II: Definitive Edition is available now on PC over onSteamandGame Pass, as is Age Of Empires IV, which you’ve got the option to find here onSteamand here onGame Pass.
