Microsoft has brought all of its games to both Xbox and Windows 10 since last year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo tradeshow. Now, prior to this year’s event in Los Angeles, the company revealed how it’s further unifying the two platforms.
Age of Empires: Definitive Edition is coming from Microsoft on top of games like Forza Motorsport 7 and Sea of Thieves. Microsoft revealed that it has updated all of the original sprites from the real-time strategy classic Age of Empires for modern systems. The company even re-recorded the soundtrack with an actual symphony. Age of Empires will also have gameplay updates that improve things like pathfinding for units so that they don’t get lost on their way to an objective (a problem with older games). Finally, the game will have online support, and it will debut later this year. But you can signup for a beta right now.
Microsoft also promised to continue the “Age of Empire party” going forward as part of the game’s 20th anniversary. The publisher also teased a major announcement related to the real-time strategy game at the Gamescom convention later in 2017.
As for Sea of Thieves and Forza 7, Microsoft confirmed they would get PC optimization. For example Forza is getting developed specifically for PC in parallel to console. Both games will debut as part of the Xbox Play Anywhere program, which enables consumers to buy a game like Gears of War 4 on Windows and also have it on Xbox One as well without having to pay extra for it. While many thought this would hurt the sales of the Xbox One because “why wouldn’t I just get a PC,” that end result was that the Xbox One has typically sold better since the announcement. Microsoft’s console even outsold PlayStation 4 through most of the summer of 2016 and early fall.
