Age of Empires 2 is one of the most popular games on Steam. I can’t imagine anywhere else to have as many sales as the steam edition.
If you do not put this version of AoE on steam, you will appeal to less of a market. Most people find out that a game exists purely by seeing it on the front page of steam.
As a massive fan of this game, I would love to see a thriving community play this game, and I doubt that would be doable with the windows store alone.
There is a steam community thread where we have been requesting an AOE1 HD version since 2014. Though the post has been updated to say “on Steam”, I’m not sure on what authority Laptop65 is posting.
It does say “Age of Empires: Definitive Edition will be available on the Windows Store later this year.”
But you’re right, and on that thread it was certainly the most asked question. Unfortunately Microsoft aren’t afraid of sacrificing a product for the big picture (i.e. getting people on windows 10/xbox live/windows store). It will be a big blow for us die-hard fans if they do 
For me personally, I would buy it anyway (it would be my first windows store purchase). But I would definitely be in the minority. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see…
I doubt it won’t be on Steam.
Their past two HD remakes have been on Steam. Moreover, Microsoft hardly makes enough games to exclusively host them on their own independent platform.
EDIT**
https://forums.ageofempires.com/discussion/47/will-it-be-available-on-steam
@jennywaboom said:
@C4N said:
I guess the answer is pretty obvious but at the moment it’s not 100% sure because you need an Xbox live account to sign up for the beta.But since AoE3, AoEIIHD and AoMEE are all on Steam I supposse this will be there too.
We’ve chosen to release “Age of Empires: Definitive Edition” exclusively in the Windows Store and we’re excited about what that entails, including tons of Xbox Live goodness (achievements, cloud saves, multiplayer on the fastest, more reliable gaming network and more).
Apparently it’s going to be only in the Windows store.
just getting my 10 comment badge over here
I have no issue with it as a MSFT Store “Exclusive” Gamerscore yay!..but I mainly care about the campaign, so a thriving community is not as important to me.
@AlexTehGreat2 said:
There is a steam community thread where we have been requesting an AOE1 HD version since 2014. Though the post has been updated to say “on Steam”, I’m not sure on what authority Laptop65 is posting.
[STORE PAGE LIVE, AUGUST 2019 RELEASE] Request: AoE1 + Rise of Rome (Expansion) on Steam :: Age of Empires II (2013) General DiscussionsIt does say “Age of Empires: Definitive Edition will be available on the Windows Store later this year.”
But you’re right, and on that thread it was certainly the most asked question. Unfortunately Microsoft aren’t afraid of sacrificing a product for the big picture (i.e. getting people on windows 10/xbox live/windows store). It will be a big blow for us die-hard fans if they do
For me personally, I would buy it anyway (it would be my first windows store purchase). But I would definitely be in the minority. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see…
I don’t think you’ll be in the minority, I expect many people will be like you and I and make their first purchase with Windows Store this game. I use Steam, but I have no love affair with it.
Advertise advertise advertise the game said this before I played age 1 got as a demo disc … instantly hooked bought age 1 full game… bought age 2 … then family etc … stumbled across age of empires 3 in wallmart … I bought my brother his wife my brother in law bought it his sons bought it all because we stumbled across it
I’ll use whatever I have to use to play this. I also understand that the Windows Store, as bloated and unpolished as it is, isn’t the utter disappointment that GFWL was. Steam’s great, and convenient, but if I have to use the Windows Store, I will.
@Stephen_81 said:
@AlexTehGreat2 said:
There is a steam community thread where we have been requesting an AOE1 HD version since 2014. Though the post has been updated to say “on Steam”, I’m not sure on what authority Laptop65 is posting.
[STORE PAGE LIVE, AUGUST 2019 RELEASE] Request: AoE1 + Rise of Rome (Expansion) on Steam :: Age of Empires II (2013) General DiscussionsIt does say “Age of Empires: Definitive Edition will be available on the Windows Store later this year.”
But you’re right, and on that thread it was certainly the most asked question. Unfortunately Microsoft aren’t afraid of sacrificing a product for the big picture (i.e. getting people on windows 10/xbox live/windows store). It will be a big blow for us die-hard fans if they do
For me personally, I would buy it anyway (it would be my first windows store purchase). But I would definitely be in the minority. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see…I don’t think you’ll be in the minority, I expect many people will be like you and I and make their first purchase with Windows Store this game. I use Steam, but I have no love affair with it.
They would have to do a lot to convince me - or any of my friends, for that matter - to buy it via Windows Store. If they had given us a choice and an enticing offer - perhaps. But if they’re trying to force us to use a much less polished platform (at least that was my last experience), we’d rather stick with AoE 2 HD, thank you very much.
From what I’ve been reading in various forums, this appears to be the overwhelming response so far. I have no doubt that a lot of people (perhaps myself included) will eventually give in and buy the game, provided the quality is up there, but this is not how you make your customers happy, and I don’t doubt that they will lose some money on the deal.
The official canon seems to be this (from the Closed Beta Signup thread):
‘We use Xbox Live for Multiplayer, Achievements and Save Games in the cloud. It’s a good thing’
Yeah right, because all those things are impossible on Steam.
And I’d honestly go without achievements and cloud saves (both of which are easily possible on Steam) in exchange for a multiplayer system that is guaranteed to work and allows me to jump into games with friends without launching a separate platform every time. At least tell us the truth, guys. It’s all about prying customers away from Steam.
Does anyone doubt that, if Microsoft sold this game via Steam and Windows Store, the great majority would buy it on Steam? Well, you can either change that by offering better conditions and/or quality or by brute force. Nice going, Microsoft…
Am I too fond of Steam? Probably. Then again, it pays to be the first one to haul in the customers and keep them happy. Microsoft certainly isn’t doing it with this step.
