I love Age of Empires. I also own an Xbox One, which is quite rare in my area (Shanghai, China).
I can imagine logging in for AOE content on my Xbox in a few scenarios:
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I can network locally with my existing PC, allowing for LAN party play with a friend without the need to a second monitor, tower, or other computer. Just hook up an extra keyboard/mouse to my xbox, and use the existing local connection to eliminate internet lag. If LAN play is super seemless or doesn’t require a second purchase to play with a friend as a guest against or with each other for fun, that would be even better. Add in capture age, and maybe this will help college dorm mates set up tournaments. Perhaps existing players that want to stream could handle all of the processing power of OBS on their computer while using their xbox to play with a mouse and keyboard. Even more ideal would be some sort of built-in multimonitor and simultaneous play support for two mice and keyboards for local play, or perhaps cloud streaming to any device handled through the single connection on the Xbox for LAN parties or tournaments. If Xbox somehow leverages having a second machine to make the PC AOE2 mouse and keyboard play better, I’m all in.
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The next xbox controller eliminates the deadzone with hall effect sensors. I have an Ayaneo next with hall effect sticks, and have played AOE2 on it. Hall effect analogue sticks are THE game changer for RTS games on controller. The lack of mouse-like precision is what I think has always held the genre back on consoles, and the tech exists now to fix that. I can’t promise that I would play AOE2 regularly with the controller as an option, but I wouldn’t dislike the idea because of the thought of control frustrations, and if I wanted to game on the couch would like to have the option.
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AOE franchise tournament content gets a dedicated xbox app. This would be massive for me in China, where youtube and twitch are blocked for English-language streams. I would absolutely log into my xbox to download or to stream such content as Red Bull Wololo or the next Hidden Cup if I had the option to do so from a Chinese server. This franchise is big in Asia (particularly Vietnam). Although that is mostly due to a history of piracy including AOE1 or AOE2 on everyone’s computer at the time of purchase, it has created a massive former playerbase with a lot of nostalgia for the games that I think -could- be a market that hasn’t been tapped yet. Someone smarter than me could put a number on it, and should. Maybe make a deal with Red Bull to cover streaming costs in exchange for ads - they’re fighting for shelf space in my local Chinese corner stores and often losing. If you can download videos to the xbox, I might just do that to watch tournament play on the bigger screen, or even use that instead of a second monitor while gaming for fun.
Can anyone else (maybe living elsewhere) think of a genuine reason why they would want AOE stuff on console? If so, what would you like?