Earlier today Phil Spencer on Xbox Wire announced that all the definitive editions of Age of Empires will be coming to Steam, which includes Age of Empires: Definitive Edition. For answers to all your AoE:DE on Steam questions, please see the F.A.Q. below which will be updated regularly as more info is announced. If you have a question which is not on the F.A.Q. please leave a comment below.
No. If you own the Microsoft Store version of Age of Empires: Definitive Edition you will be able to play with Steam version players with crossplay between platforms. Source
Will the Microsoft Store version be updated to Win32?
Processor: 1.8 Ghz+ Dual Core or greater i5 or AMD equivalent
Memory: 4 GB RAM
Graphics: DirectX 11.0 compatible card with Direct3D Feature Level 11_0 or higher support and 1GB of free memory - Intel: HD 4000 (Ivy Bridge CPU)or better GPU - nVidia: GT 430 or better desktop GPU, or GT 425M or better mobile GPU - AMD: Radeon HD 5500 or better Desktop GPU, or Mobility Radeon 5650 or better mobile GPU
Does this mean there will be finally support for modding as the files won’t be locked away in UWP? Hoping that is yes and good riddance to the restrictions.
Recent news about Microsoft games being made available on Steam are analyzed more deeply here - https://www.pcgamer.com/microsoft-games-on-steam-announced/
Games released on Steam probably do not require Windows 10, because use Win32 instead of UWP
If Steam version is not UWP, I hope that Microsoft Store license’s owners will be able to get the game in Win32 too, this format is annoying. (you don’t choose the install folder, the folder is locked, weird placement for custom content folder, you can’t listen to music with VLC even if they are in front of you etc.)
Very good news. UWP are ok for basic apps but not for games, so restrictive and no modding. I am also glad that AoE DE has received 11 updates so far.
The initial February 2018 release was not really promising but significant improvements have been added (AI, queues, interface). Kudos to Forgotten Empires for improving it!
Well, many of those were critical problems that shouldn’t never be in the release versions, and there were also patches to buggy patches… so less than 11 true ‘content updates’.
my only concern is: single player mode will continue to have to be connected to internet to play AOE: DE in steam ?, and AOE 2: DE, will also have internet connection required for single player mode?
Hi Marcel, This is a good question. You can play single player offline with the Microsoft Store version of AoE: DE but the game will not launch without being connected to the internet. I tested this out today.
Similar to AoE II: HD, I would expect to be able to play AoE: DE single player on Steam in offline mode. There has been no official response on this question yet.
Hi, comrades! Do you know when the release date will be announced and it will be possible to pre-order? I understand we have until the end of July to find out this information?
They have announced that they expect to release the game in fall this year. To estimate the exact release date we only need to find out which fall of what empire and it’s residential time zone.
You are correct. My multicore processing got lost in a thread.
It would be a good thing though if the thread and category would show in the edit box.
Corrected answer.
As far as I know from hear say and all media coverage is that want to focus first on the delivery of AOE II DE. So probably AOE DE for Steam will be released later or even somewhere next year.
If there are no delays with the release of AOE II DE of course.
As correctly noted by @anon63664082, I asked about AOE: DE . And yet I hope that the release is scheduled for August, as previously noted by the developers and in the top of the theme is unchanged.
And I do not think that the release of AOE2:DE can affect the adaptation of the finished AOE: DE on Steam. There are clearly different teams of people working on these tasks.
AoE DE will be overshadowed when AoE2 DE is released and activity will drop. That happened in the old days when activity on Zone.com. History will repeat itself.
. And yet I hope that the release is scheduled for August, as previously noted by the developers and in the top of the theme is unchanged.