Seems M$ has learned nothing from Star Wars Battle Front 1 with their 60$ tour pass, it would limit the player base and a multiplayer game will thrive off it’s player base, if you demand that players will have this W10 garbage then too few will jump on the wagon and player base will be extremely limited and die off in matter of months!
No wonder M$ killed ES long ago!
@“ExTiNcT SaNitY” said:
Seems M$ has learned nothing from Star Wars Battle Front 1 with their 60$ tour pass, it would limit the player base and a multiplayer game will thrive off it’s player base, if you demand that players will have this W10 garbage then too few will jump on the wagon and player base will be extremely limited and die off in matter of months!No wonder M$ killed ES long ago!
If I personally want to play a game…I don’t really care what system or platform it is on, I have most of them if not all…I usually just want to play the game & I really want to play the Definitive Edition of THIS game…so I am not worried
@“Wicked Wulf” said:
@“ExTiNcT SaNitY” said:
Seems M$ has learned nothing from Star Wars Battle Front 1 with their 60$ tour pass, it would limit the player base and a multiplayer game will thrive off it’s player base, if you demand that players will have this W10 garbage then too few will jump on the wagon and player base will be extremely limited and die off in matter of months!No wonder M$ killed ES long ago!
If I personally want to play a game…I don’t really care what system or platform it is on, I have most of them if not all…I usually just want to play the game & I really want to play the Definitive Edition of THIS game…so I am not worried
While I have Windows 10 and understand your view, I agree with the OP here. It’s not about what the “ideal audience” is. It’s about refusing to put the game into the hands of 70% of the gaming public. At least by supporting Windows 7 on Steam, they can get closer to having 70% of the gaming market targeted. That’s a better choice.
And the comment about the player base dying is valid. If only 30% of possible gamers get it, they’ll get it, find the multiplayer audience isn’t there at some times that they might play, and move on. There will be many fewer people streaming the game on Twitch, very few Let’s Plays on Youtube, and therefore less of a market for possible people who might want to see the game in action before buying it. The multiplayer gaming will eventually die, or close to it, for previously mentioned reasons.
In other words, limiting to the Windows 10 Store exclusively is the worst decision they could make, and could be akin to the Achille’s Heel syndrome; they hit themselves in the heel, and they are going to kill themselves.
Wait are you saying I have to buy Windows 10 just to play this game? What?? I don’t understand any of these decision they’re making; they would make many more sales if they release the game on steam and for many different operating systems, so what is their reasoning for this?
Also, do they not know how many non-gamers are coming back to play this game? This cuts off a larger portion of people for AoE than it would for most other games.
Not having support for windows 7 is a bit of a surprise for me. I do understand that they want everyone aboard windows 10 platform but in this case it’s incredibly strange.
@Penguin
Lemme summon myself:
@Zsombro said:
@CycloneGU said:
nowadays companies see this as an unneeded expense.I think they just want more players on their own platform. That’s all.
Why would you lose money to let others play on steam if you could just force them to play on win10 and buy the game on windows store?Maybe they will fail with this decision, but if somebody buys a game on ws and plays on xboxlive with their friends, there’s a chance that they will buy more games or play more on it. It’s more profitable on the long run.
Maybe they want to spy on users more with w10 as well lol.
I certainly understand what you mean, but I just feel like this is a decision that would ultimately not be more profitable. Also it’s kind of a ■■■■ move and I’m probably not going to be picked for beta because of this. Microsoft is really ruining their reputation with this stuff they keep pulling.
Edit: As in the past Microsoft is attempting to pull the market away from Steam and other such services that rival them. I’m trying so hard to like Microsoft just because they made Age of Empires but I guess I really need to realize that they’ve always been doing this ■■■■.
@Penguin said:
Wait are you saying I have to buy Windows 10 just to play this game? What?? I don’t understand any of these decision they’re making; they would make many more sales if they release the game on steam and for many different operating systems, so what is their reasoning for this?Also, do they not know how many non-gamers are coming back to play this game? This cuts off a larger portion of people for AoE than it would for most other games.
Yes. Though I wonder if you can run the game in a W10 virtual machine, granted you have a computer stong enough to run virtualization software and are prepared to do that for just one game… Even as I am typing this I start thinking “Isn’t that too much effort…?”.
I really am at a loss that there is such massive concern over the initial platform being just Windows 10. Once AoE DE is out there in release, I’m sure that decisions will be made down the road to roll on other platforms. If AoE DE doesn’t later materialize on other platforms… oh well.
@“Wicked Wulf” said:
If I personally want to play a game…I don’t really care what system or platform it is on, I have most of them if not all…I usually just want to play the game & I really want to play the Definitive Edition of THIS game…so I am not worried
Well, personally I do care.
This is a 20-year old game that at this moment is mostly being played by old nostagia-tripping gamers. Who through those years have tried to get this game work on every new OS-release (of the same developer I might add) . So they can still play on the OS on of their choosing.
But when its decided to remaster this game, and it is expected from those players to update their old school OS and buy the newest version, to play the remastered OLD game, that sounds a bit weird right?
Who are they trying to reach?
They are not releasing this game to make money from sales of the game.
They are releasing this game to get people on windows 10 where they can data mine and sell through on the windows store.
At least AOE fans get the game, regardless of the motivations behind it.
@CagierNebula24 said:
They are not releasing this game to make money from sales of the game.They are releasing this game to get people on windows 10 where they can data mine and sell through on the windows store.
At least AOE fans get the game, regardless of the motivations behind it.
They can get data people coming to this forum/site
They can get from people using their browser (which, is still alot of people, ie11 + edge still 27%)
I am also sure they can get data from any of their software you use, including windows version Prior to W10.
Also other compagnies also get data from you for various reason. Amazon do it, from their shop and probably twitch and their other platform. Google do it, from their searchengine (which is a big marketshare in western), Facebook do it and certainly alot of other Social Media.
So, in conclusion i don’t think it shouldn’t bother you, but claiming this is the reason for not upgrading from 7 to 10 for example, i can’t get it.
Personnally i believe a unified platform for every windows user (w10 was meant to that) is a good goal, that imo is also an advantage to developper in the long term.
(I quote you since you talk about data, though it’s a general response)
I can’t see how it’s really bad for them to only support Windows 10. Windows 7 is 9 years old with limited support and you can’t expect them to continually support older OS forever now can you?
I do however hope that a Steam Release comes at a later date after minimum requirements are figured out, as that will certainly widen up the availability of the game, which can only be a good thing!
This topic is one that comes up a lot! So I will endeavor to summarize all the main points from across the forums for both sides:
AoE:DE will be a Microsoft Exclusive:
So why is this the case?
@Interjection said:
- -Steam takes a huge chunk of the sales profits and providing support across multiple operating systems (Vista, 7, 10, Apple etc) is expensive.
If they don’t like Steam’s chunk of the profits, there’s GOG, another established digital distribution service filled with nostalgic players who’d buy the guts off any AoE/AoM game that would enter its domain. And then some, most likely.
Also, support across multiple Windows OSes isn’t expensive, ask both AAA and indie devs. Plus, multi-OS support makes it easier for both devs and fans (when support inevitably ends) to figure out how to run the game on a newer system - some nominally Win95-specific games had the issue of refusing to install/run on a newer system without workarounds that do not just include setting compatibility mode.
@Interjection said:
Continual support for older OS surely cannot go on forever?
Windows 7 still has a respectable market share due to not being as bloated as Windows 10 and not being partially designed for mobile devices (mangled Settings menu, anyone?). And it’s still miles ahead of Windows 10 in number of users, so there.
@Interjection said:
- -Microsoft is also looking to push their own platforms. AoE:DE might not be enough to make everyone switch but this isn’t their first game on the platform (and it certainly won’t be the last!) With each new game added, the reasons to take the plunge grow.
I hope this means they’ll moderate MS Store some more then, because the last time I checked, it was full of malicious copypasted stuff that violates several copyright and security rules.
@Interjection said:
Later the game can be sold to the masses (and yes, the two multiplayer communities can be merged… in fact that’s exactly how AOE3 functions to this day so that those who installed from the CD or Steam can play together.)
That depends on how the account system will be organized. If the game will explicitly require a Microsoft/Xbox Live account to enter instead of a separate system that AoE3’s ESO server still uses to this day, then it’d be quite a mess to get Steam users online.
To even play this game, I will need Windows 10 (I am using Windows 7 now). I have to consider whether it would be worth upgrading to Windows 10 just to play this game. From what I have seen, the DA seems mostly to consist of cosmetic enhancements. At this point, I am not sure it is worth upgrading, as I can play the original with UPatch. The graphics are not that bad, and the game is now fairly balanced. If I am missing something in my analysis, let me know. I have been a huge fan of this game since it came out in the late nineties.
@UnfocusedEagle7 said:
To even play this game, I will need Windows 10 (I am using Windows 7 now). I have to consider whether it would be worth upgrading to Windows 10 just to play this game. From what I have seen, the DA seems mostly to consist of cosmetic enhancements. At this point, I am not sure it is worth upgrading, as I can play the original with UPatch. The graphics are not that bad, and the game is now fairly balanced. If I am missing something in my analysis, let me know. I have been a huge fan of this game since it came out in the late nineties.
It all depends how you play the game. I for myself, hope it will bring a bigger community to play online than we have right now. Even if i still play the old game.
Though, i took the upgrade when it was free, so i don’t need to think if it’s worth to pay to upgrade to play one game.
@Interjection said:
So why is this the case?
- -Steam takes a huge chunk of the sales profits and providing support across multiple operating systems (Vista, 7, 10, Apple etc) is expensive. Continual support for older OS surely cannot go on forever?
This seems like a bizarre point to bring up.
Steam take an industry standard of 30%. This is again the industry standard. Every store does this from Apple to steam.
Steam taking a ‘huge chunk’ (which in itself isnt’ true) has little to do with supporting multiple operating systems.
If you think 30% is ‘bad’ then don’t buy the game at retail because the margins for putting a game on a retail shelf are closer to 70%.
- -Microsoft is also looking to push their own platforms. AoE:DE might not be enough to make everyone switch but this isn’t their first game on the platform (and it certainly won’t be the last!) With each new game added, the reasons to take the plunge grow.
- -There is also some speculation that this is a ‘litmus test’ of of sorts… to gauge interest in the AOE franchise and Windows Store for potential future big releases.
- -Finally, this is just a beta for now, a post launch Steam release (with support for other OS) could well still be on the table.
Given the game is basing its MP on xbox live’s azure platform, this seems highly unlikley. That’s different than Quantum Break, since that was basically just a SP game, so once the exclusivity timeframe expired they could bring it to steam
On a totally side note, while people kind scream about these kinds of things, developers do need money to make games, and if companies like Microsoft are willing to give a developer a TON of money to make it exclusive, that’s not an easy thing to turn down. Sure you might scream about it, but as a studio you have a ton of people who depend on these kinds of decisions to not go bankrupt. Its easy to demand things on the consumer side, without understanding how those decisions can be financial realities for developers.
Everyone arguing about if they should release it for windows 10 or windows 7 but you are leaving behind some important public… Mac and Linux users… Come on, they also do matter too 
@kylobeetle said:
Everyone arguing about if they should release it for windows 10 or windows 7 but you are leaving behind some important public… Mac and Linux users… Come on, they also do matter too
Well they already said it is gonna be Windows Exclusive Game so I don’t think they will try to adapt it to Linux or Mac users because… you know… the competition.
