Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition launches on Xbox in 2023

Xbox will be the first to get Age of Empires the classic real-time strategy game, which Microsoft has published since it’s debut 25 years ago. Age of Empires 2, Definitive EditionA 2019 remaster will debut via Xbox Game Pass on Jan. 31, 2019. Age of Empires 4. will get a console release “later in the year,” Microsoft said on Tuesday.

The announcement didn’t specify which Xbox consoles would get the new versions, beyond saying both games will be available via the Microsoft Store, Xbox Game Pass, and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. These consoles will continue to support mouse and keyboard inputs and can be played with a controller.

Age of Empires 4 — and all its trebuchets — launched Oct. 28, 2021, and on PC Game Pass the same day.

“We knew that bringing the complexity of RTS to Xbox consoles was a massive task and one we had to approach carefully and thoughtfully,” co-developer World’s Edge said in Tuesday’s statement. “The team has been working hard to bring an experience that not only feels great using a controller, but also teaches players how to play on Xbox.”

Age of Empire’s controller inputs can be a bit tricky since the game involves lots of clicking around on various units and scrolling around the map. A tutorial will be available for Xbox version users that will teach them how to use the specific inputs and also show you how to get started. The developers also added a game AI to help make resource management “efficient and intuitive.”

Age of Empires 2, And Age of Empires 4. Support for cross-platform gaming will allow console gamers to share the experience with Windows PC pros. So we’ll see later how it the Xbox versions measure up against mouse-and-keyboard rivals.