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[Shin]

The next episode of Inside Xbox will be arriving on streaming services at the start of next month. While we don't know exactly when that will be, we do know that Age of Empires studio Relic Entertainment will be featuring in the episode because they have "some very exciting announcements" to make.
While many believe that to be related to Age of Empires IV, or perhaps the Definitive Editions of Age of Empires II and Age of Empires III, one source known for his reliable Microsoft Studios leaks is hinting that the news will be another studio acquisition by Microsoft instead, and that Relic will have joined the Microsoft Studios family.

Whether this turns out to be true remains to be seen, but what we do know is that Relic currently has another patch in the works for Age of Empires: Definitive Edition (Win 10).

Credit: TrueAchievements

Take it with a huge grain of salt as I've never heard of this site and information is lackluster at the moment yet it makes sense.

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

This has no bearing on whether the rumor is true or not, of course, but I would love if someone brought Relic's back-catalogue to consoles with a pad-compatible control scheme.

Could be a good thing. Microsoft seems to already have plans to bring other RTSs to console.

All that said, this is not the first time in Relic's history where they partnered with Microsoft to publish a title. Impossible Creatures was first.

 

[fermcr]

Well, not surprised... Microsoft needs a few more studio acquisitions announcements for E3.

 

[Hudo]

I just hope that Relic don't fuck up Age of Empires 4. AoE2 is still the best RTS ever made and I really like a new, good, AoE.

 

[TeamGhobad]

no to poopoo but these are all gamepass studios.

 

[Imtjnotu]

Is this studio any good? Never heard of them

 

[Gamernyc78]

Never heard of them. I looked them up and saw thy make some Rts/strategy games. On glass door employees basically shit on the company with one saying "one bad game away from the studio shutting down"

It says in 2004 it was acquired by thq for 10million they are best known for Sierra studios published Homeworld and made impossible creatures for Microsoft in the past. Also Warhammer Dawn of Strategy.

 

[Hendrick's]

no to poopoo but these are all gamepass studios.

This is a PC move, so maybe for PC Gamepass.

 

[FranXico]

Makes sense, Relic has worked with MS for a long time.

 

[IncognitoPanda]

Hope they focus on good hires and changing the studio, then. I'm less thqn impressed by their later output. AoE was made by Ensemble, and they were top of their field. I suspect AoEIV will be AoE in name only.

 

[ResilientBanana]

This is a PC move, so maybe for PC Gamepass.

I had game pass for a month and noticed I could download any game that was on it that was on both PC and Xbox. I'm pretty sure the subscription works for both.

 

[Shin]

When all is said and done Xbox might be the one with the most potential to bring in new players into the console space.
Whether it's by drawing away PC gamers or mobile ones their strategy is interesting if/when it all works and/or stable.
As a old fart gamer I find the perspective of this all a lot more interesting than what anyone else is doing ATM.

 

[Hendrick's]

I had game pass for a month and noticed I could download any game that was on it that was on both PC and Xbox. I'm pretty sure the subscription works for both.

It works for Play Anywhere games, but Gamepass is not really a PC service at this time. I believe they are planning on going all in with PC and GP in the near future though.

 

[Lionel Richie]

Fantastic move by Microsoft if it's real.

 

[Freedom Gate Co.]

What?

People do realize Sega is already in a pickle, why would they sell one of their profitable studios to Microsoft which would be a mid and long-term disaster and only a short-term gain?

 

[jshackles]

That would be a good get for Microsoft. Age of Empires + Company of Heroes + Warhammer stuff, good times.

 

[bumleforce]

So the only reason I can see this being announced before e3 is because they dont want this to get overshadowed by some of the big aquisitions they are planing

 

[Freedom Gate Co.]

I seriously doubt Sega is going to sell Relic to MS. Would make more sense if Sega offered itself for sale to MS than this.

 

[SirKicksalot]

Relic probably hasn't been profitable since the last Dawn of War 2 expansion.
Dawn of War 3 came after years in development hell, was a turd and any future content was cancelled less than a year after release.

 

[Freedom Gate Co.]

Relic probably hasn't been profitable since the last Dawn of War 2 expansion.
Dawn of War 3 came after years in development hell, was a turd and any future content was cancelled less than a year after release.

Microsoft gave them a bag of money for AOE..

 

[Coulomb_Barrier]

Relic alongside the acquired Obsidian produce hardcore PC titles so I dont get all this console talk regarding them.

The franchises these devs own 1: console gamers don't buy and 2: play horribly without a mouse and keyboard. Just imagine playing Dawn of War 3 without mouse and keyboard!

 

[VAL0R]

Xbox leaker Klobrille has said as much:



Edit:
My bad, Klobrille was mentioned in the article linked in the OP.

 

[VAL0R]

Relic alongside the acquired Obsidian produce hardcore PC titles so I dont get all this console talk regarding them.

The franchises these devs own 1: console gamers don't buy and 2: play horribly without a mouse and keyboard. Just imagine playing Dawn of War 3 without mouse and keyboard!

First MS is enabling M&K support on the XBOX, second all of Game Pass games are (rumored to be) coming to PC.

Edit: I expect MS will be bulking up their PC portfolio as XBOX expands to every device. Btw, dod you see Brad Sams recent article where it's speculated that MS has engineered a way to play Xbox games on Windows 10 PC's? They are running a State of Decay 2 on PC now in some kind of beta of this tech.

 

[Bolivar687]

I would not celebrate this after how Relic mishandled the Dawn of War III backlash.

Dow3 had incredible visuals and deep gameplay but because its art style was considerably brighter than the gritty atmosphere of Warhammer 40k, the previews were absolutely trashed by community youtubers. It also had a very high learning curve and a lot of people were turned off by doing poorly out of the gate. I think that demoralized the team and the game shipped in a bare bones state and never had any real effort to add more content or otherwise turn things around like you often see with similar PC releases.

I put a lot of hours into DoW3 but I'm staying far, far away from Relic's future releases after the way they abandoned their game.

 

[Starlight Lotice]

What?

People do realize Sega is already in a pickle, why would they sell one of their profitable studios to Microsoft which would be a mid and long-term disaster and only a short-term gain?

You know I was thinking Relic was already owned by SEGA so MS buying them wouldn't make sense unless SEGA is ready to offload them for a lot of cash.

 

[JareBear: Remastered]

With native mouse and keyboard support, couldn't Age of Empires be a thing on Xbox moving forward?

 

[Coulomb_Barrier]

I would not celebrate this after how Relic mishandled the Dawn of War III backlash.

Dow3 had incredible visuals and deep gameplay but because its art style was considerably brighter than the gritty atmosphere of Warhammer 40k, the previews were absolutely trashed by community youtubers. It also had a very high learning curve and a lot of people were turned off by doing poorly out of the gate. I think that demoralized the team and the game shipped in a bare bones state and never had any real effort to add more content or otherwise turn things around like you often see with similar PC releases.

I put a lot of hours into DoW3 but I'm staying far, far away from Relic's future releases after the way they abandoned their game.

Same, mastered Orks then Eldar (very hard to play them so you're on equal footing to SM). After several months waiting for Necrons that were teased in SP ending cinematic, it was a big FU from developers when they just dropped the game completely.

With native mouse and keyboard support, couldn't Age of Empires be a thing on Xbox moving forward?

How many people realistically are gonna set that up (you'd have to move your console to a desk) and of those that do, how many would buy this game? Gonna be niche of niche on Xbox.

 

[wipeout364]

I’ve enjoyed Relic’s output over the years. I am not sure they would be a great fit for console output. Company of heroes might have some IP synergy that Microsoft could use if it’s included in the purchase.
Not sure why Sega would sell them although I haven’t heard much from the studio since Dawn of War 3.

 

[V4skunk]

Is this studio any good? Never heard of them

Out side of Dawn Of War3, Relic have made some of the best rts of all time.

I would not celebrate this after how Relic mishandled the Dawn of War III backlash.

Dow3 had incredible visuals and deep gameplay but because its art style was considerably brighter than the gritty atmosphere of Warhammer 40k, the previews were absolutely trashed by community youtubers. It also had a very high learning curve and a lot of people were turned off by doing poorly out of the gate. I think that demoralized the team and the game shipped in a bare bones state and never had any real effort to add more content or otherwise turn things around like you often see with similar PC releases.

I put a lot of hours into DoW3 but I'm staying far, far away from Relic's future releases after the way they abandoned their game.

DoW3 failed because it has weak and shallow gameplay compared to DoW2 and CoH2.
People wanted DoW3 to be a pure RTS and instead we got a shallow tower defence / rts hybrid.

 

[pr0cs]

I'd love me a spiritual sequel to Homeworld. Back when companies actually put effort in making a good RTS backstory.

 

[IncognitoPanda]

How many people realistically are gonna set that up (you'd have to move your console to a desk) and of those that do, how many would buy this game? Gonna be niche of niche on Xbox.

Does it matter? Does it take lot of extra dev resources? I mean MS partnered up to make keyboard and mouse aimed at console users. It would seem they are trying to make kb&m on console thing. They wouldn't do that if they didn't think people would use it/buy it.