Some interesting news tonight has surfaced that Microsoft will be offering games that have been on their computer and console platforms for mobile operating systems. One operating system is amusingly getting the shaft for the time being.
A report has surfaced on Reuters using Nikkei as their source that says that Microsoft is looking to bring Xbox and Windows games to iOS and Android devices, starting with Age of Empires. This will be accomplished through a partnership between Microsoft and Japanese game maker KLab. Age of Empires will be available on the aforementioned platforms as a free-to-play title by the end of June.
This isn’t the first time Microsoft is dabbling in other operating systems as other gaming related products have appeared on iOS in the past. Polygon has also shared a statement they received from Microsoft which can be seen below.
“Today, KLab Inc. announced a licensing agreement with Microsoft Corp. to develop a mobile version of Microsoft Studio’s Age of Empires franchise, which will be initially developed in English for iOS and Android and launched globally, with plans to release the game in other languages and on Windows Phone in the future. Some reports included incorrect information about additional Xbox Live-based games on iOS and Android but there are no further announcements beyond Age of Empires at this time.”
If you’re wondering, Microsoft isn’t completely ignoring their own platform here, it just doesn’t seem like a priority for them at the moment as it says that the game will release on Windows Phone “in the future”. It will be interesting to see how far Microsoft is willing to go with this partnership beyond this one title. We’ll have to stay tuned to find out.
No comments:
Post a Comment