Gears 5, along with Age of Empires I, II, and III’s Definitive Edition, are coming to Steam. Microsoft made the announcement today while also announcing the arrival of Xbox Game Pass on Windows 10. It may be worth mentioning that the ‘Definitive Edition’ versions of the Age of Empires games are not to be confused with the ‘HD’ editions already available on Steam.
“We know millions of PC gamers trust Steam as a great source to buy PC games and we’ve heard the feedback that PC gamers would like choice,” Phil Spencer said on Xbox Wire. “We also know that there are other stores on PC, and we are working to enable more choice in which store you can find our Xbox Game Studios titles in the future.”
Microsoft has been bringing several Xbox Game Studios titles to other platforms over the past few years. Halo: The Master Chief Collection is also coming to Steam, with that version of the game shown off just yesterday. Gears 5, however, will be the first brand-new title to come to Steam.
It will be interesting to see where this approach leads; whether future titles, such as Halo: Infinite, and other first-party titles like Forza Horizon 4, will be coming to Steam remains a mystery at the moment. Also unclear at the moment is a timeline for the Steam release of these titles; more details are expected next week at E3. Win32 games are also coming to the Microsoft Store with the arrival of Xbox Game Pass for Windows 10, so these are changing times indeed.