Microsoft has recently announced that the fifth title in the Gears Of War series - Gears 5 will appear on Steam and Windows Store as well. Gear 5 is not the only title to be delivered outside Windows Store, as the Definitive edition of Age of Empires 1,2 and 3 also making their ways to Valve's storefront.

Gears 5, Age of Empires are among 20 titles planned to release on Steam at the future

Previously in March, the game Halo: The Master Chief Collection was also announced for Steam.

At that time, gamers only thought that it was a rare off-chance that Microsoft wanted to deliver one of its titles to another store. Very few people believed that there would be any games in the future to receive the same treatment.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection is heading to PC through Steam
Halo: The Master Chief Collection is heading to PC through Steam

Nevertheless, with Microsoft’s latest move, people should believe it now.

In its second announcement today, Microsoft has stated that they will bring 20 games from Xbox Games Studio to PC. That’s lit, but it’s not the only great news that we received today.

Microsoft also promised that those game will not only be available on their storefront – Windows Store, but also on Steam!

Microsoft joined hands with Valve to bring Gears 5 to Steam
Microsoft joined hands with Valve to bring Gears 5 to Steam

To be more specific, Gears 5 – the fifth installment of the famous shooter series Gears Of War, will be on both Microsoft and Valve’s store. Following it is the Definitive Edition of Age of Empires.

Ages of Empires: Definitive Edition is also brought to both storefront, too.
Ages of Empires: Definitive Edition is also brought to both storefront, too.

The other titles haven’t been revealed yet. However, since E3 is coming, we can expect to get some looks at them anyway.

A bold move against the exclusive trend

Explaining the company’s movement, Xbox’s Phil Spencer has revealed that the company has listened to the feedback from players all over the world, and then made their decision. The trending release model nowadays is exclusiveness, where developers are trying to release the game exclusively through specific storefronts (mostly Epic Games Store) to specific devices.

Borderland 3 is one of many Epic Games Store exclusive titles
Borderland 3 is one of many Epic Games Store exclusive titles

Among that exclusive storm, it’s great to see Microsoft seriously take users’ opinions and demands into accounts. In the end, the more stores a game is available on, the happier users will be!

Microsoft also acknowledges that too. They also consider bringing their games to other stores apart from Windows Store and Steam as well.

Epic Games Store will soon be a partner of Microsoft, following Steam
Epic Games Store will soon be the next partner of Microsoft, following Steam

In another story, Microsoft also confirmed about Xbox Game Pass for the PC. They’re currently working with 75 developers and publishers to bring over 100 titles previously only available on consoles to PC. The developers include Bethesda, Paradox Interactive, SEGA, etc.

From those famous names, we can expect to play some big hit on PC in the near future.