Age of Empires 4 is getting cross-play on Xbox consoles and Windows PC

Players can soon set their kingdoms against each in Age of Empires 4, regardless of platform.

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What you need to know

Platforms will no longer divide aspiring conquerors thanks to the ongoing efforts of developer World’s Edge.

The latestpreview updateforAge of Empires 4brings cross-play support across Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and Windows PC, meaning friends can hop into modes like Team Ranked together with no issues. In order to use this feature on PC, you’ll need to manually update your game on Steam, the Microsoft Store, or the Xbox app. The update will bring your PC copy of Age of Empires 4 to Build 10.0.576.

Age of Empires 4 Season 7 balance patch

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Alongside the addition of cross-play, every civilization has received a balance pass for Season 7, with some tweaks that’ll shake up the expected flow of different games. You can find the full patch notes for each Age of Empires 4 civilization below.

Abbasid Dynasty:

Ayyubids:

Byzantines:

Chinese:

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Delhi Sultanate:

English:

French:

Holy Roman Empire:

Japanese:

Jeanne d’Arc:

Mongols:

Order of the Dragon:

Ottomans:

Rus:

Analysis: A great addition for a game going strong

Cross-play has become a huge feature in the last few years, and it’s especially important for keeping game populations healthy, so I’m happy to see this happening for Age of Empires 4. The game is going strong, with last year’s expansion being the best-selling DLC ever for the franchise.

Outside of Age of Empires 4, the rest of the series is continuing at a brisk pace, with new DLC for Age of Empires 2 and Age of Mythology launching on Xbox and PC later this year. To learn more about both of those topics, I recommend readingour interview with World’s Edge founder Adam Isgreen.

Samuel Tolbert is a freelance writer covering gaming news, previews, reviews, interviews and different aspects of the gaming industry, specifically focusing on Xbox and PC gaming on Windows Central. You can find him on Twitter@SamuelTolbert.