Age of Empires: Castle Siege with Xbox LIVE now available for Windows Phone, Tablet, and PC

By Daniel Rubino
last updated

Do you remember the good old days when Xbox LIVE games for Windows Phone came at a steady clip every Wednesday? It almost seems like Microsoft is getting back into the swing of things, with not only more releases, but also the universal app kind. These are the ones where developers can code for one, but get two apps for Phone and Windows for users.

It is no secret that Age of Empires: Castle Siege is coming to Microsoft's platform, but today you can finally download both for your Phone and PC, and even get that coveted Xbox LIVE integration.

Back on September 9, AoE beta was spotted in the Windows Phone store, but it was unable to be downloaded. If you were able to get that game, you might want to delete it as it is no longer the official link, which is found below for all users.

In our exclusive interview with Smoking Gun CEO about the mechanics of AoE: Castle Siege, John Johnson described it like this:

"AoE: Castle Siege brings AoE gameplay to touch devices. We've kept a lot of what made the original AoE so popular: We're grounded in history, you can play one of 6 civilizations and each have 3 unique heroes and 1 unique troop type. You can directly control all the units during combat just like other RTS titles. We have a tech tree to advance through as well as many ages to advance through that all gain better weapons, units, defenses and other structures. And as with AoE, the game is primarily about advancement and combat."

AoE indeed looks intense, and more importantly, it is designed for touch and mobile game play. With single-sign on through a Microsoft Account and your games should be able to sync between your phone, PC or Surface. This syncing ability makes campaigns much more attractive, and you are likely to play AoE for longer periods.

From the Store description:

"Age of Empires®: Castle Siege invites you to guide your empire through the Medieval Era on your Windows PC or touch screen device. Choose from one of several civilizations, including the Britons, Teutons, and Kievan Rus. Upgrade your keep, fortify your walls, and garrison defensive troops to protect yourself from marauders. Then, train an army to raid other cities, and command them in battle to dismantle your opponents' defenses."

Sounds like a big game to us and a worthy title to download. For Phone, the Age of Empires weighs in at a hefty 169 MB in size, but it is available for 512 MB devices, if you can believe it. For Windows, you are looking at double the graphics, double the fun so 320 MB should do it. Both titles are free.

Download both, play both and go forth and conquer! (Note: if the Windows 8 link returns an error, do a search in the Store instead)

Thanks, Jason L., for the tip!

QR: aoe

Daniel Rubino
Daniel Rubino
Editor-in-chief

Daniel Rubino is the Editor-in-chief of Windows Central, head reviewer, podcast co-host, and analyst. He has been covering Microsoft since 2007 when this site was called WMExperts (and later Windows Phone Central). His interests include Windows, laptops, next-gen computing, and for some reason, watches. Before all this tech stuff, he worked on a Ph.D. in linguistics, watched people sleep (for medical purposes!), and ran the projectors at movie theaters because it was fun.

245 Comments
  • Fantastic! Remove any doubts in your head its us or them
  • Best news of the week ,,,,,wowowowowowowoow
  • *Whistles the legendary AOE theme song*
  • RAIDING PARTY! :D
  • Woolooloo
  • Search "GreatEurasian" to join my alliance
  • Now I can uninstall cloud raiders
  • Already did!
  • Woehoe!
  • WOLOLO.. WOLOLO.. :D
  • and Royal Revolt 2..
  • Not only is available, but even for 512 MB Ram phones
  • Yeah.... I'm Loving It :)
    +520
  • This is the best thing about the game+520
  • Not only for 512 MB RAM phones, but even Xbox LIVE integration!
  • It so smoooth
  • I'm afraid of installing games as big as this or asphalt 8 on my 520. Are they going to make my Lumia drop it's performance?
  • Nothing happen , already installed it and asphalt 8 before.
  • Oh , what about load times and performance in-game?
  • You're using a Windows Phone right, not Android?
  • Yes! A beautiful 520! Why would I have an Android phone and comment on wpcentral??? Anyway, do you know about load times and performance in game?
  • Yes! A beautiful 520! Why would I have an Android phone and comment on wpcentral??? Anyway, do you know about load times and performance in game?
  • Yes! A beautiful 520! Why would I have an Android phone and comment on wpcentral??? Anyway, do you know about load times and performance in game?
  • I own a beautiful 620 which currently has both Asphalt 8 and AoE : CS. Also, I have cloud raiders, hungry shark evolution and even talking tom.    All of the above games run well :) Go ahead without any fear Amigo :D
  • And that too for free
  • So basically clash of clans is a rip off of the original AOE?
  • Getting an error when I try to get it in store. It says it doesn't exist any more. Posted via Windows Phone Central App
  • Read the part where I say Store links may not work, do a search instead.
  • Thanks
  • Search doesn't work either. It says "sorry, this app is no longer available." I'm in the US with a SP3, so I'm not sure what the deal is.
  • Now the link works!
  • neither link or search work for me
  • Sweet!!!
  • Nice, instant download!!
  • Finally wait is over
  • Isnt it awesome? :D
  • Are those stack-able achievements or the same ones just syncing? I hope its just one set of achievements. I hate getting them twice (ahem, tentacles ahem)
  • Double the achievement, double the fun lol *coughwordamentcough*
  • Ikr, it's not like the first set of achievements disappear.
  • Most gamers who care about achievements prefer that they stack: twice the gamerscore.
  • Did android and IOS get this ?
  • if not now, they will eventually... so stop worrying and enjoy the game
  • No, they won't, actually. This is Windows exclusive.
  • Why do you even care?? This is Windows Phone Central which is the best WP news portal on the horizon! Dnt ask android or iOS question here!
  • Wow people take it easy. Is a valid question the man is making here. A little jumpy aren't we? He probably wants to brag to his android and ios friends to show off how cool WP is. ;D
  • I agree with wpfan1995.
    That's what androidcentral and iMore are for.
  • What the heck did I say its just a normal question.
  • The answer is no, it's a Windows exclusive.
  • More players, more people to raid
  • No and Minecraft 2 (when release) also not, prepare for it. I hope that MS will now support more Windows and WIndows Phone in the future.  
  • No, but, there is another AOE, under development for iOS, Android and windows phone.
  • I hope they won't. Microsoft should make their products exclusively for Windows and WP IMO.
  • I hope they won't. Microsoft should make their products exclusively for Windows and WP IMO.
  • Therer's no reason for that.
  • I agree, Google doesn't care for WP, Microsoft shouldn't care for Android users
  • Sadly Microsoft cares about both platforms :'(
  • Well, if it turns Microsoft haters into Microsoft fanboys and Google haters, then that's a good thing. Maybe more users will switch to Windows Phone over time once their bias begins to wear off ... and they stop listening to the tech "journalists" that rag on Microsoft all the time.
  • You are right: they should keep their games exclusive. And, they should advertise the hell out of this game as much as Supercell marketed Clash of Clans. Marketing is the only reason that game did well.
  • You mean cut off potential revenue streams, I'm sure Microsoft would want to do that. I hate Google and Android just as much as you guys but that doesn't mean that Microsoft should act like them, does it?
  • True also the main reason I went back to droid was many of the games I played weren't on wp. Microsofts main goal is to make money. Making it a wp exclusive would definitely not make sense in that aspect. Posted via the Windows Phone Central App for Android
  • Slippery slope. What's next? Xbox games on Playstation? It's fine to put some types of apps and software on other platforms (e.g. Skype), but not games. Otherwise, Xbox has no reason for existing at all.
  • They will never return a favor back am I wrong ?
  • They, as in Google, won't but that doesn't mean Microsoft should behave the same way.
  • that means I can't play with my friends who are all stuck on clash of clans!
  • they got Clash Of Clans so they won't care about that
  • Cool thing that this a universal app/game! Windows ❤
  • Love ❤ you MS
  • Better than aoe online! :D yay!
  • if not now, they will eventually... so stop worrying and enjoy the game
  • It will be more enjoyable when I can play it with my Android and iOS friends.
  • Thanks MS
  • AEHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
  • Excellent and great to see that its a universal app as well as XBOX too. Good job MS !
  • MS is finally focusing on its mobile platform now...As now the MS removed the renewal period of apps which will be more helpful for developerz to keep their apps for long-term.
  • I predict in app purchases or ads
  • Or both
  • Its a free game, child. It needs in App purchases
  • Agreed!
  • Then that doesn't make it free, does it?  If they had made this as a paid $10 app with a trial version I would have tried and bought if it was good - I hate the in-app purchase model most phone games are jumping to. But they must be making more money this way so it probably won't stop. I'll download and try it, but if it's worthless without in-app purchases I will quickly uninstall this 'free' app.
  • If it's worthless without in app purchases, I'll just make what I did to asphalt 8, hack it with cheat engine and you are ready to go. Smartass developers need smartass solutions, make a paid app or a free one, in app purchases suck.
  • I'm afraid it's not that easy for this game. It keeps losing connection to the database, and the memory addresses keep changing... Let me know if you find a way though!
  • This is a very valid point. To me, it is completely nonsense to pay actual money for virtual "goods" in order to play a game to its max. In app purchases suck, in any way you see it, it was a change in the sale model of games that many people accepted, but really a few understand. This game, and every other game that follows the same model, is a game that should never be played.
  • Maybe you should play it and see, this ia a "pay to get ahead" not "pay to win" style game.
  • Asphalt 8 started off that way too until they decided it needed to be "pay to get anywhere close to finishing the game and not grinding 24/7 to reach our impossible tasks" I agree. This "freemium" model is awful. Never installing any game that adheres to it.
  • My point is that you DON'T have to use the IAPs and before writing it off completely you should try it first, it's free so what have you got to lose!!!
  • Made my day! Yay!
  • Finally!! It's great when developers remember the 512 mb crowd when creating a game :)
  • Yeah I'm telling my brothers who have 512 Mb devices ;) to download now
  • Now if Microsoft would just use changelogs just like other devs....
  • Now, I'm happy.
  • Yay ...downloading
  • Is this a Computer only or can I play multiplayer here?
  • 99% sure it's online multiplayer, as there are leaderboards.
  • Online only as it's a Clash of Clans type of game, the graphics are the same as the ones from AoE Online.
  • wow, i am so happy all the hours i spents on my pc playing aoe
  • Great MS!!
    Now please bring TapTiles to Windows Phone. :P
  • Yes!
  • Would have looked better with a1520 as the cover shot I think lol but either way I will give it a go
  • Can i have the double graphic pack for my phone ?
  • Fantastic that it supports all Windows phones from the 520 up, it should play very nicely on my 1520, I knew there was a reason I went for a big screen phone............     Bob
  • Just wondering it is already septenber 17th and where is AoE. Then this news .. Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
  • Awesome.
  • Awesome, downloading now!!!
  • Woooohooooo
  • Nice..At least this is my latest aoe series playing. The last one was aoe 3 which I played 3 to 4 years ago on my pc....
  • Is wpcentral going to make an alliance?
  • So is this like Command & Conquer but with castles?
  • I would say Age of empires on mobile ;)
  • Another Xbox game.. Downloading!
  • Your welcome!
  • Wow.. For real.. It's free
  • Yes!!!! My body is ready!
  • It says not available on my venue 8
  • can't downloading indian users say Sorry, this app isn’t available in your market.
  • Wrong
    I am downloading right now
  • Change region to US?
  • No, didn't change
  • Sweet! So, I'm thinking if I should install this on SD card or Phone? What did you guys do? 520, he he
     
  • Not yet available in India store
  • Available
    Check again
    I can download
  • That's coz u have a US region instead of India!
  • Nope I set it to US even though I'm from India... It's available
  • I already downloaded and played it.working in india.no need to set region.
  • No double wide tile. :/
  • Yay! Good bye annoying cloud raiders
  • Taking a long time to download but I'm sure it will be worth the wait.
  • Free with IAP? Didn't expect that
    I would of totally bought this
  • Yes!!!!
  • Well this is weird, I can play it on my pc, but I can't find it in my Windows phone store? I live in the Netherlands.
  • Thats odd I got it on my WP and cant find it in the store. Im in the US,.
  • I got both and I live in Norway. :P
  • The next big thing after Cyan! Great!
  • Best game ever i am playing it since i was on java phone
  • Best news after a long time on WPcentral..
  • Bring Minecraft to windows phone MS.
  • I would say that will be coming considering MS bought Mojang for $2.5bn recently.
  • Wow I needed it.. Thank you MS
  • What the poo....can't find  it on my phone or by way of the windowsphone website search.  Only the link takes me there but says I don't have permission to download the app (L920).  Just downloaded Sky Patrol yesterday afternoon so what gives?  On developer preview with Black (for some reason my phone won't find Cyan).
  • You can download cyan after you go back to WP 8.0 without preview
  • Yeah but won't I lose everything I have?  That's why I haven't done it yet.
  • I could download it fine on my Lumia 928 but my sister and mother--both on Lumia 822s--said they got the same error message about not having permission to download it. What's the deal-io?
  • Post your ratings now, it's what makes a developer happy
  • ratings and downloads. and in app purchases too maybe? I download games i dont intend to play just to have developers see there are users on the platform. No excuse right? see how many people downloaded your app? keep developing for us. 
  • I am trying to get it on my SP3 and it appears it is removed from the Store even doing a manual search. But it is dl on my Lumia Icon so that is nice!   Hope its as fun as the old games I loved.
  • Xbox live, free and age of empires? Let me pinch my self.
  • No available in the win 8 store for me
  • Store search on the phone doesn't list it for whatever reason. Also reviews wont stick.
  • Indians too love Ages of empire. y not for us?
  • Do a search instead of using the link
  • Pc, tablets and phones thats the correct way good job MS
  • No storage space left! :( .. Must learn to let go..! Too many games..
  • Better than coc
  • Umm Windows app is mark as removed ... not able to download !
  • Finally something is not released in IOS or android before !
  • I am already AOC addict.. Lets see how this game goes :D
  • Hey join my alliance!! Its raiders of dark!
  • I searched for it... It doesn't find it... Weird...
  • Mine is justice league
  • Someone made wpcentral fan made alliance
    Lol
  • Your point is?
  • When is Ubisoft going to fix that Ass Creed game? I can't stand "freemium" games.
  • They fixed it today, actually!
  • Loving this game so much!! Bring Halo Wars now!!! Except an actual RTS!!
  • Two times installtion failed after downloading....now I will try manual installation
  • My favorite game on my favorite OS! Had been waiting since 2011!
  • Works on my phone and desktop, but my Dell Venue 8 Pro says it's not available. It shows up under search but then errors out when you try to go to the page to install it, so I'm guessing it's somethign to do with the beta being removed and the final version still populating out to the store.
  • Weird enough, on my SP3 it works flawless. On my phone though, it works but the numbers that say how much thing costs or show me my wood and apples are gone. WTH?
  • For the first time in a long time I actually have too many Xbox WP games to play: got Terraria last night, Assassin's Creed a few weeks ago, Tentacles: Enter the Mind a bit before that, I just picked up Plants vs. Zombies as the Red Stripe Deal of the week (today is the last day to get it, if you haven't already!), and now Age of Empires: Castle Siege. That's a lot of games! Oh,  yes, and you're welcome. #SaveXboxWP.
  • Awesome!! Just clicked download app and viola!
  • Finally 512 ram support!Love to the devs!
  • Any app in Windows runs sandboxed and has a memory cap based on the amount of physical RAM in the device. So you won't have any impact on the OS for the most part even if the apps themselves are 'heavy' or poorly optimized.
  • Its not downloading.... It hangs up on ibstalling and says ur app needs attention !
  • +820
  • I got error once while installation but then its successfully installed
  • Downloading on all platforms... Finally Microsoft getting it together...
  • No more Clash of Clans :P Posted via the Windows Phone Central App for Android
  • hahaha so true
  • Hahaha :D
  • I think I'll hold off for Paul's review. I'm glad it's here, but I'd be a bit disappointed to install it and learn that it's coated in in-app purchases and pay-to-win Achievements or that it had a ridiculous amount of grinding.
  • I started a new forum topic about alliances in the game, look at it! http://forums.wpcentral.com/windows-phone-games/311549-alliances-age-empires-castle-siege.html#post2768688
  • I'm ready and already hooked!
  • Nice
  • Running smooth on my L625. Have spent about 30 minutes with it and still trying to familiarize with the game. Its been so long since i play AoE, the last time on my PC and now on my Lumia. Great stuff and hat off for the devs team.
  • Anyone encountered ' connection error' while playing? Happened to me 3 times now.
  • Is starting to happened on me as well
  • You're all welcome to join the discussion on the official Age of Empires: Castle Siege forums at www[dot]ageofempires[dot]com/forums. :)
  • Hi you here. Your FAQ was helpful
  • Next problem is the store won't let me download it without a Wi-Fi connection. I have unlimited data so I'm not really worried about 168mb. Is there any way to bypass this? (and no I can't connect to a Wi-Fi source)
  • Best thing you can do is start internet sharing and download the file manually in your pc and install it via sd card transfer
  • You can ask someone else smartphone and insert your sim in his mobile and start internet sharing from his device then download via Wi-Fi
  • People i just want to tell you that it runs flawlessly smooth in my Lumia 620, installed in a microSD card Class 10 32GB, regards from El Salvador, Central America.
  • Yeah the wait is over.I am very happy it supports 512mb, free, Xbox live.
  • I've downloaded the game via Windows phone (YouTube) I subscribed.
  • Paid, free, or freemium? I might have missed in the article.
  • Game is free but has in game purchases
  • It took me only 2 hours to download halo Spartan assault but I was trying to this game from previous 1 hour almost 1/3 of Halo.
    Now downloading and installing manually from PC
  • Clash of clans go to helll..
  • I can't find it in the Windows Store, but I have it on my WP L928.
  • Same exact thing here. It's working perfectly on my 928 but it won't show up in the Windows Store on my 8.1 laptop.
  • Woot!!
  • Yayyyyyyyyyyyyy  I love the AOE series, glad that now i dont have to wait for Clash of Clans, too arrogant to release on WP. So good riddance. Hope MS releases more exclusives. 
  • This is amazing!
  • Finally
  • Sweet! Hurry Nokia, fix my L920 so I can install it on there...L520 screen is too tiny :)
  • Anyone want to join alliances
  • I can't play the game. It keeps telling me to sign in to Xbox and when I do doesn't do anything!
  • Did you connect your Xbox id through games yet?
  • Great game. I love it
  • This is so great! I've been waiting for the Age of empires saga to be released for WP for years!
  • I played about 10 minutes at lunch today...a lot more promising than I was expecting. Can't wait to really get into it.
  • Where's my app? notified me earlier this morning about this
  • Does this game requires intrnet connection to be able to play? :)
  • Nice... it has cloud saves so I can play on my phone and continue on my desktop.
  • Is it better than Cloud Raiders? Because I felt Cloud Raiders has better looking graphics.
  • The game is good! But it takes forever to pile resources! I have to wait like 15 minutes in order to get wood for the next age
  • Lol.. That's the game! Its a real time strategy game..
  • I got that..but I thought the pace of the game was going be faster (like AoE II)
    PS: Something that a like about the game is that when u upgrade a building u get a small notification on the PC, you don't have to be on the game to know was going on
  • Isn't it awesome??? :D universal app concept is simply blowing my mind :P already addicted :D
  • thanks MS for it . i am playing age of empires on pc from my childhood now playing on the go... no lag or anything on my L620....
  • I can't sign in? Any ideas?
  • I have same problem. :( can you find any solution? 
  • How to change civilization?
  • This game is not AOE: No exploring, no settlers fishing :-D no war real time in the same map as your buildings are and MICROTRANSACTIONS "Wait 45 minutes to upgrade Silo or PAY".
  • Amazing
  • 14
  • me wana join
  • Just The Perfect Game! Loving it ❤
  • Join my alliance..!!! "The Devils" and my gamertag is Mejel666 :) Already in Age 3 with 84 star ratings :)
  • Game is Awsome.. but XBOX live ID disconnects too frequently.. Playing the game since Morning... I hate Microsoft.. I have Exams Next Month and ti m not able to study due to his game.
  • Next month..! That's like too much time.. ;).. Anyways, what size does this game take after installation? I need to free some space:|
  • It took 443.50 MB
  • I tried downloading the game but it is showing error code 800070018 . Can anyone help here?
  • Damnit... This game is like crack... Gamer tag - silentsolution
  • Other than the title, how is this game Age of Empires? Its nothing like the AOE and AOE2 that I played on the PC! After 15 mins I got bored of the in APP purchase model and uninstalled.
  • Is it only online multiplayer?
  • Love it when golds gets generated too. I only have 50+ gold last night and when I play it this morning it is 160+ again :)
  •  Does it need internet to play? Im on a prepaid data plan im in africa has shi**y data plans  
  • Game opens, but shows error even in good wifi.
  • I used to play AOE III back in the day but this new game doesn't enthuse me at all. To build some buildings sometimes takes one hour! And the game seems to be going on after you closed it. Came back to the game only to read that I was attacked while the phone (and I) was asleep. Really? And what am I supposed to do now? Walk all night in my room with my eyes glued to the screen so I'll be ready in the event of an attack? Come on...
  • This game is dumb. Would be cool if it weren't a pay to play game... But, count on MS to f it up again...
  • I have loaded this onto my Lumia 930. It looks great, works great except that i cant purchase any gold. have tried to feed this back but not heard anything. anyone else with this issue? all it says is 'unable to make purchase'. do i need an xbox live gold membership? I'm in the UK on EE network.
  • It keeps telling me to sign in to Xbox, but I signed in to my Xbox account.
  • Having problem starting the game, it tells they cant sign me in
  • Cant play it, tells I need to log in xbox live eventhough I already am.
  • cant we play this on a windows 7 PC?