Xbox first-party title Towerborne might not have received as much attention as the likes of Indiana Jones and Starfield over the past few days, but it's looking really fun so far - and it's also had a big announcement of its own.
Not only will the game now be launching as a free-to-play title in 2025, but its early access period begins in September exclusively on Steam. In an interview as part of Xbox's Gamescom livestreams, the decision behind this was explained:
"Getting the game into players' hands is super important to us, we want to have that discussion with the community and have them be a part of the game building [process]..."
"Getting there, being able to have that, and have the input and take it in - Steam just happens to do that well for us, and we want to make sure we're fully prepared for when we come to Xbox Game Preview next year and have an expansive number of players coming in that we're truly ready for, and we don't want to disappoint."
Over on Xbox Wire, it's also mentioned that the idea is to "position ourselves so the game is stable and feels great to play before we open up to a wider audience". As for the free-to-play side of things, there's not been as much discussion about that - aside from a desire to achieve "complete approachability" and emulate the success of The Banner Saga: Factions on PC. For now though, early access will be available through a paid Founder's Pack.
Although it's a shame we're going to have to wait until 2025 for Towerborne on Xbox, everything we're seeing suggests it'll be a great addition to the free-to-play library. You can check out the new trailer for it up above!