The servers for freemium real-time strategy game Age of Empires Online shut down this week. Published by Microsoft, the online RTS entered beta in May 2011 before its full launch that August for Games for Windows Live. Gas Powered Games took over the game's development from Robot Entertainment prior to that in February 2011. It arrived on Steam in March 2012, at which point its daily active users spiked by by more than three times. A since-deleted support article for the game in January tipped off a July 1 closure date of Games for Windows Live.

Age of Empires Online was let down easy, as its closure was forecasted nearly one month ago. The developer reset the player-vs-player ranking ladder at the beginning of June and hosted a few events for the game, including a Capital City decoration contest and invitational tournament near the end of the month. The developer capped off its Age of Empires Online send-off with an "End of the World" event yesterday, in which it livestreamed the game's final hours of life.[Image: Gas Powered Games]JoystiqAge of Empires Online now extinct following server shutdown originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 02 Jul 2014 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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