Sadly, it’s time to bid farewell to another online-only iteration of the Age of Empires franchise. After retiring the multiplayer RTS, Age of Empires Online, Microsoft announced on November 13th that Age of Empires: Castle Siege would be the next title to be shut down. The game’s homepage now displays only the following announcement:
“We wanted to share that after May 13, 2019, ‘Age of Empires: Castle Siege’ will no longer be supported, and will no longer be available for download. Current ‘Age of Empires: Castle Siege’ players can still download and play the game up until May 13. After May 13, matchmaking services will end, which means the game will no longer be playable. While we’re sad to close ‘Age of Empires: Castle Siege,’ we’re excited for what’s to come for the Age franchise with the recent release of ‘Age of Empires: Definitive Edition’ and upcoming titles such as ‘Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition,’ ‘Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition’ and ‘Age of Empires IV.’
More information can be found on the official Castle Siege forums at forums.castlesiegegame.com.”
In addition to the details above, the official forum post offers a helpful FAQ detailing refunds and informing readers that the forums will be closed and archived on December 31st, 2018. I’ll have the date added to the Watch List calendar and a page for the game up on the site soon.
Thanks to @DeadGameNews on Twitter for pointing this out!