Age of Empires Online shuts down after 524M single-player quests and other stats

After more than 524 million single-player quests, 13 million multiplayer quests, 2 million arena matches and 2 billion Empire Points gained, Age of Empires Online will come to an end today.
Those interested in seeing the game's final hours can watch a livestream from the developers on Twitch, which will end around 7 p.m. ET when Age of Empires Online's servers shut down.

The massively multiplayer online strategy game launched for Windows PC in 2011. Developers Robot Entertainment and Gas Powered Games both oversaw the Microsoft Game Studios-published game's development. A post on the game's blog today thanked the developers and Age of Empires Online players.

"The most thanks, though, belong to you, the players of the game," the post reads. "It has been a pleasure and an honor serving you all. Thank you for the time you have spent with us, exploring all these little worlds together and conquering them for the glory of your Alliance and your Empire. Thank you especially for the times you spent with each other, in PVP matches, in co-op quests, and in the forums and the rest of the internet. Thank you for playing."

You can check out some stats for the game posted alongside the farewell post below.
News of the game's closure surfaced last August. Executive producer Kevin Perry announced in early 2013 that the game was entering a "support phase" devoid of active development. Perry said at GDC Europe 2013 that the game's lack of content doomed its freemium revenue model.

 

Source: Polygon

EndWar Online invites players to alpha, lucky draw now open

Tom Clancy's EndWar Online alpha launched today, according to an announcement made to the Ubisoft Blog.

There are two ways players can get into the alpha: by invitation and by lucky draw. Those selected to be part of the alpha should receive an official email from Ubisoft notifying them of their status as alpha testers. Those who have not received an invitation can sign up for the lucky draw and participate once per day. If chosen, players may be granted immediate access to the game.

EndWar Online is the free-to-play spin-off of Tom Clancy's EndWar and can be played through web browsers. A three-day test period for the game, which was called Tech Assault, was held from Feb. 27-30. Those who took part in Tech Assault will be given queueing priority for the alpha.

Only a limited number of players will be given access to the alpha.

Source: Polygon