Development on Gas Powered Games' Age of Empires Online is winding down as the PC title enters its "support phase," according to an update from the game's executive producer.
Kevin Perry, aka AOEO Trajan, writes on the official Age of Empires Online blog that development of new content — specifically new gameplay features and new civilizations — has effectively ended. Perry writes that the game will continue to be supported, stressing that "nothing else changes for players, nothing that currently exists will be removed."
"We will still fully maintain and support the game and its players; no one is losing anything that you have earned or bought," Perry writes, adding that the AoE Online community team will continue to support the game with contests, tournaments and more.
In explaining the move, Perry explains that "creating top-tier content, as we have been for the last year and a half, is very expensive" and that developing additional content "is no longer cost-effective."
Age of Empires Online was originally released in August 2011, with Gas Powered Games assuming development responsibilities of the title from Robot Entertainment in the midst of the free-to-play strategy game's creation.