 "Microsoft to pull the plug on Games for Windows Live in July 2014")
After the recent announcement that it will be discontinuing the Games for Windows Live Marketplace, Microsoft has dropped another bomb. According to Polygon, the company announced on its since-deleted support page that it will be discontinuing the Games for Windows Live service altogether. Despite a lot of games using the service, Microsoft has been quite specific about how this will affect free-to-play strategy game Age of Empires Online. Microsoft is pulling the plug on the Games for Windows Live service on July 1, 2014. How this will affect other titles, such as Fallout 3, is unknown for now.
According to Microsoft, “Games for Windows Live will be discontinued on July 1, 2014. Although it is available through Steam, Age of Empires Online requires features of the Games for Windows Live service. You can continue to enjoy all the features of Age of Empires Online as the service will remain 100% operational until July 1, 2014 when the server will shut down.”
Could this be the end of the PC version of Dark Souls?
As it was earlier revealed, the GFWL Marketplace itself is being shut down on August 22. This essentially means that gamers won’t be able to purchase games or DLC off the service. According to the company, the closure of the service comes alongside the switch that Microsoft is making from using Microsoft Points for transactions to using real currency.
“As part of the recent Xbox 360 system update, Microsoft Points will be retired and the Xbox.com PC Marketplace will be closed as of August 22, 2013,” the support notice reads. “We encourage you to spend your Microsoft Points balance prior to this change. Although you will not be able to purchase new games, you can continue to enjoy previously purchased content by downloading it through the Games for Windows Live client software as usual.”
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