Microsoft’s Games for Windows Live is closing down completely next July.

That’s according to a since-deleted post that appeared on the Xbox support site and was captured by AllGamesBeta.

The post was made at the bottom of an Age of Empires Online update, and gave July 1 as the date the online service’s servers would be shut down.

“Games for Windows Live will be discontinued on July 1, 2014,” it read.

“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.”

Microsoft has not yet responded to our inquiries about the post.

Last week, the company announced that the marketplace within Games for Windows Live would close on August 22.

Update:

Microsoft has provided us with the following statement:

"Yesterday, an Age of Empires support web page communicated that the free to play Age of Empires Online will be discontinued on July 1, 2014.

"We believe in Windows/PC gaming and have long-term plans to grow our support. We expect there to be transitions as we build out new investments, but we remain committed to bringing first party gaming services and games to Windows for years to come.

"We will share more details in the future."