Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition Server Notes (20th May 2026)
Ranked matchmaking goes offline tomorrow across the entire Age of Empires Definitive Edition lineup. Here's the window and what it means for your games.
No new civs, no balance changes, just a heads-up to save your games before tomorrow's downtime. The Age of Empires platform team has announced server maintenance scheduled for Thursday, May 21 at 2pm PT / 5pm ET / 21:00 UTC, covering every title in the Definitive Edition lineup across Steam, Microsoft Store, Xbox, and PlayStation 5.
Expected downtime is one to two hours. Ranked matchmaking will be disabled an hour before the window opens to avoid disrupting active matches, but any games still running when maintenance begins will be cut off. The team recommends finishing up at least ten minutes early if you want to avoid a hard stop mid-siege. Single-player and offline modes won't be affected, so there's no reason to step away from the campaign.
This is routine maintenance with no listed gameplay changes attached. Not the most exciting post to write, but losing a ranked game to a server drop is miserable, so consider this your warning. Here's everything that changed.
Full Patch Notes
WHAT: Server Maintenance (Matchmaking Servers)
WHEN: Thursday, May 21 @ 2pm PT / 5pm ET / 21:00 UTC (Countdown)
EST. DOWNTIME: 1-2 HOURS
GAMES & PLATFORMS IMPACTED
- Age of Empires: Definitive Edition (Steam / Microsoft Store)
- Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition (Steam / Microsoft Store / Xbox / PlayStation 5 )
- Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition (Steam / Microsoft Store)
- Age of Empires IV (Steam / Microsoft Store / Xbox / PlayStation 5 )
OBJECTIVES
- Routine server updates and maintenance.
DETAILS
This coming Thursday, May 21st, the platform team will be taking the multiplayer servers down for regular maintenance. Please note:
- Ranked matchmaking will disabled exactly one hour before the maintenance window to prevent disruption to newly-formed matches.
- Any matches still in progress at the start of the maintenance window will be disrupted when it begins.
- DURING THE MAINTENANCE WINDOW, YOU WILL STILL BE ABLE TO LAUNCH THE GAME, BUT WILL NOT BE ABLE TO MATCHMAKE OR ACCESS ANY ONLINE FEATURES.
To prevent any interruptions, we recommend wrapping up any games at least 10 minutes before the maintenance window. The downtime is expected to last between 1 and 2 hours. You can watch this thread with any changes to the schedule as they arise, as well as the all-clear when the maintenance is complete.
Thank you for your patience!
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Written by
Nathan LeesGaming journalist and founder of XP Gained. Covering patch notes, breaking news, and updates across 160+ games.
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