The official video game of the US Army, partially used in the recruiting efforts, is drawing to end. America’s Army: Proving Grounds will shut down on May 5th, after eight long years of support, as announced on the game’s forums.
Within this announcement, the Army said the free-to-play game was the first large-scale use of video game technology for recruitment and communication when it launched. The franchise has three main titles, and managed to reach 20 million players. Proving Grounds, the latest version, was released back in 2013.
According to the post, the game has now “fulfilled its mission” and is shutting down. Moving ahead, the Army said it will be shifting its focus on “other new and innovative” ways to communicate and recruit would-be soldiers.
“None of this would have been possible without our players, so thank you for your dedication and continued support throughout these years,” the Army said. “We look forward to what the future could hold for AA, and encourage you to stay tuned for future announcements on the series.”
America’s Army is available on PS4 and PC through Steam, but not Xbox. On May 5th, official servers will shut down, ending all online services. The game will be removed from PSN on that day, with online play and player stats also being unavailable; offline features will still be supported. On Steam, official servers are closing, but anyone who owns a private server or the Mission Editor can keep playing past the end-date. Offline features for the Steam version will also be supported.
Additionally, the America’s Army website is also shutting down, so players won’t be able to log in, check stats, or access any other content.