I launched Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition on Steam today, and the intro screen and Microsoft Account pop-up window appeared briefly, but then the intro screen closed on its own

Age of Empires II: DE II - Report a Bug
1

:play_button: GAME INFORMATION

:backhand_index_pointing_down: These details are CRITICAL; DO NOT skip them or your issue may not be reviewed.

  • GAME BUILD #:25464371
  • GAME PLATFORM: Steam
  • OPERATING SYSTEM: Windows 11

:play_button: ISSUE EXPERIENCED

:backhand_index_pointing_down: DESCRIBE THE ISSUE IN DETAIL (below). LIMIT TO ONE BUG PER THREAD.

:play_button: FREQUENCY OF ISSUE

:backhand_index_pointing_down: How often does the issue occur? CHOSE ONE; DELETE THE REST!

  • Less than 25% of the time / matches I play (RARELY)
  • 25% of the time / matches I play (SOMETIMES)
  • 50% of the time / matches I play (FREQUENTLY)
  • 100% of the time / matches I play (ALWAYS)

:play_button: REPRODUCTION STEPS

:backhand_index_pointing_down: List CLEAR and DETAILED STEPS we can take to reproduce the issue ourselves… Be descriptive!

Here’s the steps to reproduce the issue:

:play_button: EXPECTED RESULT

:backhand_index_pointing_down: What was SUPPOSED to happen if the bug you encountered were not present?

:play_button: IMAGE

:backhand_index_pointing_down: ALWAYS attach a PICTURE (.jpg, .png, .gif) or VIDEO (.mp4, YouTube link) that highlights the problem.

:play_button: GAME FILES (SAVE / RECORDING)

:backhand_index_pointing_down: Attach a SAVE GAME (.aoe2spgame) or GAME RECORDING (.aoe2record) of the match where you encountered the issue. Link it below if using an external file service.

2

The game wouldn’t launch via Steam because MSI Afterburner was running

I don’t know why having MSI Afterburner running in the background prevents AoM: Retold and AoE II DE from launching, but when I close MSI Afterburner, both games launch normally again for me. Maybe other games are also affected while MSI Afterburner is running in the background.

3

This solution also works if you want to continue using MSI Afterburner: