Brown's decision to retire came after medics advised him that further football would cause permanent damage to his knees. A risk he did not consider worth taking.
The veteran has been with the Royals for the past eighteen months but played just 47 times in that period as injury has taken it's toll.
A decidedly sluggish Brown played his last game as a professional back in March as the Royals succumbed 2-0 at home to Sunderland.
With the usually reliable centre-back looking so out of sorts it was perhaps inevitable that the end was soon to come.
Steve Coppell must now scour the transfer market to find a replacement defender as he now has just three senior centre-backs at his disposal.
Captain Adie Williams, the untested Ibrahima Sonko and the at times erratic Ivar Ingimarsson form the insufficient trio.
But Williams has been struggling with injuries increasingly in the past year, so Coppell will be desperate to add another centre-back to his squad before the new season kicks off in eleven days time.
The Royals have had something of a run of bad luck with centre-backs in recent seasons, and any new acquisition may fear that the position is cursed.
Steve Brown adds his name to the now three-strong list of Reading centre-backs that have had to retire through injury in recent seasons.
Adie Whitbread and Chris Casper were the other unlucky two.
Reading may yet offer Steve Brown a coaching or scouting role as he seeks to build himself a new life after thirteen years playing professional football. Casper is currently coaching at Burnley, whilst Whitbread works alongside Martin Allen at Brentford.
Editor Rob Cooper reports from Crete