Age of Empires
Age of Empires is a series of historical real-time strategy video games, originally developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft Studios. The first title of the series was "Age of Empires", released in 1997. Seven titles and three spin-offs have been released.
Free-to-play
The movement of free-to-play MMOs into the mainstream also coincided with experimentation with other genres as well. The model was picked up by larger developers and more diverse genres, with games such as "Battlefield Heroes", "Free Realms", "Quake Live" and "Team Fortress 2" appearing in the late 2000s. The experimentation was not successful in every genre, however. Traditional real time strategy franchises such as "Age of Empires" and "Command & Conquer" both attempted free-to-play titles. Age of Empires Online was shut down in the midst of a tiny player base and stagnant revenue, and was shut down in alpha due to negative reactions from players.