Age of Empires Online shutting down today

Newsbrief: Today, Microsoft shut down Age of Empires Online, its free-to-play expansion of the popular strategy franchise first created by the erstwhile Ensemble Studios in the mid 1990s. Age of Empires Online was originally developed by Robot Entertainment and later by Gas Powered Games. The game originally launched in 2011 but ceased updating in early 2013. Its closure was announced less than a month ago. At last year's GDC Europe, Microsoft's Kevin Perry delivered a lecture on how the company originally whiffed the game's free-to-play design -- calling the business model "a disaster" at the time of its launch -- but was able to turn the game into a success. You can watch Perry's talk for free at the GDC Vault.