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Ensemble Closing Confirmed, New Studio to Form
by Nick Breckon, Sep 09, 2008 6:18pm PDTConfirming a story broken by Shacknews, Microsoft now says that it will shut down developer Ensemble Studios (Age of Empires) following the end of work on the company's upcoming RTS Halo Wars.
Microsoft called the planned closure a "fiscally-rooted" decision, while noting that a core Ensemble team will go on to form a new studio to provide support for Halo Wars and work on fresh projects. Though not all employees will be transferred to the new studio, Microsoft plans to find other jobs for as many workers as possible.
Microsoft's full statement follows:
Microsoft has decided to close Ensemble Studios following the completion of Halo Wars. After the closure, the Ensemble leadership team will form a new studio and has agreed to provide ongoing support for Halo Wars as well as work on other projects with Microsoft Game Studios.The team at Ensemble has made invaluable contributions to the games industry with their Age of Empires and Age of Mythology games and with the highly anticipated release of Halo Wars. This decision does not reflect at all on Ensembles talent or the quality of Halo Wars. in fact, many people who have had a chance to test drive Halo Wars agree that it is on track to being a fantastic game.
This was a fiscally-rooted decision that keeps MGS on its growth path. While the decision to dissolve Ensemble was not an easy one, Microsoft is working to place as many Ensemble employees who do not move to the newly formed studio into open positions within Microsoft as possible.
As to our overall strategy at MGS, it remains the same. We are committed to growing MGS with world-class talent both internally and with our external partners around the globe. We have recently added some well-known developers to our team and will continue growing the team. Were particularly excited about the titles we have in the pipeline and continue to evaluate additional opportunities to bring incredible games to life with the industrys best. Our investment in games has never been greater than it is today.
Comments
so far, many of my fav studios have died:
black isle (fallout 2, planescape torment, icewind dale)
troika (arcanum, vampire masquerade)
ironlore (titanquest)
looking glass (system shock 2)
bullfrog (dungeon keeper, syndicate wars)
now ensemble. all thats left is bioware and blizzard.
So... who's left? Valve? Pretty much Valve.
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THis is the same thing that happened with Access last gen, Links was huge on PC, but it didn't work on 360, so instead of going back to PC MS just threw it away,
I just hope the new studio will stay away as far asa they can from MS, aside from doing HW support. Bassicaly every publisher will be glad to sign them to work on what they do the best: PC historical RTSes
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There was no way in hell Ensemble wasn't profitable for them, and they should have learned from EA that when you buy developers and you destroy their way of work, they don't release the same quality.
Ensemble was one of the best developers out there, AoE2 was almost perfection. It was a pity that they sold the shop to Microsoft. For a while, everything seemed to be ok, but when Microsoft put a gun to their head and forced them to develop Halo Wars, I knew the end was coming.
In the end, Microsoft keeps damaging PC, PC gamers, PC developers and whatever that has anything to do with the PC. Everything goes for the money?.
Fucking bastards.
So.... isn't this just a layoff and restructuring, coupled with a rename? Or is there something else afoot here? Ensemble is Dallas-based - are these people going to have to move to Seattle or something?
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Ensemble was a fantastic studio, and their office is one of the coolest I've been fortunate enough to see.
I heard that they may have been working on a sci-fi themed MMO, like Age of Future Empires Online or something.
I wish the Halo Wars team luck, and I hope that I get to play it soon, because it looks pretty slick.
I also look forward to whatever Tony and his team of really cool people end up making.
I shall drink tonight for Ensemble Studios.
=(
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