According to Ensemble Studios Boss, MS shutting down the studio was a shock

According to Bruce Shelly, the boss at Ensemble Studios, the shut down of the studio was unexpected and a shock.

What he says here is very sad and I feel for him:

http://kotaku.com/5053403/ensemble-shocked-by-closure-bruce-shelley-wont-be-joining-new-studio

"Everyone at our studio was shocked, and I think remains very disappointed that this is going to happen. I believe we thought we were immune to shut-down talk because our published games have done so well and have been so profitable. Plus we felt we had built a really stable (low-turnover), talented, hard-working, and creative team, which is not easy to do. We thought we were among the best studios in the world, and that may be true, but we don't fit in the future plans of MGS as an internal studio so we're out."

He goes on to say:

"I do not expect to be part of the new company formed after ES is shut down".

but we don't fit in the future plans of MGS as an internal studio so we're out.

ASK_Story

transation : We make rts so we don't really fit in with the future plans for xbox360

that sucks. i loved ensemble games. i hope the new studio they set up does well.

and i hope ms dont arse up the AOE franchise, i love those games

Let me quote a post from Eurogamer, which I think is entirely correct:

Hmmm, I was suprised to hear that they cost more to run than say Rare or Lionhead, but when you actually some up the fruits of their labours in the past 11 years you get grand total of 4x games & 5x expansion packs.

In the same period Rare (who I'm sure you'll all agree are hardly the most prolific of studios) produced some 30 titles across half a dozen formats, with 4 releases for the Xbox 360 in the last 3 years. Even the notoriously late Lionhead have produced more in their life (2001 onwards) than Ensemble studios have in total. So I guess it's hardly suprising that someone in MS accounts has done the math.

I know it should be all about quality & not quantity, but as someone who worked a games buyer / retail management during Ensemble's more 'prolific' period, in my stores they never sold that great. Certainly not in the league of some other 'strategy' games. Civ / C&C / Total War / Blizzard (Warcraft, Starcraft etc.)

I hope that Halo Wars turns out to be truly great, but I couldn't help but feel they were kind of arrogant / complacent about their role within MGS. It's sad, but at their current kind of output rate I doubt they would have survived this long without being in the pockets of MS.

But what are the employee numbers of Ensemble versus Rare and Lionhead?nutcrackr

It's irrelevant, Ensemble was eating more money than Rare and Lionhead:

Microsoft decided to shut down the Age of Empires team earlier this month. Shelley believes this may have been because Ensemble was more expensive to run than other internal Microsoft Game Studios such as Rare and Lionhead.

"First, they want to divert the headcount tied up in Ensemble Studios and the costs that are expected to be required to run Ensemble Studios for the next few years into other projects," he said.

"Second, it sounded like it cost more to run Ensemble Studios on a per person basis than other first party studios, putting us at a disadvantage.

"And third, games those studios are expected to deliver in the next few years are expected to be more strategic and profitable to the company than anything we would be finishing after Halo Wars," added Shelley.

Let me quote a post from Eurogamer, which I think is entirely correct:

Hmmm, I was suprised to hear that they cost more to run than say Rare or Lionhead, but when you actually some up the fruits of their labours in the past 11 years you get grand total of 4x games & 5x expansion packs.

In the same period Rare (who I'm sure you'll all agree are hardly the most prolific of studios) produced some 30 titles across half a dozen formats, with 4 releases for the Xbox 360 in the last 3 years. Even the notoriously late Lionhead have produced more in their life (2001 onwards) than Ensemble studios have in total. So I guess it's hardly suprising that someone in MS accounts has done the math.

I know it should be all about quality & not quantity, but as someone who worked a games buyer / retail management during Ensemble's more 'prolific' period, in my stores they never sold that great. Certainly not in the league of some other 'strategy' games. Civ / C&C / Total War / Blizzard (Warcraft, Starcraft etc.)

I hope that Halo Wars turns out to be truly great, but I couldn't help but feel they were kind of arrogant / complacent about their role within MGS. It's sad, but at their current kind of output rate I doubt they would have survived this long without being in the pockets of MS.

Baranga