Ensemble Studios Officially Closes Its Doors

Closing Down: It is hard to believe that the day has finally come when Ensemble Studios closes its doors and we move on to whatever is next. I was employee #4, starting in February of 1995, and will always be grateful to Tony and Rick Goodman for remembering me and getting me involved in what will probably be the defining experience of my career. There was a genuine caring at ES for colleagues, and the games we made, which was special. The mission of our studio was to create a great place to work and make great games, stressed by Tony in that order. I believe we stayed on mission throughout and often it was a lot of fun. It is worth mentioning that about 60% of the people who worked on Age of Empires I were with the studio to the end. And it was a really special group of people who pulled together for the long hours and hard work to finish our last game to our standards.

We are working our way through the final week with mixed emotions. We have a lot to be proud of and new opportunities are beckoning, but it is also sad to see this particular great adventure coming to an end. Boxes are piled in the hallways for trash; people are giving away games and other stuff they don't want anymore; computers are being wiped; and our corporate IDs are being turned in. Although we will be keeping in touch through some alumni initiatives, many of us may not cross paths again.

There are at least two new studios being formed by ES employees and I expect both to do very well. There were a lot of outstanding game developers here and it will be interesting to see how and what they do, both individually and as new groups, in the years ahead.

Goodbye and Thanks: My expectation is that this is the final ES blog that I will write. I have enjoyed pulling it together for the past several years and sharing with you what I could about the inside workings of a game studio. It was a pleasure and a privilege to showcase the work and fun side of our group.

I do not know at this point if the newly forming game studios will be doing similar blogs or even how you could find out.

On behalf of everyone at ES, past and present, thanks for your support over the years. Your feedback on our games made the next version better. Buying legitimate copies made it possible for us to keep making them. Thanks also to those who wrote us to express regrets about the end of our studio and even the end of this blog.

Have fun,

Bruce Shelley

Published Thursday, January 29, 2009 3:45 PM

http://www.ensemblestudios.com/blogs...nd-thanks.aspx

Good luck to everyone.

i cant wait until i get halo wars:Dps3_owns_360Wii

why?, its a real time strategy ...and its not on the pc......and it since it brands the name halo I doubt it will be that great just because they know that enough people will buy it for that reason alone

[QUOTE="ps3_owns_360Wii"]i cant wait until i get halo wars:DAll_that_is_Man

why?

cuz i like RTS and Halo, miz them together then its a great game for me:)

Ensemble Studios closing its doors is one of the saddest things to happen to video games in a long time. Just think about how many hours I've sunk into Age of Empires II...

Ensemble Studios will be missed, I hope they all do well in whatever they're planning. :(

i cant wait until i get halo wars:Dps3_owns_360Wii

[QUOTE="ps3_owns_360Wii"]i cant wait until i get halo wars:DAll_that_is_Man

why?, its a real time strategy ...and its not on the pc......and it since it brands the name halo I doubt it will be that great just because they know that enough people will buy it for that reason alone

personally i'm hopping this will be the consoles Dune 2

Ensemble....how could they shut down the company that is responsible for Age of Mythology!?II_Seraphim_II

I dunno man, all thier games were million sellers, i believe aoe 3 was at 3 million last i checked. How can MS deem them a liability? Were they really that expensive to have around that MS wasn't making a profit from a game that sold 3 mill copies?:|

I am also sad. AoE 2 was my first RTS that I really played a lot. But I've learned that Total War is miles better. I can't wait to get Empire: Total War. But I'm still saddened.

Oops... No bad grammar.

[QUOTE="II_Seraphim_II"]Ensemble....how could they shut down the company that is responsible for Age of Mythology!?Espada12

I dunno man, all thier games were million sellers, i believe aoe 3 was at 3 million last i checked. How can MS deem them a liability? Were they really that expensive to have around that MS wasn't making a profit from a game that sold 3 mill copies?:|

[QUOTE="Espada12"]

[QUOTE="II_Seraphim_II"]Ensemble....how could they shut down the company that is responsible for Age of Mythology!?II_Seraphim_II

I dunno man, all thier games were million sellers, i believe aoe 3 was at 3 million last i checked. How can MS deem them a liability? Were they really that expensive to have around that MS wasn't making a profit from a game that sold 3 mill copies?:|

Well I'd imagine a lot of the recent lay offs and such might be because of the economy. I mean, studios have done worse in the past and survived, but now someone else closes like every other week....110million

[QUOTE="110million"] Well I'd imagine a lot of the recent lay offs and such might be because of the economy. I mean, studios have done worse in the past and survived, but now someone else closes like every other week....agentfred

I agree.

They let Bungie out the door and then shut down Ensemble. If you ask me, Rare may be next...:(

[QUOTE="agentfred"]

[QUOTE="110million"] Well I'd imagine a lot of the recent lay offs and such might be because of the economy. I mean, studios have done worse in the past and survived, but now someone else closes like every other week....TreyoftheDead

I agree.

They let Bungie out the door and then shut down Ensemble. If you ask me, Rare may be next...:(

[QUOTE="agentfred"]

[QUOTE="110million"] Well I'd imagine a lot of the recent lay offs and such might be because of the economy. I mean, studios have done worse in the past and survived, but now someone else closes like every other week....TreyoftheDead

I agree.

They let Bungie out the door and then shut down Ensemble. If you ask me, Rare may be next...:(

[QUOTE="Espada12"]

[QUOTE="II_Seraphim_II"]Ensemble....how could they shut down the company that is responsible for Age of Mythology!?II_Seraphim_II

I dunno man, all thier games were million sellers, i believe aoe 3 was at 3 million last i checked. How can MS deem them a liability? Were they really that expensive to have around that MS wasn't making a profit from a game that sold 3 mill copies?:|

According to the last blog post, those that were fired have formed two separate studios. Let's hope they are both successful.Zhengi

[QUOTE="TreyoftheDead"][QUOTE="agentfred"] That's true, but lately MS has been closing down almost every (or is it every single one now?) development company they own, regardless of profitability. Ensemble has never sold less than two million copies, and will be making MS hundreds of millions of dollars later this year when HW releases. No matter what economy your in, profit is profit. I think this closure, and the other recent closures by MS are indicating a different business strategy, and not a bad economy.

mitu123

I agree.

They let Bungie out the door and then shut down Ensemble. If you ask me, Rare may be next...:(

Ensemble Studios closing its doors is one of the saddest things to happen to video games in a long time. Just think about how many hours I've sunk into Age of Empires II...

Ensemble Studios will be missed, I hope they all do well in whatever they're planning. :(

Trigger_Hppy

Forget AOE, AOM was the best. I can't believe Ensemble is gone :cry:

[QUOTE="mitu123"][QUOTE="TreyoftheDead"]

I agree.

They let Bungie out the door and then shut down Ensemble. If you ask me, Rare may be next...:(

surrealnumber5

[QUOTE="110million"]Damn economy, stop effecting games! :( Maybe they can come back as some other studio or something...agentfred

Our current economic situation strikes again. I've lost count of how many studios have been closed and how many people have been let go. Who knows what games we're not getting any longer.InsaneBasura

Oops... No bad grammar.

flacracker173

I knew you could do it.

[QUOTE="agentfred"][QUOTE="110million"]Damn economy, stop effecting games! :( Maybe they can come back as some other studio or something...hopesfall2own

So, please explain to us why MS would get rid of a developer who makes games that never sell below 2 million? A developer who just finished what will be another million seller for MS at the end of year? And what logic is that? Whether they let them walk or shut them down, how does that change the fact that it looks like MS may moving out of developing first and second party titles and focusing on third party.

Look at their strategy this generation: buying exclusives. If they are spending all that money buying exclusive games and content, why bother spending money on developing games at in-house studios?