Topic: Ensemble Studios shutting down

[idolminds]

Story

All non-essential people have already been let go. The rest are being given incentives to finish up Halo Wars. Once HW ships, thats it. Closed.


This totally smacks of FASA, doesn't it?

[MysterD]

Sounds too familiar, yes.

[idolminds]

Oh, seems I missed the update. So basically they are shutting down, then starting a "new company" that will provide support for Halo Wars as well as work on new projects for MS.

What the fuck? Isnt that what Ensemble is already doing?

[MysterD]

Is Microsoft moving the core team into their building or something?

[Cools!]

I thought they were doing well (money wise) all these years? I'm guessing the bigger focus these days is on XBox for Microsoft Gaming Studios?

Even with the formation of the new company it's still sad news. Age of Empires and Age of Mythology are some of my favorite games.

[MysterD]

One of the games that was cancelled which Ensemble was working on was Halo MMO








 

[ScaryTooth]

Those pics are fake right?

[beo]

the halo mmorpg wasn't exactly cancelled. the shots above are from the drawing stages of a project that ensemble were working on a while ago (along with a load of other things), that never made it beyond concept.

[gpw11]

What else have these motherfuckers made?

It seems like some kind of move to avoid liability or to get out of some contractual obligations.  Strange.

[MysterD]

What else have these motherfuckers made?

It seems like some kind of move to avoid liability or to get out of some contractual obligations.  Strange.

Ensemble has worked on the entire Age of Myth and Age of Empires series.

As we know, Halo Wars will be their last game.

[MysterD]

In Halo Wars, you can expect for the third playable race: The Flood!

As for the last project of the doomed Ensemble Studios, Halo Wars also saw some news out of Microsoft's keynote. A third playable race was announced, and it's just what you expected: the Flood. Those nasty little guys should help to give the game a StarCraft vibe, as the parallels aren't particularly difficult to draw between the Flood and the Zerg.

[MysterD]

I thought they were doing well (money wise) all these years?

This is from ShackNews, w/ Dave Pottinger of Ensemble

Shack:  That's the strangest thing about this, because even just looking at it from a business perspective, you guys always did very well.

Dave Pottinger: Yeah, I guess just not well enough. [laughs] Yeah, I think we made, what, 700 million dollars total on the Age franchise?

EDIT -- 9-30-2012 - for a holding spot:
Joystiq -> Ensemble Founder says Bungie was never up for "Halo Wars."

[Pugnate]

In Halo Wars, you can expect for the third playable race: The Flood!

Last I remember, The Flood looked like cute little balls of fur. Did they have more types of flood?

[shock]

I only remember them making Age of Empires.

I guess that era is over.  Pity.  The original Age of Empires was one of the first PC games I played for days straight without tiring, and it definitely got me started on the genre as well as PC gaming in general.

[Pugnate]

The William Wallace campaign was quite memorable.

[shock]

Certainly.  I think I may play through AOE and AOE2 as a sort of tribute.

[Pugnate]

Man, I am sorry we never got around to playing Crysis multi.

I just got a spankin' fast new connection. I'll be done with my work projects by the 25th, so we should definitely play something online. I am thinking TF2 to start.