14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has decided to close down Ensemble Studios and, although this piece of news is a bit old now, we have just received an official statement from Bruce Shelley, the boss of Ensemble, via the studio's blog. Even if a lot of people frowned upon Microsoft's decision of closing the studio that was responsible for their most famous RTS franchise, Age of Empires, and which is currently developing the Halo Wars strategy title, Shelley is pretty diplomatic when it comes to the subject. However, he still offers a couple of detail regarding the news, but from the perspective of an ordinary employee.
"I have mentioned with regret the closing of several quality game studios over the past several years but I never considered that ES would join the list. 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." said Shelley on the blog.
He also talked about the possible causes leading to the decision made by Microsoft Game Studios. Although nothing official has been mentioned as the primary cause, he went on to stress the fact that Ensemble was one of the most expensive first party studios in MGS and that the costs involved in further development were pretty high. Furthermore, the games they had in development, besides Halo Wars, didn't show promise of large profits, as some of the other titles developed by studios under MGS.
It was a sad day indeed, but he also stated that Tony Goodman, one of the studio heads, has already developed a plan to initiate a new studio and offered employees the chance to work there. So, fingers crossed, hoping that a new studio will emerge from the ashes and continue to develop quality strategy titles.