In recent news, the real time strategy community and the PC world has experienced great loss with the death of Ensemble Studios. The coroner listed the cause of death as strangulation by a Fortune 500 company, the time of death was sometime in 2009. Microsoft Game Studios announced that Ensemble Studios would be disbanded following the release of the highly anticipated Halo Wars in 2009, but not to worry, support for Halo Wars will still be provided. Ensemble Studios is the creator of the Age of Empire series and Age Mythology series. Age of Empires was a historical real time strategy game that allowed the player control various civilizations throughout history, while Age of Mythology incorporated ancient mythology from the Greeks, Norse, and Egyptian cultures. The upcoming Halo Wars is a real time strategy game that takes place in the Halo Universe before the story line of the original Halo Trilogy. Ensemble Studios was established in 1995 by Rick and Tony Goodman, Bruce Shelley, and Brian Sulivan in Dallas Texas, Ensemble Studios was later acquired by Microsoft Game Studios in 2001. Age of Empires and Age of Mythology have garnered numerous accolades over years and are some of the best real time strategy games ever produced.

According to Gamasutra, Microsoft Game Studios is closing Ensemble Studios to keep a steady growth, which is another way of saying that it is sacrificing Ensemble Studios on the altar of profit to the gods of stockholders. Fortunately, much of the leadership at Ensemble Studios are making a new studio, as well as working with Microsoft Game Studios on other projects. Unfortunately, not everyone can be transferred over and some are losing their jobs after twelve years of service.

Ensemble Studios is survived by Microsoft Game Studios.



R.I.P. Ensemble Studios, 1995-2009