Ensemble Studios

Ensemble Studios headlines

• Castleville dev team forms new studio Boss Fight Entertainment

  A handful of former Zynga staff have broken away to form a new independent studio focusing on mobile free-to-play titles.

• Halo Wars: Bungie saw project as 'whoring out the franchise'

  Halo Wars may not have been original, but it put a neat spin on Microsoft’s well-known franchise. For Ensemble Studios, it was never meant to be a Halo game. Founder Tony Goodman has spent time discussing the difficult situation faced by his team.

• Age Of Empires co-creator forms new mobile start up

  Tony Goodman, one of the co-creators of Ensemble Studios’ Age Of Empires, has launched a new mobile start up called PeopleFun, telling VentureBeat his firm plans to create “character driven games,” and start small. “We were so successful with our first idea that we never got around to some of our other ideas. We’d like […]

• 343: Halo Wars a "success", sequel currently not planned

  343 Industries boss Frankie O’Connor has said that Ensemble RTS Halo Wars was a “huge success”, but insists work on a sequel has not begun.

• Ensemble: Age of Empires III "just wasn't an Age game"

  Ensemble Studios founder Bruce Shelley has said Age of Empires III “just wasn’t an Age game”, and described the design process as “a huge mistake”.

• Halo Wars player stats to be wiped due to Waypoint transition

  Microsoft’s announced it’s to close the website for Halo Wars and wipe online player stats for the RTS.

• Report - Microsoft testing Project S strategy game [UPDATE]

  Update: Looks like it’s something to do with actual Spartans and not a Halo related game, according to this piece of art and further confirmation from Examiner. Original: A survey sent out by Microsoft has the firm enlisting alpha testers for what it describes as a “groundbreaking,” “giant, revolutionary step for PC strategy games”.

• Ex-Ensemble staffer roasts Bettner on closure reasoning

  Ian Fischer, once a lead designer at Ensemble Studios, has blasted manager Paul Bettner over his claims at GDC earlier this month that the outfit was inefficient and prone to crunch.

• Ensemble: "We were simply too expensive"

  Ensemble Studio’s inability to hit deadlines or budget restraints led to its downfall, long-time staffer Paul Bettner said at GDC last week.

• Was canceled Halo game called "Halo Universe"? Maybe. Is its concept art pretty? Hell yes.

  More art from the now-defunct Ensemble Studios Halo MMO has emerged, this time from the desk of Ensemble-contracted artist Dylan Cole. He recently posted two pieces of concept art from the videogame-heaven-bound Halo title, both of which focus on what Cole calls “Halo Universe City.” Since “Halo Universe” is capitalized twice on Cole’s page, speculation […]

• Halo Wars: Strategic Options Add-on Pack now on Live

  The Halo Wars: Strategic Options Add-on Pack is now available on Xbox Live. It contains the three new game modes:  Keepaway which is a capture the flag game; Tug of War sees who can field and maintain the strongest army; and Reinforcements allows you to adapt your tactics with waves of troops. The add-on will […]

• All studios formed by ex-Ensemble staff, in case you're confused

  Rock Paper Shotgun has listed the new studios formed by now-defunct Ensemble Studios on one pretty page. It’s a good thing, because we know most people are prone to ADHD, and lists help keep your brain cells organized. Without further ado, here’s the breakdown: Robot Entertainment: Started by Ensemble co-founder Tony Goodman in Texas with […]

• Emsemble co-founder is happy the others have moved on

  Ensemble Studios co-founder Bruce Shelley is very happy for the ex-Ensemble vets who have moved on to form Robot Entertainment and Bonfire Studios. Speaking at DICE, Shelley said the studio’s demise mostly boiled down to lack of quality, lack of quality hires and genre diversification as projects not related to RTS were canceled. Shelley also […]

• Bonfire Studios rises from Ensemble's ashes

  Bonfire Studios has been announced, the second outfit to emerge from the death of Ensemble. Robot Entertainment was formed earlier this week. The new company’s based in Dallas, Texas, and is working on a “fast, fun and addictive game,” according to its site. “Most of the core team from Ensemble Studios that created Halo Wars […]

• Robot Entertainment developing extra content for Halo Wars

  Robot Entertainment is developing extra content for Halo Wars, as well as providing community support for Age of Empires. The news was confirmed via press release this morning after word broke over the weekend that ex-Ensemble co-founder Tony Goodman had formed the new company. “The video game industry is in a state of upheaval,” explained […]

• Ensemble co-founder Tony Goodman forms Robot Entertainment

  Ensemble co-founder Tony Goodman and some of his team members have formed a new development studio, Robot Entertainment. Ensemble worked mainly with the RTS genre, most notably Age of Empires.  Microsoft purchased the firm in 2001 and then shut it down once Halo Wars was completed. What’s Robot working on? Undisclosed. Thanks, Gamasutra

• Halo MMO was to have been "new focus" for Ensemble

  Ensemble’s Halo MMO, codenamed both Titan and Orion – was to be the developer’s “new focus” beyond Halo Wars, according to this Gamasutra article on the firm’s closure. A new campus was even being built to house development for the game, but work was was halted when Microsoft finally reach a decision to close the […]

• Halo Wars DLC a real possibility

  UK site Electricpig reports that the possibility of Halo Wars having some future downloadable content is a definite possibility. “Additional downloadable content is something we’re looking in to,” said Halo Wars producer Jason Pace. The statement comes somewhat as a surprise to us as all reports have suggested that Microsoft is to close Ensemble Studios […]

• New Halo Wars images show tanks, Hunters, Banshees - looks great

  Below you can see twelve new Halo Wars images showing all the weapons and troops you will have at your disposal whether you choose to fight as Covenant or the marines. The images are super-sharp and look very good indeed for what is to be Ensemble’s first and last console RTS. Halo Wars went gold […]