In 1995 Ensemble Studios formed as an independent studio and kicked out a little game franchise known as Age of Empires. The title has received many accolades from the first in the franchise extended out to all the Age of Empires releases and spin-offs, all-in-all selling millions of copies.
Ensemble Studios had a mission “to create great games and a great place to work,” says Bruce Shelley from Ensemble Studios. Bruce Shelley also helped design Sid Meier’s Civilization and Railroad Tycoon with MicroProse prior to his work at Ensemble Studios. Now, however, he’s a bit upset at the closing of Ensemble Studios because they were profitable, created top-quality titles and had a great working environment.
Ensemble Studios, from his perspective at least, was a place you’d go to work and be happy with what you’re doing. When you’re working along nicely and become blind-sided by the news, it’s not surprising he didn’t take it lightly.
“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.” (ensemblestudios.com)
What’s the future plans for Ensemble Studios? As we’ve stated before, they plan to live on in spirit, within the bounds of a new name and a new game plan. “I believe the spirit and mission of ES will be carried forward in this new company if enough of the key leaders agree to take part, which I expect to happen. There has been no announcement about what the new studio will be working on when it gets going,” says Shelley.
This is a horrible way to have to launch a hot new intellectual property. Usually creating a new title with a building fanbase would lead to excitement, parties and high hopes for the future of the franchise. Instead, people will be dusting off their resume in hopes to continue a life of game development.
Hopefully the leaders will indeed form a brand new company and build brand new hot products with their entire staff intact. Then, take their titles to a different publisher (besides Microsoft) and make some money and fans.
@Kickstarter – still not over.
I liked the Splinter Cell game. My problem with it was that I was still under the influence of Quake 3 and UT, so my skills at stealth were only matched by the the elegance in movement of an elephant placed in a shop for porcelains …
Still, I liked the concept behind it and I struggled to the best of my abilities to play it as it was intended. I didn’t finish it, but still, I enjoyed the concept behind it.
@Blizzard facing class action lawsuit over Battle.net security
You see, this happens when you start to require more and more personal data …
Moral of the story: if you require a lot of data, then better make a damn good job at protecting it.
Jonah, I’m with you, I’m also glad that there’s a lawsuit going on.
@Molyneux skeptical about tablet/TV gaming
I’m not with him on this one. As far as I am concerned, gaming started on TV with the NES. I enjoyed the experience, so from my experience TV gaming has its share of success.
About tablet gaming – as long as you adapt your user input scheme, then it will work.
Now, what I am skeptical about is overpriced consoles or overpriced dedicated gaming tablets, and shoddy user input schemes implemented by inexperienced or plain bad developers.
Using both displays? No, don’t think so. Most likely the tablet will be used as input device, and the TV as display.
@Halo 4 makes $220M in first day
Good for them. If the overall feedback is that the game is good then sure, enjoy the moneyz 😀
Paul, I also don’t like Halo. I didn’t like the association between (1) a team of humans waiting for my help to succeed in defeating (2) enemies that fight like muppets and look like them, (3) and then add epic music to make you believe you’re the savior.
@Analyst: Grand Theft Auto V will sell 25M units
And I say it’ll sell 35M units in its life time. So? Does that put money in the pockets of the devs/publishers?
Boys are stupid and smell funny? Really? This coming from the gay guy?
As for the binoculars, it’s more about adjusting/improving an existing old binoculars. And to quote myself, if you’re into stargazing then you’re probably “standing in the yard, all lights out, binoculars in hand. I think it’s too late by now to worry about being labeled as either geeky or pervy.”
The music, is that from GTA 1/2/3/4 ?
Nintendo details Wii U network ID system: I will reserve any judgement until I’ve got plenty of experience with the system. Although I do agree that the previous Friend Code system was hilariously bad. Hopefully they’ll be able to pull it off this time.
Molyneux skeptical about tablet/TV gaming: Oh poor me, I can’t even look at the borders of the screen or I will get confused, let alone look quickly down to another screen to select an item. I wonder how I will manage. Seriously though, Peter Molyneux is full of crap. Just because you can’t design a decent game doesn’t mean that others won’t be able to use tablet/TV gaming to make a better game.
P.S. I would love a copy of Dungeon Defenders.
@Molyneux skeptical about tablet/TV gaming:
i guess he never heard of a portable console named NINTENDO DS (and it’s sucessors). of course there are 2 screens, but one is the support of the other like in “play/pause” (bad stupid example), in the DS game “New Super Mario Bros.” the lower screen showed the “map” (linear progression trough the stage) and the extra power up, nothing that will definatelly need your attention at all times! if someone has the attention more focused on the tablet than on the movie, i guess the person is already bored by the movie and looking for other things to do!
@Halo 4 makes $220M in first day, Forward Unto Reach garners 46M viewers:
halo game series are always good games (forget halo wars fiasco) and 343 deserves the finantial feedback from the public, since halo 4 looks impressive for a 7yo console.
@podcast recorded on sunday:
does that mean that it will be released one day earlier as well?
@paul playing MLP on the iPad:
brohoof! /)
BTW, homophobia is a wrong word
“people are not afraid of homosesxuals! they are just assholes” – internet
@Splinter Cell
I used to despise stealth. Especially when they stick it in as a special stage in an action game (The Hulk, Spider-Man, XIII and far to many more to name). But Splinter Cell was surprisingly good. If you spend some time learning the stealth mechanic, it will be an interesting and rewarding experience. I even managed to complete it. I remember the graphics was spectacular. Even though I played it in 2010.
@Square+Enix
I played Square, Enix and Square Enix games and didn’t notice much of a difference in quality. Maybe because they all produced mostly JRPGs which are uniform in quality and experience by default. It really is a matter of opinion whether the merger failed or not. I thoroughly enjoyed FFX and don’t think that it is any worse than FFVII.
@Nintendo ID
Tried to play an on-line game of Monster Hunter Tri with a friend. Failed miserably. It is easier to build a space shuttle out of chewing gum, matchsticks and a used condom than it is to connect to a friend on the Wii. That is why I won’t buy a Wii U any time soon. For me the on-line component is important. They need to sort it out first if they want my moneys.
@Peter Moyle… man he probably has to spell his surname to every person he meets
It all depends on how developers implement the second screen. I don’t think they will have you play two different games at the same time. Gamers nowadays can’t even use both R1 and R2 on PS3 at the same time. Let alone two different screens.
@Halo 4
I understand that people are entitled to their own opinion and respect it. All I want is for Paul to know that his opinion is wrong and he should be covered in chocolate and thrown to the lesbians. Anyways, I am not surprised Halo sold lots. It is a solid entry in the series regardless of what all the griefers and haters say.
@ QOTW
If you have any leftovers I will gladly take them of your hands. However, it kind of sucks winning without a competition. It’s like an election in Zimbabwe. Not very democratic.