So where are they now? Dallas Observer discusses Robot, Bonfire and Windstorm
No, thats not a picture of Ensemble Studios’ old offices. Instead it is a picture of a near by building which was demolished before the closure of Ensemble Studios as discussed in Bruce’s Blog.
You may be wondering where Robot and Bonfire are based now that they have disbanded from Ensemble. Well the Dallas Observer revealed today that Bonfire Studios has taken up the helm in Ensemble Studios old offices in Dallas. Robot Entertainment on the other hand are based in Plano.
It may be assumed that Robot have taken up offices in Plano and that these offices are the same offices that Ensemble Studios was planning to move into before its closure. One might also remember that Bruce Shelley hinted in his blog that with Microsoft shutting down the studio means that they no longer have to pay for these new offices.
With Robot moving out of the old Dallas offices and moving into Plano this may explain why its taken a little longer for them to get thier website up and running. No doubt the move involved lots of work re-creating an IT Infrastructructure for the company.
More information on this can be found here in the Dallas observer: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/040409dnmetvideogames.3b84ec9.html
Senior Ensemble programmer Dusty Monk launches new studio “Windstorm Studios”
Dusty Monk is the president and founder of another game studio to arise from Ensemble’s ashes. Dusty has great passion for online MMO games and worked closely with Ensemble’s Halo MMO. It is currently unknown whether Windstorm will be developing an MMO or something else all together.
You can find the studios launch site here: http://www.windstormstudios.com
As Dusty says on the website:
“For pretty much my entire life I’ve played in and worked on virtual worlds. From Islands of Kesmai on the Compuserve Information Service, to Ultima Online, to Everquest, to World of Warcraft, since I was a teenager I’ve possessed a passion for playing and participating in these realms, and dozens more. In 2008, when Microsoft closed my then employer Ensemble Studios, I saw an opportunity for something new – not just for myself, but for the genre which I love so much. Windstorm Studios is the realization of that opportunity. I bring with me close to fifteen years of professional game development experience, and have contributed to some of the best triple-A titles in the business. Furthermore, I bring a wealth of firsthand knowledge of how a top notch studio is run and maintained – taken from my tenure at one of the most respected game development houses in the industry, Ensemble Studios.”
