Two new companies to form out of Ensemble
Bruce Shelley confirmed in his blog that there will be two new companies forming out of Ensemble employees. One of those studios will be providing support for ESO (Ensemble Online) and Halo Wars and it is presumed that this studio will be run by Ensemble head Tony Goodman though this has not been confirmed. It is completely unknown as to who may be leading the other company. One might ask why Tony Goodman’s new studio is not employing all of Ensemble’s staff. This is because the new studio will not have enough resources and size to employ everyone unfortunately. However as both studios gain momentum there is nothing to stop a partnership in the future.
Strangely enough Microsoft have announced that they want to have a relationship with the “new” Ensemble and that there is very good possibility of games being created under the Microsoft Games Studio banner. There has been no news yet as to what projects the studio will be working on but AOE4 and Halo Wars 2 are possibilities.
Ensemble visionary Bruce Shelley will not be joining either company, sadly. Stay tuned for updates on these new companies.
Below are some links to recent news articles about Ensemble Studios:
Ensemble staff to form two new studios Former employees will continue work on popular titles through new entities – GamesIndustry.Biz
Ensemble involved in Halo Wars’ future
Microsoft Game Studios “very excited” about series potential – GamesIndustry.biz
Bruce Shelley Shares His Thoughts on Ensemble Studios Shutting Down – Softpedia
Goodbye Ensemble Studios. Bruce’s last blog
Today Bruce Shelley uploaded his final blog on the Ensemble Studios website. The blog will only be available on the ES website for a few days so catch it as fast as you can. http://www.ensemblestudios.com/blogs/bshelley/archive/2009/01/29/goodbye-and-thanks.aspx
I have learnt that the Ensemble Studios website may be shut down soon so I will be trying to archive as much as possible before ES closes. It may not be online here straightaway but rest assured I will have all the blogs archived from the ES website and available here as soon as possible.
Goodbye Ensemble Studios. You will not be forgotten.
🙁
Thanks for making great games.
Update: All the blogs on the EnsembleStudios.com website are safe. Ive got them all stored along with screenshots of the Ensemble Studios website
Colt McAnlis speaking at GDC 2009
Ensemble Studios’ Colt McAnlis is speaking at the GDC 2009 this year and will be discussing the terrain technology used in Halo Wars. Colt will discuss how the Xbox 360 hardware has helped Ensemble render terrain upto 8x greater vertex density than previous games.
Be on the look out for some fantastic terrain graphics in Halo Wars.
This could be one of the last presentations by Ensemble Studios.
Link: GDC 2009
