Bonfire Studios are the 2nd studio to form out of Ensemble
Bonfire Studios is the second studio to form out of Ensemble Studios. This studio is headed up by David Rippy and the studio is formed soley of Ensemble staff. David Rippy had this to say:
“Ensemble had an incredible group of highly talented people and the companies coming out of it are really made up of the best of the best. Ensemble was one of the few studios with two A-teams,” said David Rippy, president and CEO of Bonfire Studios. “We are already working on an original IP that we’ll start talking about in the next few months.”
Another great studio to keep an eye on! It is exciting to hear that we will be seeing new IP from both studios all full of Ensemble people. That’s fantastic. Its great to see they are all landing on their feet.
The Bonfire Studios website is fully online at: http://www.bonfire-studios.com/index.html which I encourage everyone to check out!
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********** Question and Answers!! ****************
Ive been getting messges asking about the relationship between Robot and Bonfire and why there are two studios. Please see this rushed explanation below! I shall hope to get more info soon!
As Bruce Shelley confirmed there are two separate studios forming from Ensemble.
1. Robot Entertainment headed up by Tony Goodman the ex Ensemble founder. Robot will be supporting Halo Wars and Age whilst also making a new game. Unfortunately not all employees from ES could go to Robot as there was not enough resources available to employ them all
2. Bonfire Studios is where the remaining talent from ES has landed. They will be making a new game that’s “too hot to handle”. This studio is lead by David Rippy who was also a prominent Ensemble member.
Robot Entertainment: Press Release
Robot Entertainment has updated its website with a press release which can be found below:
Founders of Ensemble Studios Announce Formation of Robot Entertainment
PLANO, Texas – February 17, 2009 – Robot Entertainment announced today the formation of its new game development studio in Plano, Texas. Founded by many of the original founders of Ensemble Studios, Robot has a staff of 45 comprised entirely of former Ensemble employees. Robot’s team developed the hit franchise Age of Empires™, selling over 20 million units worldwide, and the soon-to-be released Halo Wars for Xbox 360™. Tony Goodman, the founder of Ensemble, is the CEO of Robot.
“The video game industry is in a state of upheaval,” said Mr. Goodman, “not just games, but the entire landscape. Everything is changing: where we buy games, how we buy games, how much we pay, how long we play, who we play them with. As a fast-moving independent team of game developers, industry leaders and market experts, Robot Entertainment is ideally positioned to play a transformative role in the industry’s future.”
Robot Entertainment is working with Microsoft Game Studios to develop additional content for Halo Wars and support online gaming and community for both Age of Empires and Halo Wars. Additionally, Robot is developing its own original IP.
About Robot Entertainment
Based in Plano, Texas, Robot Entertainment is a world-class independent game development studio owned and operated by many of the founders of Ensemble Studios. With a team that has proven experience and expertise in creating games that appeal to massive audiences, Robot Entertainment is focused on titles that set new standards for their respective genres as well as groundbreaking original IPs. Robot can be found on the web at www.robotentertainment.com.
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CONTACT:
contact .@. robotentertainment.com
Robot is making its own IP; 45 ex Ensemble veterans on board
GamePlasma reports that 45 members of staff have been recruited from Ensemble Studios to form Robot Entertainment and Tony Goodman is quoted as saying:
“The video game industry is in a state of upheaval,” said Mr. Goodman, “not just games, but the entire landscape. Everything is changing: where we buy games, how we buy games, how much we pay, how long we play, who we play them with. As a fast-moving independent team of game developers, industry leaders and market experts, Robot Entertainment is ideally positioned to play a transformative role in the industry’s future.”
The article goes on to mention that Robot is the studio which will provide support for Halo Wars and Age of Empires. However the studio will be working on new IP which may rule out Age of Empires 4 (for the moment).
http://www.gameplasma.com/news/index/view/id/1713/
It may be possible that the studio is exploring some old prototype ideas discussed here: http://remember-ensemblestudios.com/?p=229 . Or it could be a whole new project.
We look forward to finding out more.
Halo Wars soundtrack is SOLD OUT in the UK
Great news for Stephen Rippy as his Halo Wars soundtrack is completely sold out in the UK! If you are in the US you might want to try and secure and order quickly.
Looks like this will be a very successful album! Well done Stephen!
From Amazon UK:
Please accept our apologies for this inconvenience, but “Halo Wars” appears to have been a surprise sellout.
When you placed your order #xxxxxx, we believed we had access to more copies – we then discovered that every one of our distributors had rapidly sold out.
Halo Wars soundtrack released!
Great news for Halo Wars music lovers! Stephen Rippy’s outstanding soundtrack can now be purchased on CD at:
Amazon.co.uk : http://www.amazon.co.uk/Halo-Wars-O-S-T-Various-Artists/dp/B001OB3R1I/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1233968056&sr=8-1
and for digital download here: https://www.sumthingdigital.com/index.aspx
Happy listening!
Download 2 Halo Wars tracks early!
Here is a great chance to hear some Halo Wars music composed by Stephen Rippy before the soundtrack is released on February 17th. Sumthing Digital has the preview tracks here:
https://www.sumthingdigital.com/index.aspx
Well worth taking a listen! It is shaping up to be a great soundtrack just like the Halo Wars game itself. Good job Stephen!
Halo Wars sets download record
Like all Ensemble games before it Halo Wars is set to break records and have smashing sales. Today Microsoft announced that Halo Wars by prized developer Ensemble Studios has passed 2 million downloads making it the most popular demo EVER!
This is great news for all the hard work Ensemble Studios put into the game whilst also raising a big question mark as to why Microsoft chose to close the studio.
Tony Goodman: “Stay Tuned. We have some big ideas”
Robot Entertainment’s website is now live at http://www.robotentertainment.com/ with a message from Tony Goodman “Stay tuned, we have some big ideas”
We are very excited to hear about the new studio and wish them the best of luck. Stay tuned for more updates about “Robot”.
Tony Goodman forms “Robot Entertainment” from Ensemble.
Gamasutra have reported that the new studio formed by Tony Goodman will be called “Robot Entertainment”.
There is no indication of what projects this new studio will be working on though. Keep an eye out for more news on Robot Entertainment as it is reported.
I encourage everyone to read the latest Gamasutra article here:
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=22133
I hope the new studio is able to get on its feet and get started on some exciting projects soon. Good luck!
Halo Wars Vid Doc 3 is up
A quick post from me to let you know that the third Halo Wars vid doc can now be viewed here: