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Forums - Gaming Discussion - Ensemble Studios official closes its doors...

pbroy on 30 January 2009

I wasn't going to post anything, but now I'm mad that Sega didn't buy Bizarre Creations. ¬_¬

Ohh yeah, +1 to disolitude's original comment.

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c0rd on 30 January 2009

I was somewhat of a Blizzard fanboy way back in the WC2 days, so I sorta spited AoE. Thought process: damn Microsoft, always copying others!

Ah, yeah, that was quite a while ago. I wasn't their biggest fan, but sucks to see a studio close like this... especially since they didn't exactly bomb their way into failure.

Wonder where the staff is headed.



makingmusic476 on 30 January 2009

From neogaf:

Thanks for the many kind words here, y'all.

I was with Ensemble from 1999 -- nearly a decade of making games with a fantastic group of people. It was kind of surreal finishing Halo Wars knowing this was coming, but at least we had enough time to put together some plans for what comes next. Tomorrow I'll head into the office, finish archiving off some personal files, and say goodbye to some fine friends. A sad day.

I can't comment on the decision to close the studio per se, but MS gets to choose where they spend their money and headcount -- we had a great run during our time owned by MS and they helped us get a lot of great games out there IMO.

Personally I'm heavily involved with one of the new groups coming out of the ashes, and I couldn't be more excited about what we have in the works. So you haven't heard the last from the folks of Ensemble, even if the studio itself is no more.



outlawauron on 30 January 2009
makingmusic476 said:
richardhutnik said:
outlawauron said:
makingmusic476 said:

I think that's about it. I know they closed FASA Studios a year or two ago.  They were guys behind MechWarrior 4, MechCommander 1/2, and Crimsons Skies: high Road to Revenge.  The MechCommander series was another awesome franchise.  :(

I wonder if they'll keep Rare around much longer. They're the life blood of Microsoft's family oriented games movement, but their last two titles have sold horribly.

Well, they sold Bioware to EA and sold Bizarre Creations to SEGA.

Bizarre is part of Sega?  I thought they are now part of Activision, or do freelance work for different companies.  Bizarre did do Metropolis Street Racing (became Project Gotham) for Sega.

 

Yes, they were bought by Activision.

I'm not sure why I didn't notice that when I first read his post. 0_o

If Activision owns them, then why did they make The Club for Sega? That's why I thought Sega bought em.



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--OkeyDokey-- on 30 January 2009

Aren't they developing Halo Wars? I guess it's finished then...



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makingmusic476 on 30 January 2009

The deal was probably inked while they were still independent. To be honest, I didn't know they made anything besides PGR these days.



cool48 on 30 January 2009
makingmusic476 said:
cura said:
disolitude said:
lol...i dont want to sound conspicuous but a lot of Sony ps3 fans seem to have an emotional attachment to Ensemble studios.

While I agree that its sad to see them go...I personally never heard of them until i heard of halo wars. Hope their last game is a good swansong...

 

I'm a ps3 fan and I've been playing ES games on and off from 1999 to 2008, so of course I'm saddened by their closure. I would very much like to see a sequel to AOM or AOE4 but that looks more like a pipe dream than a reality now that ES has officially closed.

 

From the Age of Empires III Collector's Edition:

:'(

 

Aw man I didn't know they had planned to make 5 games already. That makes this even worse.



O-D-C on 30 January 2009

good luck to the Ensemble team!



Vetteman94 on 30 January 2009

MS at it again, they crushed my dreams of a MechWarrior 5 or a MechCommander 3 when they closed FASA studios. And now this



fkusumot on 30 January 2009

Such a shame. I really enjoyed their games. Will be missed.


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