| Cueil said: there were other problems... things that Bungie would not allow to go on... so there is more to the story then he will tell |
agreed
Not shocked. MS would have canned a $90 million Bungie developed Halo, let alone a MMO on console.
hobbit said:
In this case it was. Ensemble had no games in the pipeline, putting in new management and laying off 10% of the work force wouldn't change that. You have to remember that the success of halo wars was uncertain and apparently nobody in charge had planed another AgeofEmpires. They could have kept them open another 6 months to see if a halo wars 2 viable but that would have been a waste of millions of dollars. |
but that raises the question why wasn't Ensemble working on anything, why wasn't AoE 4 in development etc it looks like Microsoft were planning to shut them down long before Halo Wars finished. if they started work on a $90million Halo MMO and a Halo RTS I can see why that would be more than enough work but if Microsoft decided they didn't want the MMO and were not confident in the success of Halo Wars why didn't they have them working on AoE 4 or a new IP. well other than they didn't want a PC focused studio that may or may no have been mismanaged. Then again if the management was that bad for so long why didn't Microsoft end in new managment?
@TheVoxelman on twitter
hobbit said:
In this case it was. Ensemble had no games in the pipeline, putting in new management and laying off 10% of the work force wouldn't change that. You have to remember that the success of halo wars was uncertain and apparently nobody in charge had planed another AgeofEmpires. They could have kept them open another 6 months to see if a halo wars 2 viable but that would have been a waste of millions of dollars. |
Firstly, how do you know this? A lot of development studios don't announce what they're furture projects are until they're well into production. Secondly, surely this is the fault of Microsoft? Why would they ask and fund the development of Halo Wars if they were uncertain of its success? Having a successful development studio that has released 4 profitable games selling a total of 20 million units and not giving them a future project to work on?
As far as I can tell Microsoft higher ups saw a core (but successful) PC game studio and didn't see a place for them on the more casual console market.
They shut it down when they realised that there was no point making any class except spartan
Scoobes said:
Firstly, how do you know this? A lot of development studios don't announce what they're furture projects are until they're well into production. Secondly, surely this is the fault of Microsoft? Why would they ask and fund the development of Halo Wars if they were uncertain of its success? Having a successful development studio that has released 4 profitable games selling a total of 20 million units and not giving them a future project to work on? As far as I can tell Microsoft higher ups saw a core (but successful) PC game studio and didn't see a place for them on the more casual console market. |
If they were working on stuff...where is it? M$ would still own the IP...and we've seen zippo from the defuncted Esemble....so why do you think they had alot of stuff in the pipeline?
"...You can't kill ideas with a sword, and you can't sink belief structures with a broadside. You defeat them by making them change..."
- From By Schism Rent Asunder
It was stupid to let Ensamble work on an MMO instead of having that incredible RTS talent working on the next Age of Empires.
But even more stupid to close Ensemble completely. Who knows when we'll see a new AoE again.
heruamon said:
If they were working on stuff...where is it? M$ would still own the IP...and we've seen zippo from the defuncted Esemble....so why do you think they had alot of stuff in the pipeline? |
That's not what I was saying, I was saying that Microsoft should have been the ones to direct there next project. Having a successful dev studio and not having them work/plan for a future project? especially with the number of IPs Microsoft owns. Seems a bit weird to me. And it's quite possible that they had a number of projects in the very early stages that may or may not have reached later development stage. At that early stage a lot of stuff can end up on the scrap heap.
Scoobes said:
That's not what I was saying, I was saying that Microsoft should have been the ones to direct there next project. Having a successful dev studio and not having them work/plan for a future project? especially with the number of IPs Microsoft owns. Seems a bit weird to me. And it's quite possible that they had a number of projects in the very early stages that may or may not have reached later development stage. At that early stage a lot of stuff can end up on the scrap heap. |
Perhaps, but we will never know...what we DO know is that quite alot of the former esemble employees moved over the MGS, and we do know that the new studios started up by former ensemble employees are working/support the 360. Finally, what we do know, and what is clearly evident is that M$ needs greater first party support.
"...You can't kill ideas with a sword, and you can't sink belief structures with a broadside. You defeat them by making them change..."
- From By Schism Rent Asunder
About Us |
Terms of Use |
Privacy Policy |
Advertise |
Staff |
Contact
Display As Desktop
Display As Mobile
© 2006-2026 VGChartz Ltd. All rights reserved.
