http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/54648

Shacknews has learned via multiple independent reports that developer Ensemble Studios (Age of Empires) will shut down operation following the release of its upcoming title Halo Wars.According to our sources, employees not associated with Halo Wars have been laid off today. Those attached to Halo Wars have been offered incentives to stay on the project until completion.

Halo Wars, an RTS based on the Halo franchise, was announced in September of 2006. The Xbox 360 title is currently slated for release sometime in the first half of 2009.

Ensemble Studios was founded in 1995. The Microsoft-owned company is best known for the Age of Empires series of RTS games.

Shacknews has contacted both Microsoft and Ensemble for comment, but has not yet received a reply.

Why would they shut down? It certainly isn't lack of funding.

Wait? They release profitable game after profitable game and they are shutting down??!?!?!

Wow, Microsoft is having bad luck with their First Party devs. First FASA, then Bungie, now Ensamble?

Lets see if its true it makes no sense if it is

if this is true then halo wars is costing them a whole bunch and they know its going to bomb OR they are just having internal issues and want to break from microsoft and make a new company kinda like bungie OR more internal issues and only some of them want to leave so instead of getting new people they just dissolve the company

This would be terrible news for the RTS genre.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO


NOT ENSEMBLE , TAKE EVERY OTHER FIRST PARTY DEV BUT NOT THEM.

"goes to look at age of empires on the start menu and cries bitterly".

MS may be shutting down all 1st party development. To my knowledge, their 1st party game development has never been stellar, in the profits dept. -- they may very well view their role as 2nd-party publisher and hardware manufacturer as being more worthwhile, and axing their 1st party dev studios would be the end result of this decision.

Next to go: Rare, after BK release.

Hopefully not true. Microsoft needs more 1st parties.