I completely lost all interest for this game with the Ensemble studio closing.  If the game was even decent they would have kept the studio open until the game was at the very least finished.

The fact they closed the game down tells me two things:

1. The game was so bad that Microsoft didn't want to waste any more money on it but knew that since it was so close to completion they might as well finish it since it does have the Halo name and it will sell. 
   
2. Ensemble employees that weren't outright fired were given incentives to stay at the studio and finish the game.  I know people there and the incentives weren't good and they weren't even likely to get those even if they did stay.  Most people went ahead and just started looking for new jobs elsewhere.  This means the game got stopped in probably an alpha state with a few people desperately trying to clean up all the bugs.

So yeah, this game instantly went from probably to buy to couldn't care less.

 

Internal re-organizations and reductions in force (RIFs) are never pleasant experiences, for any involved.

I wouldn't generally expect anyone who went through one to be pleased about it. Heck I've survived 3 rifs and one merger at my current company and it isn't any easier the 2nd or 3rd time. That being said, Ensemble was a talented studio, and the covenant - human war seems to lend itself perfectly to their strength. I haven't given up hope on this yet!

@ twesterm

I can't agree.

1. The E3 2007 Demo looked very good
and
2. We're talking about Ensemble studios. Those guys know exactly how to make damn good RTS games

Barozi said: @ twesterm I can't agree. 1. The E3 2007 Demo looked very good and 2. We're talking about Ensemble studios. Those guys know exactly how to make damn good RTS games

 

1. If it was good, why would they shut the studio down before finishing the product?  There have even been many focus testers that have said it's just bad.  Also, do I need to remind you that just because a game previews well a year before released doesn't mean it's good?
2. Ensemble is a great studio, but even good studios can make bad games.

While I couldn't find a video of the 2007 walkthrough that still worked, I did read the impressions and all of them pretty much said it looked promising for how far along it was.  That means they had basic gameplay working and told them what they planned to do.  Between that point and now A LOT can change and things can go wrong. 

I'm not going to pretend to know what exactly went wrong (be it too much management, too little management, couldn't hit milestones, just turned out not to be good, ect) but whatever the case something made Microsoft say we're not spending any more money on this.  We're going to honor our contract, release what we can, and hope it sells purely on the Halo name so we can at least make *something* back.

You don't say that about a good game.

@twestern, I think I understand what you are trying to say here, but Ensemble has not been shut down, YET.

They WILL be shutdown, at the completion of Halo Wars, but they are not in effect "...not spending any more money on this.". (here's a link: http://www.ensemblestudios.com/blogs/bshelley/archive/2008/09/22/ensemble-studios-closing.aspx). That may not help your misgivings any, but just thought I'd throw it out there.

TRios_Zen said: @twestern, I think I understand what you are trying to say here, but Ensemble has not been shut down, YET. They WILL be shutdown, at the completion of Halo Wars, but they are not in effect "...not spending any more money on this.". (here's a link: http://www.ensemblestudios.com/blogs/bshelley/archive/2008/09/22/ensemble-studios-closing.aspx). That may not help your misgivings any, but just thought I'd throw it out there.

 

They aren't technically shut down, but really, they more or less are.  They fired all but the essential personal (and the mass firings included most of the Halo Wars team).  Those people they let stick around were given incentives to stay, but most of them aren't bothering and are looking for jobs.  So yeah, they're pretty much closed.

twesterm said: TRios_Zen said: @twestern, I think I understand what you are trying to say here, but Ensemble has not been shut down, YET. They WILL be shutdown, at the completion of Halo Wars, but they are not in effect "...not spending any more money on this.". (here's a link: http://www.ensemblestudios.com/blogs/bshelley/archive/2008/09/22/ensemble-studios-closing.aspx). That may not help your misgivings any, but just thought I'd throw it out there.   They aren't technically shut down, but really, they more or less are.  They fired all but the essential personal (and the mass firings included most of the Halo Wars team).  Those people they let stick around were given incentives to stay, but most of them aren't bothering and are looking for jobs.  So yeah, they're pretty much closed.

halo wars team has not been fired
from the website:"Halo Wars All Hands: In August we shut down work on everything non-Halo Wars related and now the entire studio is focused on finishing this game by the end of this year. Everyone in the studio has a job until Halo Wars is finished. There have been no layoffs and none are expected. We have received fantastic feedback on the game at a variety of game shows and events, and want to deliver on the promises we have made as our last hurrah. We want a great Halo Wars game to be the final tribute to everything that ES has come to mean to us and perhaps you as well, over the past 13 years."

matt247 said: twesterm said: TRios_Zen said: @twestern, I think I understand what you are trying to say here, but Ensemble has not been shut down, YET. They WILL be shutdown, at the completion of Halo Wars, but they are not in effect "...not spending any more money on this.". (here's a link: http://www.ensemblestudios.com/blogs/bshelley/archive/2008/09/22/ensemble-studios-closing.aspx). That may not help your misgivings any, but just thought I'd throw it out there.   They aren't technically shut down, but really, they more or less are.  They fired all but the essential personal (and the mass firings included most of the Halo Wars team).  Those people they let stick around were given incentives to stay, but most of them aren't bothering and are looking for jobs.  So yeah, they're pretty much closed.   halo wars team has not been fired from the website:"Halo Wars All Hands: In August we shut down work on everything non-Halo Wars related and now the entire studio is focused on finishing this game by the end of this year. Everyone in the studio has a job until Halo Wars is finished. There have been no layoffs and none are expected. We have received fantastic feedback on the game at a variety of game shows and events, and want to deliver on the promises we have made as our last hurrah. We want a great Halo Wars game to be the final tribute to everything that ES has come to mean to us and perhaps you as well, over the past 13 years."

 

You're right, the people I know that were working on that game are only pretending to be out of a job.

Given the fact that I do not know twestern or anyone at Ensemble, all information that I hear can be taken with a grain of salt. I will wait for a demo to see for myself.