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

kitler53 on 30 January 2009
--OkeyDokey-- said:
Aren't they developing Halo Wars? I guess it's finished then...

all it takes is one flop in todays market and you're finished. . . . hey, wait a minute.



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disolitude on 30 January 2009
axumblade said:
disolitude said:
I dont get it.

Someone still owns the Age of Empires IP...and if its successful and great as you all say it is, then it will be made again.

It may be a different company/people but realisticly speaking, howmany of the same people do you think worked on these games since the studio was created?

Key poeple could have left and the studio could have lost its focus...you never shut down a studio that is profitable and is able to deliver great games.

Even Microsoft knows this...

How many great games have been bought by another studio that have made terrible transitions?

I can think of Crash Bandicoot and Spyro for starters. Then throw in whatever EA has unleashed sacrilege on recently.

 

This is true mostly for the games that are the "cash in" type of games. Like I don't think there is a single developer out there that wants to make Spyro or crash games...other than Nintendo, they love that family stuff. But games will pull in major coin so companies get hired to make them without any passion...

But like take a look at Resident Evil 5, Street fighter 4...these are completely different people/teams developing than before and seems the results are fantastic.

 



bardicverse on 30 January 2009
NJ5 said:
bardicverse said:
This is why I will never let another company buy out or even get involved in my studio. I'd rather stay small and humble and keep in the black and operating than have someone else dictate our studio's functions.

I imagine many people say that, but when they see the suitcases stuffed with cash, only a few resist.

 

 

True,  good thing that I f**king hate money then. =) Seriously, getting a big company involved in your studio's operations is like inviting members of NAMBLA over to your son's birthday party. My studio is my baby, true to life - the first few years as a new parent are a struggle, and we're getting to the point of seeing it learning to crawl. Soon, it will take its first official steps.



Onyxmeth on 30 January 2009
Darc Requiem said:
I never got the logic behind MS shutting down Ensemble either. If anything Rare would have been my choice to for shut down if they had to close a studio down.

Rare is behind the avatar system. That probably has a lot to do with them staying open.

 



Tag: Became a freaking mod and a complete douche, coincidentally, at the same time.



Words Of Wisdom 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

R.I.P. FASA.  I'll forever be glad for the the fun the Mechwarrior franchise gave me with its many titles.


As for the stuff about Microsoft owning Bioware.  W. T. F.

Seriously, Bioware was independent until it was merged with Pandemic and sold out to a holding company called Elevation Partners.  Then EP sold Bioware/Pandemic to EA for 0.86 million USD.



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NinjaKido on 30 January 2009

The Closure of ensemble is a joke it pisses me off knowing that i'll probably never see Age Of Empires 2 in 3D , of all the studios MS had WHY THE HELL DID THEY CHOOSE ENSEMBLE .... WHY !!!.



Xen on 30 January 2009

R.I.P.

Eternal thanks for Age of Empires II !



Gilgamesh on 30 January 2009

What!? no more Age of Empire! whos going to be next anyway, this is just ridiculous.



non-gravity on 30 January 2009

Is there anyone on this forum with a lot of money who could buy Ensemble Studios?

Please?



Avalach21 on 30 January 2009
makingmusic476 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...

 

Have you seriously never heard of Age of Empires?  The best friggin' RTS series out there?

Only the Battle for Middle-earth II and Supreme Commander touch the masterpieces that Ensemble has made (in my opinion - games like Company of Heroes are up there as well).

 

I don't care how far along this thread has come from here.  I hope someone has put you in your place before me, and if not, how dare you not mention Blizzard (Warcraft 2, Warcraft 3,  STARCRAFT?) or Command and Conquer (pre EA).  Age of Empires series is definitely quality, but it's far from the best.



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