Ensemble lets slip a few more details about the studio's end.
Microsoft’s closure of stalwart real-time strategy developer Ensemble Studios had a lot of people scratching their heads. After the massive, ongoing success of the Age of Empires series, Ensemble seemed the last great bastion of PC development within Microsoft. Of course, this was most likely the problem, as Microsoft’s investment increasingly focuses on its console platform at the expense of the PC.
This is, of course, ignoring that Ensemble is spending its time on studio death row, polishing its Halo Wars RTS for the Xbox 360. By all accounts, this game draws upon the intimidating level of RTS experience that Ensemble has to deliver a well rounded console RTS experience.
While we will get a chance to see for ourselves if Halo Wars works, the Ensemble game that lives on only in screenshots is its canned Halo MMO. These very WoW-like screens appeared on the portfolio of one of Ensemble’s recently unemployed artists, and very little clarification has been made about what happened.
Shacknews has a few more details in a short interview with Dave Pottinger, director of technology at Ensemble Studios. The real bombshell is that the MMO was further into development than previously thought. In fact, it had been green-lighted and staffed with 40 people when a management change at Microsoft led to the project being canned.
Even more interesting in general terms is that despite being given only six months to exist, only three people have left Ensemble. One thing that struck me many years ago when I had the chance to talk with Ensemble founder Bruce Shelley was that he really downplayed his role and was vocal about the games being a team effort. It’s good to see that this philosophy of teamwork has kept the studio together. It bodes well for the new studio forming out of the majority of the Ensemble employee base.
Supporting our habits:
Fresh confabulation