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Ensemble Studio's getting closed down :(

Ensemble Studio's last game sold over 2 million copies and was their fastest selling game.

This is clearly an anti-PC gaming move by MS, no matter how they try to spin it. They had them making an Xbox game, and then announce they are closing the studio before the game is even out, before they can even see if it's a success? MS is trying to kill PC gaming to get more people on the Xbox.
 
Well, it says the studio is closing down, but they are going to try and place the employees elsewhere in the game studios.
Honestly to me it's nothing to care about, but then I haven't thought much of any Ensemble games beyond AoE2.

It's not like they're all being made jobless though, MS are still going to be employing as many guys as they can it seems.
 
I don't give a damn about Halo Wars, each Halo title has steadily gotten worse, and they started out pretty craptacular. I enjoyed AOE1, 2, and 3 though. With Ensemble closing though, I have doubts about any potential AOE4 in the franchise.
 
Originally posted by: Lonyo
Well, it says the studio is closing down, but they are going to try and place the employees elsewhere in the game studios.
Honestly to me it's nothing to care about, but then I haven't thought much of any Ensemble games beyond AoE2.

It's not like they're all being made jobless though, MS are still going to be employing as many guys as they can it seems.
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Every company that is shut down by a publisher claims they will help the former employees find work. It is all crap , it is just MS trying to save face.

Development requires teams and often those teams over many games get to know how each person works and together that is what makes the games great. When you break that up you can't just pick apart the team and toss them wherever you have a free spot.

It is the sad trend in development now , where it is no longer about the quality of a title, but quantity.
Unfortunately developing games doesn't work like other jobs where a resume gets you a job. It is still very much a who you know type career.

The same thing killing companies in other markets is killing it for developers.
Too many suits without a damn clue on what they are making decisions about.


This morning, we reported that Microsoft has emphasized its commitment to PC gaming despite its announcement that it would be closing Age of Empires creator Ensemble Studios.

Shane Kim, Microsoft VP of interactive entertainment, echoed the sentiment and went on to assure worried gamers about the future of the multi-million-selling Age of Empires strategy series. "Microsoft continues to own Age of Empires." Kim explained to Edge. "We're still super excited for the potential for the franchise. The Windows gaming world continues to evolve, and we believe in the future of that property."

Kim also elaborated on the new company that is to be created from the remains of Ensemble. The new studio will be independent and founded by the heads of Ensemble, but Kim promises "we will have an ongoing relationship with that new company" including post-release support for Ensemble's final project, Halo Wars.

Should a new Age of Empires game be on the way, it is unknown what development studio will undertake the effort.
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Translation:
We wanted to take the game a direction that the original team wasn't comfortable with, so we gave them all their walking papers , except for the execs, and now we will make the game the way WE want.
 
Sigh, AoE is my favorite RTS series. I really liked it's emphasis on the economy and it's sad to see modern RTS's moving farther and father away from that style of gameplay.

Microsoft makes dozens of press releases championing the PC Gaming Alliance and then shutters all of it's PC gaming devs 🙁.
 
Originally posted by: CottonRabbit

Microsoft makes dozens of press releases championing the PC Gaming Alliance and then shutters all of it's PC gaming devs 🙁.
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Aye, its sad. PC gaming detracts from their 360 sales though, so they need to bolster those. 🙁
 
This is really too bad, AOE3 is one of my favorite games of all time.

I was holding out for an AOE4 but I guess that will never happen now and if it does it's still a long long ways off.
 
Originally posted by: Bateluer
Originally posted by: CottonRabbit

Microsoft makes dozens of press releases championing the PC Gaming Alliance and then shutters all of it's PC gaming devs 🙁.
Click to expand...

Aye, its sad. PC gaming detracts from their 360 sales though, so they need to bolster those. 🙁
Click to expand...

They haven't been a PC dev studio for a couple of years really, since they started Halo Wars.
Sucks that MS are either killing off PC devs or changing them to console (see Bungie too).
 
Originally posted by: Bateluer
Aye, its sad. PC gaming detracts from their 360 sales though, so they need to bolster those. 🙁
Click to expand...

Shame the investors put up with Microsoft's little games (pun intended). Shut down a historically (I assume) successful development studios to transfer resources into a non-core business asset that has cost them billions in red. How much cash has their Xbox 1 and 360 sidetrack cost them so far, not to mention man hours and other company resources?
 
Originally posted by: Modelworks

Development requires teams and often those teams over many games get to know how each person works and together that is what makes the games great. When you break that up you can't just pick apart the team and toss them wherever you have a free spot.
Click to expand...

True that. Made me think of Microprose and how their teams produced some of my most memorable games and after their buy outs and team falling apart there has not been such spectacular games from those team members working separately, with few minor exceptions
 
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