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Ensemble Studios was an American
video game developer A video game developer is a broad term for a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games. A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a large ...
. It was founded by
Tony Goodman Tony Goodman is an American video game executive and entrepreneur. He is the co-founder of Ensemble Studios and Robot Entertainment. Ensemble Corporation In 1989, Tony Allen Goodman founded Ensemble Corporation, an information technology consul ...
in 1994 and incorporated the following year. It borrowed the name of Ensemble Corporation, a consulting firm founded by Goodman in 1990. It was acquired by
Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washi ...
in 2001 and operated as an internal studio until 2009, when its development capabilities were officially disbanded. Ensemble developed many
real-time strategy Real-time strategy (RTS) is a subgenre of strategy video games that do not progress incrementally in turns, but allow all players to play simultaneously, in "real time". By contrast, in turn-based strategy (TBS) games, players take turns to p ...
games, including the ''
Age of Empires ''Age of Empires'' is a series of historical real-time strategy video games, originally developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Xbox Game Studios. The first game was '' Age of Empires'', released in 1997. Nine total games within the se ...
'' game series, ''
Age of Mythology ''Age of Mythology'' (''AoM'') is a real-time strategy video game developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft Game Studios. It was released on October 30, 2002, in North America and a week later in Europe. A spin-off from the ''A ...
'', and '' Halo Wars''. In addition to game development, Ensemble Studios also made the Genie Game Engine used in ''
Age of Empires ''Age of Empires'' is a series of historical real-time strategy video games, originally developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Xbox Game Studios. The first game was '' Age of Empires'', released in 1997. Nine total games within the se ...
'', '' Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings'', and '' Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds''. The studio sold 20 million games and was worth an estimated $500 million.


Games

Ensemble Studios developed the ''
Age of Empires ''Age of Empires'' is a series of historical real-time strategy video games, originally developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Xbox Game Studios. The first game was '' Age of Empires'', released in 1997. Nine total games within the se ...
'' game series of
real-time strategy Real-time strategy (RTS) is a subgenre of strategy video games that do not progress incrementally in turns, but allow all players to play simultaneously, in "real time". By contrast, in turn-based strategy (TBS) games, players take turns to p ...
titles, comprising ''
Age of Empires ''Age of Empires'' is a series of historical real-time strategy video games, originally developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Xbox Game Studios. The first game was '' Age of Empires'', released in 1997. Nine total games within the se ...
'', '' Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings'' and ''
Age of Empires III ''Age of Empires III'' is a real-time strategy video game developed by Microsoft Corporation's Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft Game Studios. The Mac version was ported over and developed and published by Destineer's MacSoft. The PC ve ...
''. They also released ''
Age of Mythology ''Age of Mythology'' (''AoM'') is a real-time strategy video game developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft Game Studios. It was released on October 30, 2002, in North America and a week later in Europe. A spin-off from the ''A ...
'', a spin-off from the original series.
Expansion pack An expansion pack, expansion set, supplement, or simply expansion is an addition to an existing role-playing game, tabletop game, video game or collectible card game. These add-ons usually add new game areas, weapons, objects, characters, or ...
s were also released for all their games including two for ''Age of Empires III''. Their last release was the real-time strategy game called '' Halo Wars'' for Xbox 360.


Closure and legacy

In 1998, Rick Goodman left Ensemble Studios and started a new independent studio,
Stainless Steel Studios Stainless Steel Studios (SSSI) was a video game developer, started in 1997 by Rick Goodman and Dara-Lynn Pelechatz. The company was based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and focused on the development of real-time strategy games. History Stainless ...
. In 2000, Brian Sullivan left Ensemble Studios and started a new independent studio,
Iron Lore Entertainment Iron Lore Entertainment was a video game developer that was founded in October 2000 by Brian Sullivan and Paul Chieffo. In late June 2006, the company released ''Titan Quest'', an action role-playing video game for publisher THQ. ''Titan Quest'' ...
, to develop the action role-playing game '' Titan Quest''. In 2001, Microsoft acquired Ensemble Studios for $100 million. Ensemble remained at their original location in a high rise office in Dallas, Texas, until April 2008 when Microsoft moved them to the Shops at Legacy in Plano, the same location as
GearBox Software Gearbox Software is an American video game development company based in Frisco, Texas. It was established as a limited liability company in February 1999 by five developers formerly of Rebel Boat Rocker. Randy Pitchford, one of the founders, s ...
. Their office was 50,000 square feet and designed to house 120 employees. In 2008, Ensemble announced that it would close after the release of '' Halo Wars'' in 2009. According to multiple independent reports, all non-essential staff have been laid off and remaining staff have been given incentives to remain until the completion of the project. Microsoft issued an internal statement on September 10, 2008 which was then leaked to the public. The company shut down on January 29, 2009. It was also stated that there are at least two new studios being formed by ES employees. In February 2009, former Ensemble Studios head
Tony Goodman Tony Goodman is an American video game executive and entrepreneur. He is the co-founder of Ensemble Studios and Robot Entertainment. Ensemble Corporation In 1989, Tony Allen Goodman founded Ensemble Corporation, an information technology consul ...
started a new independent studio,
Robot Entertainment Robot Entertainment is an American video game development and publishing company created by the founders of the defunct Ensemble Studios, after being shut down by Microsoft. Other members of the company founded another studio, Bonfire Studios. ...
, and a number of the existing employees have been offered a position in this company. Following the announcement of Robot Entertainment, former Ensemble Studios producer David Rippy started a new independent studio, Bonfire Studios, composed entirely of former Ensemble staff members. Bonfire was later renamed Zynga Dallas through its acquisition by Zynga and released only one game as an independent company. In 2008, a third studio called Newtoy, Inc. was created by several developers from Ensemble, which released ''Chess With Friends'' for the iPhone in November 2008, and ''Words With Friends'' in August 2009. Newtoy was also acquired by Zynga and renamed Zynga With Friends, a moniker off of Newtoy's successful 'with friends' series. Newtoy released two games while they were independent. In March 2009, a fourth studio, Windstorm Studios, was founded by ex-staffer Dusty Monk as a one-man company. Dusty Monk later closed this studio on March 21, 2012 and joined Robot Entertainment with his former co-workers. In June 2013, a fifth studio emerged,
Boss Fight Entertainment Boss Fight Entertainment is an American video game development company based in Allen, Texas, with a second studio based in Austin, Texas. Boss Fight was formed by former Zynga Dallas and Ensemble Studios employees in June 2013. History Boss Fi ...
, founded by previous employees of Ensemble Studios and Zynga Dallas. Boss Fight Entertainment is located in McKinney, Texas and is developing games for mobile platforms. The studio was acquired by Netflix Inc. in 2022.


References


External links


Ensemble Studios site'Ask Sandy' threads
from Age of Kings Heaven
''Ensemble Studios''
profile on
MobyGames MobyGames is a commercial website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes nearly 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms. The site is supported by banner ads and a small ...

Remember Ensemble Studios - archived Ensemble material and news
{{Authority control Former Microsoft subsidiaries Companies based in Dallas American companies established in 1994 American companies disestablished in 2009 Video game companies established in 1994 Video game companies disestablished in 2009 Defunct video game companies of the United States Video game companies based in Texas Video game development companies Defunct companies based in Texas 1994 establishments in Texas 2009 disestablishments in Texas