Ensemble Studios was an American video game developer. It was founded by Tony Goodman 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 corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

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 Video game genre, subgenre of strategy video games that does not progress incrementally in turn-based game, turns, but allow all players to play simultaneously, in "real time." By contrast, in Turn-based strategy, tur ...

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 title in the series, ''Age of Empires'', focused on events in Europe, Afri ...

'' game series, '' Age of Mythology'', and '' Halo Wars''. In addition to game development, Ensemble Studios also made the Genie Game Engine used in ''

'', '' 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 ''

'' game series of

titles, comprising ''

'', '' Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings'' and '' Age of Empires III''. They also released '' Age of Mythology'', 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, collectible card game or Miniature wargaming, miniature wargame. An expansion may introduce new rules ...

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 Rick Goodman is a video game designer and the founder and owner of the now-defunct Stainless Steel Studios. He is best known for the real-time strategy (RTS) games he designed, such as Age of Empires and Empire Earth. Career In 1995 Goodman co ...

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, 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. 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 were laid off and remaining staff were 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 at the time that at least two new studios were being formed by ES employees. In February 2009, former Ensemble Studios head Tony Goodman started a new independent studio, Robot Entertainment, 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 The iPhone is a line of smartphones developed and marketed by Apple that run iOS, the company's own mobile operating system. The first-generation iPhone was announced by then–Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs on January 9, 2007, at ...

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, 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.

Technology

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 game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controlle ...

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