Ensemble: "Microsoft made a mistake"

Ensemble Studios' Graeme Devine has stated that he believes Microsoft has made a mistake in shutting down the studios.

Talking to D+PAD last week, Devine stated:

"I've been working on Halo Wars for over 4 years, so I'm not about to walk away from a game I've spent four years of my life with. It'd be very easy for us to just mail it in and finish a game and sell that but we are not really in it for that. It's our proud shout to Microsoft, and the reason why their mistake is obvious."

[ultimolu]

Well, wouldn't be the first mistake they've made...

[slak]

I liked Ensemble .....MS fu*k up again and thats to bad

[ultimolu]

Yeah, Ensemble sounds like a very impressive studio to me.

[ChrisGTR1]

ensemble was/is an amazing studio but i think ultimately they closed it down do to pc piracy and sales slowing down in general. i loved all 3 age of empires though, and mythology.

[Charmers]

I was wondering could I have some of what you are smoking ChrisGTR1 because piracy had absolutely nothing to do with ensemble's closure. It is a matter of record that MS is culling costs and developers to try and make as much profit as possible out the xbox 360 and to help pay for the price reduction they just did on their console. So if you want to blame a system then blame the xbox 360.

[StephanieBBB]

Ditch/revamp anything Halo related in Halo wars and rename it "Total wars" or something, and then release it as a multiplatform RTS title for PS3, 360 and PSP.

That should stur things up.

[The Matrix]

Ensemble was a great developer. I grew up playing Age of Mythology and Age of Empires. I hope they can become a separate company and continue to make great games despite a retard move by Microsoft.

[Bodhi]

ultimolu... Was it necessary to say it? I've seen you say Sony has made mistakes too but it's not necessary to put have first post of the article to downplay MS.

Maybe it was maybe it wasn't, looked a bit fanboyish being the first comment.

[Viper7]

I am with ensemble with this one, thats one studio they should not have shut down.

For ages I have thinked that Age of empires series (and why not age of mythology) have been bright diamonds within the big pile of "microsoft"
Now they are suddenly ripping off the diamonds and giving this **** as thanks for the best game studio they have, I mean wth?

Even tough I am somewhat MS hater (for variety of reasons not really related to consoles) I did hope that they would let Ensemble to keep up the AOE franchise, which is basically still one of the best lan games ever made.
Not to mention one of the best realtime "realistic" strategy games.

When I heard they where working for halo wars I was slightly disapointed but still hoped them success.

[whoelse]

They couldn't have cut the price without closing down these studios.

[gaffyh]

What if these guys go Wii/PS3 exclusive because of this? That'd be very bad for MS, but I doubt it

[xenogamer]

lets get a awesome established franchise, and make a stupid ass RTS out of it just because... yeah lets do that yea... idiots

[ultimolu]

Bodhi, Sony does make mistakes. All companies do but what matters is what you do to correct those mistakes and making sure they never happen again.

Why drag Sony into this when it wasn't about Sony?

[GWAVE]

Microsoft makes plenty of mistakes. Their mistakes are even more evident when their biggest supporters (Bizarre Creations, Ensemble, Bungie, etc) don't even support them. It's hard for me to put faith in a company that not only is unable to fix its own hardware problems, but is also unable to manage even a handful of 1st-party developers.

(and lolololol flamebait! flamebait! Sony makes mistakes too. But we're not talking about Sony here, are we?)

[ultimolu]

You just know someone's gonna mention it. o_o

[Tony600]

They are unable to manage their own studios,how poor is that?How can you build faith in such companies like microsoft?Sad,sad,sad!Sony knows how to manage their first-party studios,thats why I love sony!

[PoSTedUP]

i still cant believe their will be no AoE4, i was really looking froward to that game man. and EA shutting down eaBIG, no more SSXTrickey?!?!? wtf is this world coming to?!?! f*** MS and F*** EA (but i still have faith in ea) just very disappointed.... (-_-)

[Itrguy001]

yeah SSX was never good after Tricky.

[mrdxpr2]

MS needs too get in check cause they are loosing alot of talent that if not treated well they are gona leave them and go somewhere else..That team has been working on HALO wars for 4 years and MS does that to them wow thats F up yo ...

[The Lazy One]

firefly :(

[aggh im on fire]

does suck but if there opening a new studio with a lot of the same people then why doesn't the guy just go there if its just a change of name. Suppose he has his reasons.

[mintaro]

He has the right attitude, make one hell of a game and show Microsoft they were wrong.

[Socomer 1979]

When you have a drastic pricecut, you gotta do what you gotta do. Lets not forget the $50 million for gta 4 dlc thats no where to be seen. The strong advertising. The exlcusive dlc deals made with bethestha. Those square enix rpgs. netflix. Fighting tooth & nail to take attention away from ps3 with heavy media support.

im surprised they arent raising the price of xboxlive yet, so be thankful Ensemble got the boot instead of charging you 1 more microsoft point.

[Jdoki]

You make a good point, similar to one I have been making for a while...

The 50million MS wasted on GTAIV DLC could have been used to finance a few existing developers or even start up a couple of new ones.

When Epic launched the original Gears they claimed it cost 10million to make. If that's true then MS could have had 5 new IP, or invested in some great titles.

Instead we get MS closing studios and a cutting 1st party developers loose.

GG MS...

[anubis12]

i am pretty sure them amount of copies they sell they dont mind at all they thank Microsoft...unlike sony and there first party titles that dont sell...sad....

[GWAVE]

What's sad is that high sales seem to be more important to you than a high amount of quality titles. THAT is sad!

[heyheyhey]

Sony have made more million sellers than Microsoft ever will... simply because MS's first party is WEAK!!! and no-one buys Rare games any more

[gamfreak]

Sad thing is M$ always makes mistakes

[Gue1]

OMG so owned! lol

[GWAVE]

I think the difference between this situation with Halo Wars and Ensemble is much different than the other studio closures we've been seeing. It's not like Ensemble was on hard times, nor was their quality faltering, nor were they lacking any strong IPs. They're a great studio. It's especially odd that they're working on one of the 360's most-hyped game of 2009 that has been in development for four years, and yet they get the axe. Either Microsoft's game branch isn't doing as well as everyone thinks, or Microsoft is a big bag of tools to cut this studio on the eve of one of their biggest titles.

It's odd how these stories are never taken too seriously. Bungie, Bizarre Creations, Bioware, and now Ensemble? Am I the only one who sees the writing on the wall here? This would be like Sony closing down Insomniac six months before Resistance 3 or closing Santa Monica Studios six months before God of War 3...

[anubis12]

the amount of copies they will sell it doesn't even matter...they always sell AMAZING thanks to Microsoft

[Lucreto]

I was thinking of getting a 360 with the new low price but they announced they were closing Ensemble the only MS studio I respect so I refuse to even consider getting a 360.

MS seems to be taking one step forward and two steps back as far as I am concerned.

[etownone]

hahahaha.... yeah ok!

You do know the game Halo Wars made by Ensemble Studios is still coming, right KID? and even if they didn't close it down, ES probably wouldn't be able to push out another game for the 360 for like another 3-4 with their track record.

so you fail, but nice try KID!

[Lucreto]

I never like Halo but an RTS I might like it. If its like AOE it will have the necessary back story for someone new to the series.

I will be getting the PC version if they don't release one they have lost a sale.

[Itrguy001]

I was gonna get Halo wars but i found out that MS and Ensemble didn't have a PC version so it will be a TRUE EXCLUSIVE that will only come out on the 360 and not a "EXCLUSIVE" that is on both the PC and 360

[etownone]

Ensemble studios were good developers, no doubt, but that could have been the right thing to do financially if the studio wasn't producing as it should.

i still can't believe they let Bungie go... what kind of crack were they smoking that day that made them make such a huge mistake!

[likedamaster]

That was Bungies decision, Microsoft just "let them have independance". On another note...Ensemble is still great. Remember when "key" members/developers of Rare went over to develop for PS3 and the garbage they put out? Haze anyone?

[DJ]

Just like every other game developed by Ensemble Studios, ends up selling millions of copies. Microsoft is essentially killing itself on purpose, and it's so sad to watch. I wonder if Lionhead is next on the chopping block...

[tk]

MS is most probably most affected by downturn - so they are part of cost cutting, hoping that third parties will carry them?

[Mike134nl]

At least they they will be opening a new studio. Though not sure what the idea is behind closing a alreday well established studio for a new one. Hope it will be a bigger better one ofcourse

[Bladestar]

I guaranteed you one thing... every anti-Microsoft person here (i.e DJ) is always bashing Microsoft and saying that Microsoft are the biggest blood sucking diseased that's only interested in making money and does not care about anything else...

well, if Ensemble is a cash cow that is growing money on trees for Microsoft... why would they shut it down in favor on allocating resources to start another studio or doing something else with that money?

I always see Sony fans talk about how the game this and the game that... and completely forget that a company can't bleed money for ever and if a studio or division is NOT generating revenues efficiently something needs to be done before it starts hurting the company in general.

Why do you think Microsoft does not dismantle the Windows, SQL Server, exchange development teams?

One thing is certain about microsoft; they never shut down profitable revenue streams (remember they only care about money).

And no... Microsoft wouldn't shut down Ensemble because of a 360 price drop... if Ensemble would be making more money than Microsoft was spending to keep it running or even break even, keeping it running would of help microsoft make more money for the price drop.. duhh...

The problem is Ensemble was a PC focused development team, focused only on PC and not the xbox 360... Who knows how much of the team microsoft was able to use to work on Halo wars, how effective they were? Wherever it is.. it was obvious that Ensemble was formed before microsoft got involved in the console industry... so, probably it was easier for microsoft to make another studio than to try to convert Ensemble into a hybrid team that works on PC and xbox 360... specially now that Microsoft is a Console maker and it's focus is very different than what it was when Ensemble was formed.

[The Lazy One]

M$ doesn't need that many first party studios when they can just pay money or publish third party developers for exclusivity. They made a platform that's easy enough to develop for that they don't need as many interior studios to develop for their systems.

In the case of sony, they need those first and second party developers to actually do the research and make the new technology, because major multi-platform developers won't put major RnD into developing for a single platform.

[elorm9]

MS did make Xbox development similar to PC software development. Therefore, it shouldn't be too hard for them to adjust to that platform.

[supremacy]

well first of all the 360 was design with a very similar architecture to the pc in mind, Hench valve even stated this several times themselves so for this studio who by the way has already been working on the 360 for 4 years on halo wars should be along time experience anyways.

the other thing is SOE Sony online entertainment is a pc focused company and even they are working on the ps3 which uses a very different architecture than those of standard pc's and you want to sit there and give me that lame excuse?

also ms had to drop the price of the 360 in order to keep their momentum going forward i mean they were losing that in 08 to both its competitors so a drastic move had to be made, so cutting all these studios just fitted the bill.

besides what i also don't get is why in the world would a company like Microsoft a very rich powerful yet super profitable company like this one, show signs of fatigue by selling their studios?

doesn't make much sense, but what i truly believe is that Microsoft doesn't really care about the gaming world at all, all they really want is what you have been stating all this time. money. all while slowly and profitably working on that other thing that is monopoly.most of 360's exclusives are pc but they all have to use windows live? see where im going with this? say one day they decided to wait for a cheesy company like ea to buy enough 3rd parties to consume them with peter moore on board as well? than the industry would just have to do what they plead and everyone, including you and i will bleed greens on everything, little insignificant content would cost you loads, stuff that should be free wont be free? eventually competition will die and with it innovation? and thus the purpose of gaming.

look ms just wants to squeeze the life out of everything that innovates and doesn't generally necessarily bring in dough, linux? they actually have tried to buy the rights several times, wikipedia? same scenario and it goes on and on yahoo? lol you can go and on. not to say Sony is a saint either, because they are not trust me on that but ms is just out there with these kinds of practices..and...

not to brag but...

this is m$ for you and this is how m$ works, i mean if you are ms and you make over 3 million some change annually on windows and even more money in office why cant you keep these small gaming studios afloat?

look Sony is smaller than Microsoft in the financial side of things and they seem to be serious about their gaming studios and properties, instead of having these studios working on a new shape of something old than simply dumping them, they rather invest their money and resources in these studios with the new on the new in mind.

there is a reason why a company like level 5 doesn't like Microsoft these days, sure ms can advertise and spam peoples views on things. but they cant buy respect from these companies. what they did to bungie at that e3 is going to hunt them eventually.

better idea for ms to do going forward is to buy the properties instead of the companies if this is how they plan on working.

im not even a fan of bungie but you know how much that would suck if Sony one day decided to consume them whole? and they like their new home? i would totally laugh at you for even defending the wrong man. seriously.

[pshizle]

well it should have not taken them that long first of all...and it better be a godly game then...microsoft was maybe losing money off of this studio and thats why they had to shut it down

maybe halo wars is not that good of a game...we will see

[comm13]

Yes, because it is soooo easy to make an RTS work on a console.

ES makes QUALITY titles, MS prefers cheap and efficiency development with low quality but high marketing generating high sales.

[Itrguy001]

ARE U FCKING KIDDING ME?????????
ENSEMBLE was RAKING in A LOT OF MONEY for MS with all the Age of Mythology and the expansions and then Ensemble came out with another RTS Age of Empire and those expansions and i bought all of the fcking expansions to AoE. I do not fckin see why MS needs to close Ensemble they are a fcking good studio

[lelik]

this dude seems very much alright, i hope sony picks him up because i like his attitude and microsoft is retarded for shutting a studio like ensemble down. f$ck em. as much as i hate xbox i hope the game is good.

[elorm9]

From what I know, Sony is more friendly about these kinds of things. That's why they have 2nd party devs like Insomniac. Sony doesn't pressure them to make the game a certain way, they just give them the tools and watch them at work.

It's possible that such a thing could happen, but Sony may not purchase Ensemble. I think ES would have to come to Sony instead.

[blackbeld]

@anubis sad thing is.. you still licking microsoft balls after all those years. Paying for Life and no service support.

[Magic_The_Celt]

dont they always

[Ko_Uraki]

But MS is creating a new internal "Halo Team" for every game involving the Halo Franchise. I'm not happy for the fate of Esemble, but this isn't a good period to spend money in studios able to do only 1-2 games in 7 years.

[Viper7]

There are teams with smaller ammount of ppl working than for bungee example. You cant make epic game in a year if you only got handfull of ppl.

Those of you trying to down Ensemple because of their PC background, seem not to realize that they have been making the console game for 4 years now. What can they do if its not as important game for microsoft as gears of Halo3.

as far as I know AOE games have sold quite well in the past, I dont know how well did AOE3 do, but it sure is a good game.

[Socomer 1979]

Sony kind of did the samething with cancellations of supposed works in progress.
1 thing that is for sure is that its all about money.
money that you & I shouldn't be counting.
were like drug addicts counting the dealers profits. Somebody is gonna get shot.

[supremacy]

what studios have Sony closed? i mean Sony may have canceled a few projects yeah but the people and the studios are still standing and working full hours on other things, supporting the other studios as well.

8 days and getaway 3 got canned? guess what now those same studios are working on things like home and the eyepet. Sony didn't wait for them to finish a certain project and than just dish em, thats different my friend. Sony's thing is investing in these studios with the new on the new in mind, you dig?

but you are right on the other stuff, it is mostly about money no doubt about it my friend.

[andron666]

MS truly know how to inspire and make people do their utmost.

OR maybe they just care about "The Money". You decide...

[gololo]

i will support Ensemble....I hope they go out with a BIG BANG...Ensemble is one of the greatest studios for RTS games (Long Live AOE and AOK)

[PS360PCROCKS]

Aw. Poor guy, I feel bad for him. It honestly makes no sense to have such a talented group of artists and your shutting them down. Even though I am not personally interested in Halo Wars, I loved Age of Empires.

[Citizen Cook]

... Huh?

Where's home?

...

Hello?

...

Home?

...

Are you there?

...

Wasn't you supposed to have been released 2 years ago?

...

Still in beta?

...

This generation will be over before you ship!

... Yes, i know...

[souljah]

microsoft will never give a damn sh33t about you . they are goin always for the money . i just can`t understand why u always defend this sh33t h0le . peace out

[krakdol]

Microsoft made multiple mistakes actually :
- Zune (ah ah ah)
- Yahoo bid
- Vista
- Xbox 1
- Windows Millenium
- RROD
- Xbox Live downtime (you pay for something with less uptime than the PSN which is a similar free service)

Closing studios is only another mistake... unless they plan giving up on gaming. They already have very few studios compared to Sony which hurts them a lot in games (only 1 AAA this year, Gears 2, compared to 4 for the PS3), the last thing they need is closing their only studios.

It's possible they give up on gaming considering their stock is at 10-year low and they're outsold worldwide by the PS3 while costing half as much...

[Darkseider]

The hell you say! Blashpemer! Well actually Microsoft has been the king of mistakes for a long time. Starting with Microsoft BOB, to the known code in Win95 that helped induce Netscape instability and now to the more recent XBox, Zune, Windows Vista and the RRoD issue which has been exposed as something they knew about. In any case Microsoft is made of fail and has been for a very very long time. They are incapable of innovating anything and just copy. Their mantra is Embrace, Extend, Extinguish and it shows it all they do from PC software, hardware and game consoles.

[Radiodread]

Resistance Wars: Fall of Men

[IWentBrokeForGaming]

BUT I will say that it is obviously apparent that Ensemble games are bleeding every last drop of their passion for games into Halo Wars and the quality definatley shows... thus proving to me that MS f'd up!

[free2game365]

My best guess is that Microsoft is trying to cut down what it puts into gaming in the long run, or at least stop supporting PC gaming mostly. That or they could be trying to focus everything on the 360 and Ensemble isn't a name that really holds any sway with 360 gamers, not really being worth much in their "new" outlook. Doesn't make sense to me either, making PC game software is pretty profitable, much more so than console hardware. Microsoft made it's money in Software always, not hardware.