So, Why Did Ensemble Studios Close Up?

Bruce Shelley is an industry legend. Helped Sid Meier make Civilization, created Age of Empires, then joined Ensemble. Now, though, Ensemble are gone. And Shelley is trying to explain why that happened.

Taking the stage at this year’s DICE get-together in Vegas, Shelley’s address was devoted to pondering aloud how a studio that had only ever made highly-acclaimed games would be shut down. And while he doesn’t settle on a single, over-arching thing that can be blamed, he does a good job of being honest and highlighting the flaws – both internally at at former owners Microsoft – that, combined, led to the studio’s demise.