Here's to hoping everyone lands on their feet. I'd imagine there's a lot of studios in TX that are more than willing to be the cushion they fall on to.
Was going to post this earlier, but wanted to make sure to not let it out until Ensemble was ready to send out the information. But it is seriously sad new's that Ensemble Studios ( Age of Empire creators ) will be closing it's doors after they finish with there next title, Halo War's. I had the privilage to work amongst the talent there and hope the best for those and thier families on whatever they do next. I suggest that any company hiring takes a hard long look for any Ensemble portfolio that crosses there doors, and hire them.
This is unfortunate news since this industry seriously needs outfits like Ensemble. That said I'm sure a number of those guys will find work, hell some of the many talented Ensemble artists tend to dominate the local CG competitions! Once again I want to extend my best wishes to everyone there, good luck.
I really hate to see this. Ensemble was a great studio to work for. Vigil is always looking for talent (particularly animators and UI artist) so please feel free to send in your portfolios!
yeah lots of talented folks there, I'd like to know the reasons too.. seems ensemble was still hiring they just put up some new hiring stuff a couple of weeks ago... O_o Good luck to all those looking I thought they just moved into a new building too!?
yeah lots of talented folks there, I'd like to know the reasons too.. seems ensemble was still hiring they just put up some new hiring stuff a couple of weeks ago... O_o Good luck to all those looking I thought they just moved into a new building too!?
The fuck? What did the heads of the company do, because last i checked that company was pumping out great games that sold well. I thought that was why they were given a IP like halo. How did they fuck shit up that quickly?
Ugh that is really shitty news, best of luck to those who lost their jobs. Really odd to see the company making Halo Wars being shut down, you'd think with a franchise project like that and the backing of Microsoft, the studio would be secure enough....and now the Halo Wars team has been given incentives to stay on the project?! Their morale must be gone completely seeing their friends let go. But you guys seem like an awesome team and I'm sure other studios will have a feeding frenzy picking up such talented folks. Damn...wow.
Never would have thought I'd see Ensemble Fall. Especially considering they're part of the MGS family
Best of luck to all of you there. I know you'll find something good.
Wow...that really sucks, their games were awesome, I hope everyone there can find something quickly...looks like that even a good studio can fall nowadays
I herd about this early on today and it was a total SHOCKER a lot of my friends were at that studio!!!! I know the talented portfolios is about to rain down on all these TX companies....:) I;m positive no one there has anything to worry about.
I also herd that they were just letting contract go so they could move to the new building. (from Hotels.com building to the shops at legacy??)
I don't want to rag on Bungie because they are a fantastic company, but I've been amazed since the first shots of Halo Wars because I thought that Ensemble made the Halo universe
just click for me in a way it didn't before.
It's shocking to me ( as always when these things keep happening) that someone else could
look at the progress that's been made and come to the exact opposite opinion.
Best of luck to all the Ensemble people, you lot really are in a class of your own and I look forward to seeing what you get up to after the dust settles.
Yikes, never saw this coming.... its one thing for a constantly underperforming and stuck-in-the-mud company to shutter, it is another for what many regarded as one of the consistently excellent studios to do it. What is the rationale for this? They are a Microsoft studio, I can't imagine they are amongst the lowest performing or earning?
My guess is they were in the same mud hole bungie was. Stuck making the same thing over and over again with RTS games and when they said something to Microsoft they got the we'll shut you down talk.
Just speculation from my warped mind but who knows. Crazier things have happened.
Not like it matters once that crazy atom smasher fires up tomorrow and creates a bunch of microscopic black holes our careers and lives wont really matter much....
But on a serious note. Shame to see shit like this happen. Hope you guys all land on your feet sooner then later.
Like JDinges said. We at Raven are always looking for talented folks. Hit us up with a PM
Thats what i love about this community. People are there to offer up potential jobs when times get rough. Bravo polycounters, madd love all around. Hope those that lost employeement find greener pastures.
Awwww man...I chatted with one of the Ensemble guys over Steam once. He sounded pretty cool. I hope everyone there gets a good position elsewhere in Microsoft Game Studios. (or at least in another game company) A lot of solid studios seem to be closing down out there recently. Sad times.
http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/54654
"After the closure, the Ensemble leadership team will form a new studio and has agreed to provide ongoing support for Halo Wars as well as work on other projects with Microsoft Game Studios.
...
This was a fiscally-rooted decision that keeps MGS on its growth path. While the decision to dissolve Ensemble was not an easy one, Microsoft is working to place as many Ensemble employees who do not move to the newly formed studio into open positions within Microsoft as possible."
Sounds like one of those "corporate restructuring" moves that get made now and again. Sucks for the stress, but at least theres the press promise of just moving as many people as possible to the new entity.
Maybe there was one guy in upper management that MS didn't like/get along with, and couldn't contractually fire, but they could close the studio and didn't have to hire him for another one. heh
I can't remember being this shocked about a studio closing. It just doesn't make sense.
I can understand that MS may be pissed because the market for a 360 RTS is small, and that's what they've been pushing on Ensemble. But, c'mon! The "Age of" games have sold a bazillion copies. Even with the traditional PC market weakening that is something that cannot be ignored. If PC RTS is good enough for Blizzard with Starcraft 2, it should be good enough for Microsoft.
Considering the level of talent that was at Ensemble, this just seems like a stupendous blunder.
UPDATE: Microsoft has now released an official statement confirming the impending closure, as follows:
"Microsoft has decided to close Ensemble Studios following the completion of Halo Wars. After the closure, the Ensemble leadership team will form a new studio and has agreed to provide ongoing support for Halo Wars as well as work on other projects with Microsoft Game Studios.
The team at Ensemble has made invaluable contributions to the games industry with their Age of Empires and Age of Mythology games and with the highly anticipated release of Halo Wars. This decision does not reflect at all on Ensemble's talent or the quality of Halo Wars. in fact, many people who have had a chance to test drive Halo Wars agree that it is on track to being a fantastic game.
This was a fiscally-rooted decision that keeps MGS on its growth path. While the decision to dissolve Ensemble was not an easy one, Microsoft is working to place as many Ensemble employees who do not move to the newly formed studio into open positions within Microsoft as possible.
As to our overall strategy at MGS, it remains the same. We are committed to growing MGS with world-class talent both internally and with our external partners around the globe. We have recently added some well-known developers to our team and will continue growing the team.
We're particularly excited about the titles we have in the pipeline and continue to evaluate additional opportunities to bring incredible games to life with the industry's best. Our investment in games has never been greater than it is today."]
Just wanted to post to clear up a few things, as it was stated that Ensemble was up in Plano already. They were building a new office that was to be in the Legacy area, but are currently in the building they have been in for years. The new office they were building, is going to be scrapped and I guess sold off ( though they were only months off from completing ) Also, from what I know, some have been let go that were not on the Halo Wars team, and those that were will stay to complete the game, so that they will recieve severance. Good to hear that at least some will create a new studio, and hopefully not fall into being bought by a publisher that has no clue to talent. I will pass on word to the people there that are not polycounters, as I am sure Monster and DH will do, as to where they can send there portfolio's.
That blows Age of empires is the only game my big brother has ever played and was addicted to. It sucks to see such a great studio close hope you guys cant land on your feet
Hmmm the Ensemble website doesn't mention it yet. One fact it posted was that "Today we celebrate selling 20 Million copies of the Age of Empires franchise and we want to thank you our fans for making that possible". Ensemble opened in 1997, so for 11 years they've averaged nearly 2 million sales per year, something very few studios can boast. Microsoft's press release still keeps their reasons vague, was the company's sales numbers going downhill? Just seems odd that such a top notch company would be one of the first for MGS to shut down...
Yeah, really unexpected, and Very sad. You guys will land on your feet Im sure. It just sucks.
Tony and Rick Goodman, and Brian Sullivan should get together. That would be an interesting conversation to listen in on.
Replies
Totally sucks, I know there's still a number of polycounters working there... or not rather.
Hope you all get the job you deserve.
Really sucks, I came to this news just as I quit out of AoE3.
That really sucks,
Good luck to all.
Lots of very talented folk from the game art community at that place.
Spark
Raven's always looking for the talented, just send me a PM.
- BoBo
As always, we're looking for environment and design.
Or hell, anything really.
If anyone is looking for work and thinking of looking outside of North America, Splash Damage are hiring artists in London right now.
yeah they just moved to plano not too long ago,
http://dallas.bizjournals.com/dallas/stories/2007/12/24/daily14.html
i dobn't see any real reason for the closure, all your games were great!
Best of luck to all of you there. I know you'll find something good.
I also herd that they were just letting contract go so they could move to the new building. (from Hotels.com building to the shops at legacy??)
I want to know what happened!
Spark u got out just in time.
just click for me in a way it didn't before.
It's shocking to me ( as always when these things keep happening) that someone else could
look at the progress that's been made and come to the exact opposite opinion.
Best of luck to all the Ensemble people, you lot really are in a class of your own and I look forward to seeing what you get up to after the dust settles.
Just speculation from my warped mind but who knows. Crazier things have happened.
Not like it matters once that crazy atom smasher fires up tomorrow and creates a bunch of microscopic black holes our careers and lives wont really matter much....
But on a serious note. Shame to see shit like this happen. Hope you guys all land on your feet sooner then later.
Like JDinges said. We at Raven are always looking for talented folks. Hit us up with a PM
"After the closure, the Ensemble leadership team will form a new studio and has agreed to provide ongoing support for Halo Wars as well as work on other projects with Microsoft Game Studios.
...
This was a fiscally-rooted decision that keeps MGS on its growth path. While the decision to dissolve Ensemble was not an easy one, Microsoft is working to place as many Ensemble employees who do not move to the newly formed studio into open positions within Microsoft as possible."
Sounds like one of those "corporate restructuring" moves that get made now and again. Sucks for the stress, but at least theres the press promise of just moving as many people as possible to the new entity.
Maybe there was one guy in upper management that MS didn't like/get along with, and couldn't contractually fire, but they could close the studio and didn't have to hire him for another one. heh
best of luck guys.
I can understand that MS may be pissed because the market for a 360 RTS is small, and that's what they've been pushing on Ensemble. But, c'mon! The "Age of" games have sold a bazillion copies. Even with the traditional PC market weakening that is something that cannot be ignored. If PC RTS is good enough for Blizzard with Starcraft 2, it should be good enough for Microsoft.
Considering the level of talent that was at Ensemble, this just seems like a stupendous blunder.
"Microsoft has decided to close Ensemble Studios following the completion of Halo Wars. After the closure, the Ensemble leadership team will form a new studio and has agreed to provide ongoing support for Halo Wars as well as work on other projects with Microsoft Game Studios.
The team at Ensemble has made invaluable contributions to the games industry with their Age of Empires and Age of Mythology games and with the highly anticipated release of Halo Wars. This decision does not reflect at all on Ensemble's talent or the quality of Halo Wars. in fact, many people who have had a chance to test drive Halo Wars agree that it is on track to being a fantastic game.
This was a fiscally-rooted decision that keeps MGS on its growth path. While the decision to dissolve Ensemble was not an easy one, Microsoft is working to place as many Ensemble employees who do not move to the newly formed studio into open positions within Microsoft as possible.
As to our overall strategy at MGS, it remains the same. We are committed to growing MGS with world-class talent both internally and with our external partners around the globe. We have recently added some well-known developers to our team and will continue growing the team.
We're particularly excited about the titles we have in the pipeline and continue to evaluate additional opportunities to bring incredible games to life with the industry's best. Our investment in games has never been greater than it is today."]
Spark
what's happening? studios are falling down one after another... crisis?
I don't understand.
Really do not understand this =/
Tony and Rick Goodman, and Brian Sullivan should get together. That would be an interesting conversation to listen in on.
It sounds less like they were in financial trouble, and more like they saw a way to make more money with less people, if I understand it correctly.
I had a the pleasure of meeting a few of you guys who worked there...and I'm sorry to hear this news.