Ensemble Studios

Ensemble Studios
Foundation	1995
Dissolution	January 29, 2009
Location	Dallas, Texas
Key People	Tony Goodman Rick Goodman

Ensemble Studios was a video game developer best known for its work on the Age of Empires series. It employed about 100 people, including notable game developers; Bruce Shelley, Graeme Devine, and Sandy Petersen.

Overview

Ensemble was established as an independent company in 1995, in Dallas, Texas, by Tony Goodman, his brother, Rick Goodman, along with Bruce Shelley and Brian Sullivan. It released its first game, Age of Empires in 1997, set in the historical antiquity period.

Two years later, the company released a sequel set in the Middle Ages, Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings, to critical acclaim. An expansion, The Conquerors, followed the next year. In May 2001, Microsoft acquired the company. Age of Mythology, a spin-off from the original series, was released the following year.

Age of Empires III was released on October 18, 2005 in North America. It follows on from the end of Age of Empires II, set during European settlement of the Americas. The first expansion to Age of Empires III, titled The WarChiefs includes new content, new gameplay elements, a new single-player campaign, and three new Native American civilizations. The final expansion, The Asian Dynasties, features three Asian civilizations, three different campaigns, existing gameplay element additions, and was co-developed with Big Huge Games.

Ensemble worked in collaboration with Bungie Studios on Halo Wars, a real-time strategy game based on the Halo universe for the Xbox 360 platform. In 2016, it was released on Xbox One and Windows under Halo Wars: Definitive Edition, a port with graphical enhancements.

Ensemble had a vague plan to make an Age of Empires IV set in a more modern period, but it was not universally popular inside the studio; many designers felt that the series was about the more ‘romanticizable' periods of history, so there was a concern that the series would lose its luster going to the modern era, where everything was more memorable. The designers were also unsure how they could have handled the theme of different civilizations vying for control in a modern era, and they wouldn't have felt comfortable faithfully handling the Axis powers.

In a decision made by Microsoft, and announced on September 9, 2008, Ensemble was closed in 2009. Subsequently, many former employees went on to found the companies Robot Entertainment and Bonfire Studios. Despite Ensemble's closure, Robot Entertainment released an update for Age of Empires III and its expansions. The studio was also responsible for maintaining ESO operations until 2011.

Closure

The closure of Ensemble led to the formation of many new development studios by former employees:

• Tony Goodman, along with a number of veteran developers, announced in February 2009 to have founded the studio Robot Entertainment.
• A second team of about 35 developers announced to have founded Bonfire Studios (later Zynga Dallas) in the same month, headed by David Rippy.
• Dusty Monk established Windstorm Studios.
• The brothers Paul Bettner and David Bettner founded Newtoy, Inc. (later Zynga With Friends).
• The brothers Tommy Bean and Michael Bean established Pixelocity Software (after briefly working at Robot Entertainment)
• Jeff Ruediger co-founded the mobile game development studio Fuzzycube Software in March 2009.
• Graeme Devine established GRL Games in 2010.

List of developed games

Release date	Title
1997	Age of Empires
1998	Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome
1999	Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings
2000	Age of Empires II: The Conquerors
2002	Age of Mythology
2003	Age of Mythology: The Titans
2005	Age of Empires III
2006	Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs
2007	Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties*
2009	Halo Wars

* co-developed with Big Huge Games

Employees

• Tony Goodman
• Sandy Petersen
• Brad J. Crow
• Angelo Laudon
• Brian Sullivan
• Bruce Campbell Shelley
• Dave Pottinger
• Greg Street
• Greg Wilson
• Ian Fisher
• Timothy A. Deen
• Graeme Devine
• Rick Goodman

Gallery

Official logo

Ensemble development team at the time of Age of Empires

In-game credits artwork of the Ensemble Design and Production team behind Age of Empires II as roleplaying characters

In-game credits artwork of the Ensemble Art team behind Age of Empires II as roleplaying characters

In-game credits artwork of the Ensemble Programming team behind Age of Empires II as roleplaying characters

Notes

• Ensemble Studios occupied the top two floors of its building in Dallas, Texas.
• The studio was notable for its play-testing procedures; everyone at the company was required to test the current product at least once a week.
• Mike McCart, the company's webmaster, created the HeavenGames (then known as HeavenWeb) fan site, prior to being hired by Ensemble.

External links

• Ensemble Studios site
• Microsoft site
• 'Ask Sandy' threads from the Age of Kings Heaven
• 'Ask Sandy' responses from agecommunity.com
• Official Halo Wars Community site
• A site dedicated to Ensemble-related articles