Ensemble Studios Corporation
Moby ID: 281
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Ensemble Studios was a game development studio based in Dallas, Texas (USA). It was established in 1995 by Tony Goodman, John Boog-Scott and Rick Goodman. Previously Tony Goodman had founded the information technology company Ensemble Corporation in 1991 together with John Boog-Scott, John Calhoun, and Thad Chapman. Ensemble Corporation was acquired by USWeb Corporation in 1997, Ensemble Studios was acquired by Microsoft in 2001.
Ensemble Studios is most famous for having established the Age of Empires series of strategy games, which has seen installments for over ten years (1997-2007) and still lives on in titles such as Age of Empires Online (2011).
In September 2008, it was confirmed Microsoft would shut down the studio following the release of Halo Wars in late February 2009, as a fiscally-rooted decision. In a leaked internal email from March 2021, Phil Spencer stated it was due to the studio "losing its passion".
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 (now 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. (now 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.
Credited on 18 Games from 1997 to 2020
| Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition (2020 on Windows, Windows Apps) |
| Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition (2019 on Windows, Windows Apps, Xbox Series...) |
| Age of Empires: Definitive Edition (2018 on Windows, Windows Apps) |
| Halo Wars: Definitive Edition (2016 on Windows, Xbox One, Xbox Cloud Gaming...) |
| Age of Mythology: Extended Edition (2014 on Windows) |
| Age of Empires II: HD Edition (2013 on Windows) |
| Halo Wars (2009 on Xbox 360) |
| Age of Empires: Mythologies (2008 on Nintendo DS) |
| Age of Empires: The Age of Kings (2006 on Nintendo DS) |
| Age of Empires III (2005 on Windows, Macintosh) |
| Age of Mythology (2002 on Windows, Macintosh) |
| Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds (2001 on Windows, Macintosh) |
| Age of Empires II: Gold Edition (2001 on Windows, Macintosh) |
| Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings (1999 on Windows, PlayStation 2, Macintosh) |
| Age of Empires: Gold Edition (1999 on Windows) |
| Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome (Demo Version) (1998 on Windows) |
| Age of Empires (1997 on Windows, Macintosh) |
| Age of Empires (Demo Version) (1997 on Windows) |
History +
- September 2008
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It is confirmed that Microsoft will shut down the studio following the release of Halo Wars. The development team will form a new studio.
- May 3, 2001
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Microsoft Corporation acquires Ensemble Studios.
- 1995
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Company founded.
Trivia +
Ensemble Studios announced that as of May 2004, they have sold fifteen million games.
Contact information (November 2007):
Ensemble Studios/Microsoft
10440 N. Central Expressway
Suite 1600
Dallas, TX 75231
Related Web Sites +
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Ensemble Studios Corporation
official site -
Age of Ensemble, Part 3: The Closing Chapters
third and final part of a retrospective, on Crispy Gamer (18th December 2008) -
Age of Ensemble, Part 1: A Titan Passes
first part of a retrospective, on Crispy Gamer (16th December 2008) -
Age of Ensemble, Part 2: Perfecting the Formula
second part of a retrospective, on Crispy Gamer (17th December 2008) -
Ensemble Studios: The Last Tour
article about the last days of the studio, on Gamasutra (2nd February 2009)
Frequent Collaborators
Companies- 16 games with Microsoft Corporation
- 12 games with Xbox Game Studios
- 6 games with Valve Corporation
- 6 games with Epic Games Tools LLC
- 6 games with MacSoft
- 5 games with ak tronic Software & Services GmbH
- 5 games with Application Systems Heidelberg Software GmbH
- 4 games with Leader S.p.a.
- 4 games with Westlake Interactive, Inc.
- 4 games with Audiokinetic Inc.
- 12 games with Don Gagen
- 11 games with Dave Pottinger
- 11 games with Stephen Rippy
- 11 games with Chris Rippy
- 11 games with Bruce Campbell Shelley
- 10 games with Brad J. Crow
- 10 games with John C. Evanson
- 10 games with Scott Winsett
- 10 games with Sandy Petersen
- 10 games with Angelo Laudon
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