Appendix

... why, Microsoft? ... why?

"Most people say great games are their mission," he'd said.

"Ours is to make a great place to work, and for the good games to come out of that."

Talk is cheap, but if these remarks by Goodman are true to how Ensemble was assembled to operate from beginning to end, then, everyone throughout the games industry should not only applaud them for their staying power in a topsy-turvy business . . . but encourage them to do it again in their next incarnation . . . and for others to adopt their practices.

Doing so can only be a positive for the place our business holds in today's national and global economies.

The Ensemble guys always seemed like top notch folks to me. As a long time Age fan I spent a good deal of time in the community and the ES staff was always great about being friendly and helpful to the community. I was even lucky enough to get to play with ES staff on several occasions and it was always a blast. Oddly enough my only complaints about ES come from being owned by Microsoft. Microsoft really hindered the speed at which ES could implement new patches from what I heard which is a big issue for RTS games that tend to need constantly tweaking and adjustments to play well. Though I do like that their authentication to Age of Mythology gave me an account I could use for MSN with an @eso.com domain.

Anyways I'm going to really miss this studio and hope all the guys (and girls) have good luck in their new adventures.

It's a tragedy that a good studio like Ensemble has to close like this, but other studios are ramping up their team sizes for next-gen development and need good, talented developers. These guys should have no problem finding jobs.

Right now I know of a cinematic environment artist position open in our studio (Sony - God of War team), so if anyone from Ensemble is reading this, send in the resume!!! :)

Seeing this is heartbreaking....

This is really sad, much like Bruce's final blog post. Is there a reason the whole blog is gone now?

And, oh what I would give to see a better picture (showing titles) of the books on that bookcase... I always loved the Age series in part because of the bibliographies included with the games.

As I look at my shelf full of Age games, this really does make me sad. They should call the new studio "On Somble Studios".

Long time age series fan and this is absolutely heartbreaking (as said above). This company should never have been shutdown and I hope Tony comes back strong with the new company; no matter the game I'm buying it lol.

Great article, sad true.

Remark to the author: using a tripod next time would do a great deal in the quality of pictures :)

All great things come to an end.

I feel a deep and profound sadness at the loss of the studio. AoE2 was the second RTS I had ever played, and it made a deep impact on my life.

The studio itself will be sorely missed. I wish the folks at the studio the best of luck in their new endeavors.

Good luck Goodman....

My wife and I spent countless hours playing the AoE series. Ensemble Studios will always have a special place in our hearts and the original boxsets will have a special place on our shelves.