game development company . for the acting studio and related theatre company in sydney australia see ensemble theatre . ensemble studios former type subsidiary industry video game industry fate defunct successor robot entertainment bonfire studios now zynga dallas windstorm studios newtoy inc. now zynga with friends bonusxp boss fight entertainment founded 1995 defunct 2009 headquarters dallas texas u.s. key people tony goodman john boog scott rick goodman products age of empires age of mythology halo wars owner microsoft parent microsoft game studios website www.ensemblestudios.com ensemble studios was a video game developer initially established in 1995 as an independent company by tony goodman rick goodman and john boog scott but was acquired by microsoft in 2001 and operated as an internal studio until 2009 when it was officially disbanded . 1 ensemble developed many real time strategy games including the age of empires game series age of mythology and halo wars . in addition to game development ensemble studios also made the genie game engine used in age of empires age of empires ii the age of kings and star wars galactic battlegrounds . the studio sold 20 million games and was worth an estimated 500 million . 2 contents 1 games 2 closure and legacy 3 references 4 external links games edit ensemble studios developed the age of empires game series of real time strategy titles comprising age of empires age of empires ii the age of kings and age of empires iii . they also released age of mythology a spin off from the original series . expansion packs were also released for all their games including two for age of empires iii . their last release was the real time strategy game called halo wars for xbox 360 . release date title genre 1997 age of empires real time strategy 1998 age of empires the rise of rome expansion pack 1999 age of empires ii the age of kings real time strategy 2000 age of empires ii the conquerors expansion pack 2001 star wars galactic battlegrounds real time strategy 2002 star wars galactic battlegrounds clone campaigns expansion pack 2002 age of mythology real time strategy 2003 age of mythology the titans expansion pack 2005 age of empires iii real time strategy 2006 age of empires iii the warchiefs expansion pack 2007 age of empires iii the asian dynasties 3 expansion pack 2009 halo wars real time strategy cancelled titan halo mmo 4 5 massively multiplayer online game sorcerer 6 fantasy adventure rpg nova 6 wrench 6 7 platform game bam 6 agent 6 closure and legacy edit in 2001 microsoft acquired ensemble studios . 8 ensemble remained at their original location in a high rise office in dallas tx until april 2008 when microsoft moved them to the shops at legacy in plano the same location as gearbox software . their office was 50 000 square feet and designed to house 120 employees . 9 in 2008 ensemble announced that it would close after the release of halo wars in 2009 . according to multiple independent reports all non essential staff have been laid off and remaining staff have been given incentives to remain until the completion of the project . 10 microsoft issued an internal statement on september 10 2008 which was then leaked to the public . 11 the company shut down on january 29 2009 . 12 it was also stated that there are at least two new studios being formed by es employees . 13 in february 2009 former ensemble studios head tony goodman started a new independent studio robot entertainment and a number of the existing employees have been offered a position in this company . 14 following the announcement of robot entertainment former ensemble studios producer david rippy started a new independent studio bonfire studios composed entirely of former ensemble staff members . 15 bonfire was later renamed zynga dallas through its acquisition by zynga and released only one game as an independent company . in 2008 a third studio called newtoy inc. was created by several developers from ensemble 16 which released chess with friends for the iphone in november 2008 17 and words with friends in august 2009 . 18 newtoy was also acquired by zynga and renamed zynga with friends a moniker off of newtoy s successful with friends series . newtoy released two games while they were independent . in march 2009 a fourth studio windstorm studios was founded by ex staffer dusty monk as a one man company . 19 dusty monk later closed this studio on march 21 2012 and joined robot entertainment with his former co workers . 20 in june 2013 a fifth studio emerged boss fight entertainment 21 was founded by previous employees of zynga dallas and ensemble studios . boss fight entertainment is currently located in mckinney tx and is developing games for mobile platforms . references edit microsoft to acquire ensemble studios . gamespot . retrieved may 3 2001 . the death of ensemble studios . edge . future plc. 20 february 2009 . retrieved 10 november 2013 . co developed with big huge games . exclusive ensemble studios canceled project was halo mmo . gamasutra . september 23 2008 . retrieved 2008 09 24 . ensemble games prototype ; 2005 2007 pictures . flickr . retrieved 2008 09 24 . first1 missing last1 in authors list help a b c d e zelfden evan van february 2 2009 . ensemble studios the last tour . gamasutra . retrieved 2009 02 03 . ensemble studios wrench prototype graphics physics demo . dallas creators of pc gaming hit age of empires bought by microsoft . dallas business journal . 2001 05 04 . retrieved 2016 01 28 . microsoft corp. has agreed to buy ensemble studios inc. the dallas based software developer responsible for the top selling age of empires game franchise . microsoft of redmond wash . said friday that ensemble will continue to create titles from its dallas headquarters . webster stephen 2007 12 27 . ensemble studios moving to plano . dallas business journal . retrieved 2016 01 28 . ensemble studios ... plans to relocate its operations to the shops at legacy in plano according to published reports . ensemble studios rumoured to be closing . shacknews . retrieved september 9 2008 . read the ensemble studios you re done here email from microsoft . kotaku . retrieved september 10 2008 . bruce shelley halo wars on schedule wrapping up soon . ensemble studios blog . archived from the original on 2009 01 19 . retrieved january 21 2009 . bruce shelley ensemble studios closing . ensemble studios blog . archived from the original on 2008 11 18 . retrieved january 21 2009 . ensemble veterans form robot entertainment gamasutra february 13 2009 . ensemble veterans assemble bonfire gamasutra february 20 2009 . newtoy . newtoyinc.com . retrieved 2010 03 18 . snow jean november 14 2008 . halo wars devs form iphone game studio . wired.com . retrieved 2010 03 18 . newtoy releases words with friends 1.0 for iphone and ipod touch . prmac.com . retrieved 2010 03 18 . third new studio emerges from ensemble closure gamasutra march 19 2009 1 venture beat leaders of the undead zynga dallas team start boss fight entertainment . external links edit ensemble studios site ask sandy threads from age of kings heaven ensemble studios profile on mobygames remember ensemble studios archived ensemble material and news v t e microsoft studios franchises age of empires alan wake banjo kazooie battletoads black & white blinx conker crackdown crimson skies dance central the dishwasher fable forza gears of war halo hexic hydro thunder jetpac joy ride killer instinct kinect party kinect sports lips max & the magic marker mechwarrior microsoft flight simulator midtown madness minecraft miss teen usa motocross madness ninety nine nights perfect dark pinball fx project gotham racing quantum redshift rallisport challenge rise of nations scene it shadowrun splosion man viva pi ata zoo tycoon current subsidiaries 343 industries bigpark the coalition good science studio launchworks lift london mojang rare turn 10 studios former subsidiaries aces studio bungie carbonated games digital anvil ensemble studios fasa studio hired gun lionhead studios press play twisted pixel games xbox entertainment studios people phil spencer phil harrison larry hryb casey hudson bonnie ross joseph staten related list of microsoft studios video games msn games authority control worldcat identities viaf 153571143 lccn n00094741 retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title ensemble studios & oldid 743419266 categories academy of interactive arts & sciences memberscompanies based in dallascompanies disestablished in 2009companies established in 1995defunct video game companiesfirst party video game developersmicrosoft subsidiariesvideo game companies of the united statesvideo game development companiesvideo game companies disestablished in 2009hidden categories cs1 errors missing author or editorwikipedia articles with viaf identifierswikipedia articles with lccn identifiers navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in 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