Ensemble Studios

Ensemble Studios was a Microsoft-owned company that has developed several computer games, including the famous Age of Empires series. The company was founded in 1995 in Dallas by Tony Goodman, his brother, Rick Goodman, Bruce Shelley, and Brian Sullivan. After 2 years, it released its first game, Age of Empires. In May 2001, Microsoft acquired the company. The company employed about 100 people, including Bruce Shelley, Graeme Devine and Sandy Petersen.
The company cooperated with Bungie to create one of the Halo game projects, Halo Wars. Frank O'Connor announced in one of his weekly updates that Ensemble was designing the entire game, with Bungie playing a supporting role to ensure the story would fit in the Halo Universe.
On September 10, 2008, Ensemble Studios announced that it would be closing after Halo Wars was released. Dave Pottinger, Lead Designer of Halo Wars, issued a response assuring that the quality of the game would not be affected. Pottinger's response can be found on the game's home page. Post-release support for the game is being provided by Robot Entertainment, where roughly half of Ensemble's crew went after the close.
Name 	Release Date	Genre
Age of Empires 	1997 	RTS
Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome 	1998 	Expansion pack
Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings 	1999 	RTS
Age of Empires II: The Conquerors 	2000 	Expansion pack
Age of Mythology 	2002 	RTS
Age of Mythology: The Titans 	2003 	Expansion pack
Age of Empires III 	2005 	RTS
Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs 	2006 	Expansion pack
Age of Empires III: The Asian DynastiesCo-developed with Big Huge Games.	2007 	Expansion pack
Halo Wars 	2009 	RTS
Untitled Halo MMO 	Cancelled 	MMORPG
==Known Employees==
*Graeme Devine
*Dave Pottinger
*Jerome K. Jones
*Lance Hoke
==Sources==
Category:Companies