Ensemble Studios

This article is about the video game development company. For the acting studio and related theatre company in Sydney, Australia, see Ensemble Theatre.

Ensemble Studios
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryVideo games
Founded1994; 30 years ago (1994)
FounderTony Goodman
DefunctJanuary 29, 2009; 15 years ago (2009-01-29)
FateDefunct
HeadquartersDallas, Texas, U.S.
ProductsAge of Empires
Age of Mythology
Halo Wars
OwnerMicrosoft
ParentMicrosoft Game Studios

Ensemble Studios was an American video game developer. It was founded by Tony Goodman in 1994 and incorporated the following year. It borrowed the name of Ensemble Corporation, a consulting firm founded by Goodman in 1990.[1] It was acquired by Microsoft in 2001 and operated as an internal studio until 2009, when its development capabilities were officially disbanded.[2] 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.[3]

  1. ^ Keefer, John (March 31, 2006). "GameSpy Retro: Developer Origins, Page 18 of 19". GameSpy. Archived from the original on June 9, 2007.
  2. ^ "Microsoft to acquire Ensemble Studios". GameSpot. Archived from the original on February 14, 2009. Retrieved May 3, 2001.
  3. ^ "The Death of Ensemble Studios". Edge. Future plc. February 20, 2009. Archived from the original on March 7, 2012. Retrieved November 10, 2013.