Microsoft To Close Halo Wars Studio

Shacknews reports that Ensemble Studios, developer of the Age of Empires series, will be shut down by Microsoft Game Studios (MGS) as soon as the upcoming Halo Wars title is complete. Microsoft execs said parts the team would continue to work with MGS. Halo Wars is scheduled for early 2009, and Eurogamer took a look at the Halo-styled RTS game last month.

Comments

FASA Ensemble Bungie Hired Gun

[e03179]

Studios that have recently left Microsoft for one reason or another in the last 12 months:

FASA (Shadowrun, Crimson Skies, Mech Warrior, Mech Commander)
Bungie (H A L O, Marathon)
Ensemble (Halo Wars, Age of Empires, Age of Mythology)
Hired Gun (Halo 2 Vista)

Any others?

Re:MS Killing Off Xbox?

[InsaneGeek]

This of course would be the reason why often when looking at game available on both platforms the Xbox native game resolution is higher than the PS3... if the Xbox 360 can handle a higher resolution, what does that tell me about the PS3 and how they could have (in your words) "graphics hardware so weak" they can't even keep up with the Xbox?

i.e. pretty much biggest cross platform game released recently: GTA4 native res: Xbox 360=720p, PS3=630P

Re:That's not the real story here

[Dutch Gun]

You're correct. MS just doesn't have the corporate mentality to make games. I know some pretty bright and creative people in Microsoft's internal game division that have long since fled. I've had dealings with them as a 3rd party studio. They can be a great publisher (you really just need a lot of money for that, and a willingness to go the distance to make a great product), so long as they stay far, far away from any sort of decision making about the game design itself. But unless the studio has quite a bit of clout, that's not going to happen.

The problem, it's far too irresistible for manager-types to stick their finger in the creative pie of game design. Frankly, nearly everyone *wants* to design games at some level, but not everyone is really cut out for it. I've seen time and time again "helpful" suggestions by publisher's producers that did nothing but waste developer time and throw the project off track. BTW, this isn't necessarily an exclusive problem with MS - I've seen it with other publishers too. But this seems to happen pretty consistently when Microsoft is involved.

It's an eye-opening experience when you listen to internal meetings about how product managers and producers display an amazing arrogance regarding the product. They'll think nothing of belittling the developers (the guys who actually did the damn work on the game), all the while praising Microsoft's effort to "kick ass" and get the product out on time, or nonsense to that effect, ignoring the price damn near paid in human sacrifices by the actual developers in order to meet their timetables. Interestingly enough, I noticed this during the "Age of Empire" days. I'd be surprised if it's improved much since then.

In most cases (although admittedly not all), great games are created from the vision of a single creative director. In the movie business, this is the Director. The power of the Lead Designer varies from studio to studio. In my opinion, giving the designers a largely free hand to implement their vision means the best chance of success for a game. Nothing is bulletproof, of course (Daikatana anyone?), but having producers making game-related decisions seems to be a recipe for mediocrity at best, disaster at worst. Too bad about what's happening at Ensemble... I wouldn't be too surprised if managerial interference is running pretty high for them these days.