Bruce Shelley tells us shy Microsoft killed Ensemble Studio

A special blog post by Bruce Shelley, part of the senior management and spokesman for Ensemble Studios, talks about the surprise at the Microsoft Games Studios decision to shut down ES and gives some of the reasons why he thinks it happened. ”Everyone at our studio was shocked, and I think remains very disappointed that this is going to happen. I believe we thought we were immune to shut-down talk because our published games have done so well and have been so profitable,” said Shelley. In the statement Shelley gave several reasons why he thought that MGS was shutting down ES.

”First, they want to divert the headcount tied up in ES and the costs that are expected to be required to run ES for the next few years into other projects. Second, it sounded like it cost more to run ES on a per person basis than other first party studios… And third, (the) games (other MGS studios) are expected to deliver in the next few years are expected to be more strategic and profitable to the company than anything we would be finishing after Halo Wars.

He went on to add that MGS informed the studio in early September and since then they have been making plans for the future including that while some staff members may find jobs with other MGS studios that others have been offered positions with a new company to be founded by the ES studio head Tony Goodman.