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 three new Halo game projects; Halo Wars. Frank O'Connor announced in one of his weekly updates that Ensemble is designing the entire game, with Bungie playing a supporting role to ensure that the story fits in properly with the Halo universe.

On September 10, 2008, Ensemble Studios announced that it will be closing a short while after Halo Wars is finished. Dave Pottinger, Lead Designer of Halo Wars, issued a response assuring that the quality of the game should not be affected. Pottinger's response can be found on the home page of Halo Wars. Post-release support for the game is being provided by Robot Entertainment, where roughly half of Ensemble's crew went after the close.