Robot to develop further Halo Wars content, new IP

by Randy Nelson on Feb 17th 2009 6:20PM

Recently formed Robot Entertainment has answered the question of who's going to support Halo Wars after its launch on March 3: the people who made it. Robot -- created by ex Ensemble Studios staff, including its founder, Tony Good -- will not only provide online support and community management for the Halo universe RTS, but will be working with Microsoft Game Studios to create future content for the game.

Robot will also be working with MGS on the Ensemble-created Age of Empires franchise going forward, with the intent to handle support for current and future titles in the series. In a release issued today, the developer also announced that it has begun work on a new project based on an original IP. Given the various unannounced projects revealed when Ensemble closed its doors, we'd be surprised if this new game turns out to be another RTS.

Source

Tags: age-of-empires, ensemble-studios, halo-wars, Microsoft, microsoft-game-studios, robot, robot-entertainment, Xbox-360

Reader Comments (47)

great, more ways to steal money from people

Because they force you to buy the DLC and your game won't work without it right? DLC is great because it allows developers to take their games in new and interesting ways that they didn't have time for before publishing the game. Take Operation: Anchorage for example: It allowed Bethesda to add an important part of the Fallout universe for players to experience, and even though it was short, it has definitely provided me with more than $10 worth of enjoyment.

DLC is a New Way of making a Game With less content so you can rip your custumers off AFTER they buy the game... Tomb Raider is the best exemple, or even *dare i say it* LittleBigPlanet Costumes (The lvl packs like MGS are not included in this though). This "expand in new and intresting ways" is bullshit for people to believe, i work in a game company and it doesnt' work like this... Maybe in a few cases like GTA IV or Prince of Persia and Fallout, but the rest are just shit... Like, buy new weapons for Bad Company or Dead Space, isn't that ripping you off? "Be better if you pay up"

The consumer decides the value of a product, bro. I loved the shit out of Gears of War. Bought it for $60 just to play it on a friend's 360. _five hour campaign_. Do I regret the purchase? No.

Saying 'oh a game could have been more had they delayed the game and released the DLC on the disk' isn't smart, because it's judging a game not based on what it is and how it stands up to other games but what you think it should be and how your idea of the game stands up to how the game really is.

Plus, there are more good examples of DLC than bad ones. One of my friends and I were having this discussion a few days ago (he agreed with you) and he brought up Burnout Paradise as evidence for his side. I wanted to burn his consoles for saying that.

Since when is investing hundreds of man hours and hundreds of thousands of dollars in content that people want to buy called stealing? Very insightful.

So buying an expansion is different? If they charged for patches I could understand your guys' anger but these are a form of expansion not a crucial piece of code that makes the game crash without it.

I agree with LegendaryRedass.

Rape this, steal that. Yes all small to mega corporations just have created product lying around, waiting to be pushed out the door. All of it cost nothing to make, and it was done in 5 minutes...Those sneaky bastards!
Do people actually think before writing?

Queefs.

"we wouldn't be at all surprised if this new game isn't an RTS."

I wouldn't be surprised by that sentence if you hadn't been a professional writer. 'Succinct' comes to mind. Try it, we'll like it.

So... what was the reason behind closing Ensemble?

Microsoft don't own the two new companies that have sprung up from Ensemble's corpse, so they're not costing Microsoft anything any more.

Ensemble probably had some nice terms that it was offering its current and future employees. It also probably had some legal bindings that it was contractually obliged to that weren't necessarily favorable to MS. The easy solution for them would be to dissolve the studio and make a new MS-friendly one.

So technically they didn't close they just changed names? That works for me I loved their games.I'm glad their are still in buisness,sorta.

This is similar to what happened to Bungie after Halo 3. Bungie was aquired by Microsoft years ago. And After Halo 3 they broke away from microsoft, but still have a close relationship.

This allows the studio to have more personal control, and microsoft to have zero liability for it.

For the most part, I agree, eMax... but then I remember that the Map Pack coming out with Halo 3 ODST has been complete for nearly a year... Microsoft wanted to help promote Halo Wars and Halo 3 ODST, so they delayed the release... I get rather irate when I start to think about the fact that we haven't had a new map pack for several months, despite the fact that the maps have been done since a few weeks after the Legendary Map Pack release...

I'm insanely excited to play the Mythic Map Pack... I just think it's a bit ridiculous that we had to wait 9+ months longer than we should.

eMax,

This is far from the same, Bungie bought itself from Microsoft, while Ensemble was shut down by Microsoft, hell, iirc some Ensemble people were upset about it.

Yeah, they closed Ensemble to from a ne studio that still works with MGS on Age of Empires and Halo Wars and other future RTSs.

If they needed to fire people, wouldnt layoffs have sufficed instead of going thorugh the motions of shutting a company down?

Not necessarily....They might have come to that desicion so Ensemble could keep their staff....Who knows either way they're still on good terms thats all that matters...lol

Nice, can't wait for Halo Wars

I find it quite hilarious that a price for DLC hasn't been announced (Not to mention the DLC itself) and people are still complaining. If people are going to complain at least wait until we get some shaky cam footage. =]

I totally agree...

I would assume most people arguing about paying for DLC are either old school PC gamers that aren't used to it, kids with parents unwilling to dole out extra allowance, and those waiting for the government to subsidize it.

It's more obnoxious that DLC is already announced ?

It's a freaking RTS. I can't think of any RTS which didn't have DLC (extra content) released after it came out. All the expansion packs come to mind...

If I may suggest, I would love a remake of both Avalanche and Sidewinder in Halo wars.

Waterworks?

Eh..EHHH? =)

Playable Flood, please? Pleeease?

That's like asking the president to give you everything he owns.

Playable flood would be incredible...
*Cue Obnoxious Drooling*
But seriously think about the work that would have to be invested into that. Since it is an RTS they would have to make a Campaign, then balance the USNC AND the Covenant with the flood. I would have said "Plausible" when Ensemble still existed (They thrived with that sort of challenge) but I'm almost positive it's not going to happen now. Still would be nice...

I'm sure the flood is playable from the start.Probably they are like the Zerg in this game except you can create zombies!

Ensemble I love those guys.

They aren't Jeckyl.

That's exactly why I came here to comment. Agreed.

Then again, if you think about it, we "know" nothing about the floor or how they operate, how their hierarchy is and other shit... But nonetheless, it would be awesome to have several "Graveminds" around the map eating the enemies...lol

The floor can get kinda complicated, I mean I'm standing on it but is that the only thing which differentiates it between the ceiling? I mean seriously, If you standing on the second story and look down at the floor are you on the floor or the ceiling? Well if your on the second floor you'd call it a floor, but when your on the first story you'd call it a ceiling?!

Conspiracy

They didn't have to get paid for those 3-5 weeks without jobs.

I'm still disappointed that the scarab laser no longer has dynamic light like in the old demo showcase. That was super pretty.

Also, yes, Flood in MP will ensure variety!

Not variety; parasitic homogeneity. The Flood would be a really interesting playable race if they kept their life cycle consistent with the games; would make for sweet asymmetrical gameplay as you take over your enemies soldiers.

If they were just gonna create and fund a new studio filled with people from the old one, and get them to work on all the same games, why the fuck did they bother closing Ensemble in the first place?

Way to get my hopes up with that title.

"We're working on DLC for a game that you don't have yet and isn't released yet don't worry support won't die stop worrying all your Halos are belong to us etc etc etc OKTHNXBYE" .. FTW.

The title of this post freaked me out for a second. That's some Matrix shit.

You know is going to happen sometime.

Wait until Skynet gets its virtual hands on Linux,then we are all doomed (Unless we already are,OMG I know kung fu!).

Looking forward to whatever Robot makes, hopefully they'll be just as top-notch as Ensemble was.

The reason why MS might have closed Ensemble is the overhead of keeping such staff as employees. MS appears to be concerned more about IP the the companies themselves. I am sure they feel the can farm out the work to talented Devs which makes a lot of sense. The hiring, management and books MS is longer concerned with, the studio gives MS an offer or vice versa and they negotiate on a price. If either party doesn't like the deal, they go about their business.

sweet, i was wondering who would take over this duty, since Ensemble is no more.

sweet!

I got clobbered by the AI in Halo Wars last night, just like in C&C3. No sooner do I get a few land troops made then a bunch of huge Walkers appear. Darn depressing, but maybe I'll learn. I guess I'll get the game soon after release...

The key is to remember to produce supply pads. You should have around 4 or 5 on the first expansion.

I think what *I* need is a second base. I'm going to focus on RAPID buildup to make the Vulcan(??) flying ships which really kick butt.

Or look around some to see if there is a place to put that second base...

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Robot to develop further Halo Wars content, new IP

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