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Ex-Ensemble Studios lead designer responds to Bettner rant (update)
Aside from a very small handful of points, it would seem there's a major disconnect between two ex-Ensemble Studio employees over why the studio was shuttered by Microsoft last year. Ian Fischer (an ex-lead designer at Ensemble, now at Robot Entertainment) details on his blog the many disagreements he has with (claimed) ex-creative lead Paul Bettner's recent rant at the Game Developer's Conference in a panel called "Fired and Fired-up: Jobless Developer's Rant." We say "claimed," because even Bettner's job title is called into question during the response. "Neither you, nor anyone else, was 'Creative Director' at our studio," Fischer alleges. Further, Fischer rebutes Bettner's claim that Ensemble shut down due to a "reliance on crunch" to finish projects that got more and more expensive by the year, saying it had more to do with "chasing after the MMOs and FPSs and RPGs and RTS-differents we constantly had in prototype." He also says that the communication with Microsoft never broke down and that if the publisher had wanted to lower the developer's operating costs, "they could have done so with a phone call ... ES enjoyed a long relationship with Microsoft (as many ex-Studios people now at Robot or Bonfire still do), first as a partner and then as part of the corporation after 2001." So, according to Fisher, what was the reason that Ensemble shut down? "If you want to find mistakes with what we did, I'd suggest that those trips into the weeds, looking for new territory, with a partner who wasn't fond of being there, was more our error," he suggests, referencing the aforementioned prototypes. Update: You can find Paul Bettner's full response to Fischer's claims after the break.
Bonfire Studios hires former Halo Wars lead David Pottinger
Bonfire Studios, the development house that emerged in the wake of the Ensemble Studios closure, has picked up another ex-colleague: Dave Pottinger, lead designer of Halo Wars. He rejoins his peers as the director of technology, assuming the same responsibilities he held before Ensemble was shut down. Bonfire Studios is currently working on several unannounced projects for 2010. Pottinger has been with the company since its formative days back in 1996, and contributed to the development of Ensemble's key real-time strategy titles, from Age of Empires all the way up to the former studio's last game, Halo Wars. "Bonfire is a team full of old friends that I am looking forward to working with again," Pottinger said. "I think we're going to blow people away once they see what we're doing."
Former Halo Wars dev bites into Apple
When Ensemble Studios closed its doors earlier this year many of its staff landed behind a desk at either Robot Entertainment or Bonfire Studios, a pair of outfits that rose up from the Age of Empires and Halo Wars dev's splintered remains. Not Graeme Devine, however -- he's far too trendy for that business. Instead, the Halo Wars lead designer revealed to Kotaku's @crecenteb via Twitter that he opted for a job at Apple, working for the company's iPhone group. It's unclear exactly what he's working on at the popular fruit company, though given his experience perhaps Apple is looking to bring game development in-house. We've reached out to Devine for more, though whatever he's up to we're sure there's an app for that.[Via Develop]
Weathering the economic storm: Start-ups speak out
It takes a special kind of crazy to open up a new game studio in an uncertain financial climate. Yet already in 2009 we've seen a handful of people do just that, many on the heels of having lost their previous jobs to downsizing or a studio closure. Recently we spoke with three individuals behind a trio of 2009's start-up efforts to ask them how they plan to weather the economic storm and, more importantly, if seeing the rest of the industry buckle around them makes them feel just a little bit demented for doing what they're doing. "We are crazy!" proclaimed Game Mechanic Studios president and former Electronic Arts senior designer Jason Alejandre, who noted that he saw layoffs four out of the five years he spent working at EA. "The one year that we didn't have layoffs at our studio there were still layoffs at the other EA studios," he recalled. "The leadership changed at the studio level three times and the executive management changed twice." Still, Alejandre doesn't necessarily believe that all of the closures and cutbacks are directly tied to the current downturn. "It's a combination of this is just how the business is, and the other part is due to the current economic crisis. This is our industry. I think [why] the media is currently focused in on this more so in games now than any of the previous years is because the topic is now under the 'Eye of Sauron.'"
Rippy: Ensemble Studios was a 'victim of its own success'
David Rippy, founder of Bonfire Studios and a lead producer on Halo Wars, believes Ensemble's death occurred because the studio was only known for -- and allowed to create -- RTS titles. In an interview with GI.biz, Rippy expresses that Ensemble couldn't get non-RTS project prototypes approved, stating that the group represented "the RTS guys." He notes that lack of diversity is something he'd like to avoid in the future with his new studio.Rippy states that Bonfire's first project will not be an RTS game, but that the company may consider doing one again in the future. He states that the game will be different than what the team has done in the past, while still offering "a strong strategy element." As Bonfire works on the new project -- which will apparently not be published by Microsoft -- the other studio born out of Ensemble's remains, Robot Entertainment, will continue employing "the RTS guys."
Ensemble Studio vets start a Bonfire
And then there were two. Two studios born out of the still smoldering embers of Ensemble Studios, that is. Last week it was Robot Entertainment, founded by the man behind Ensemble, Tony Goodman. Now introducing: Bonfire Studios, a start-up staffed by 35 former Ensemble employees and established by David Rippy, a lead producer on Halo Wars.In fact, all of Bonfire's employees had a hand in the creation of Halo Wars, which streets on March 3. The studio, based in Dallas, TX, is at work on an original IP -- genre unknown -- described on its site as "fast, fun and addictive," with "an in-depth story, combat and game play."Speaking about the pair of phoenixes rising from Ensemble's ashes, Rippy said that, "Ensemble had an incredible group of highly talented people and the companies coming out of it are really made up of the best of the best," adding, "Ensemble was one of the few studios with two A-teams." Now we have what will (hopefully) be two ... A-studios.
