Halo Wars Boss Speaks Out on Studio Closure

Bruce Shelley - honourable and not bitter.

Posted by Staff
Bruce Shelley
Bruce Shelley
Earlier this month we reported that Microsoft is going to wait until Ensemble Studios has finished its work on Halo Wars later this year... before closing Ensemble Studios.

Well, now Ensemble's Senior Designer - and industry veteran - Bruce Shelley has blogged his thoughts on the subject. You have to hand it to the man, he's almost re-defined words like, "dignified", "reserved" and "diplomatic" - this emerges in the very first line of his posting where he points out that, "I have mentioned with regret the closing of several quality game studios over the past several years but I never considered that ES would join the list. Everyone at our studio was shocked, and I think remains very disappointed that this is going to happen"

Before signing off - and stating that he won't be joining a new Microsoft-based operation, Shelley gives more than a few clues as to how Microsoft Game Studios is planning to proceed.

"You may recall that the mission for our studio from the start in 1995 has been to create great games and a great place to work. Overall we think we have built a studio consistent with that mission. But within the framework of a larger organization other stuff matters and perhaps has higher priorities, including costs of operation and overall strategic direction of the larger business.

"The new leadership of the game group at Microsoft has a new plan for making the game group consistently profitable, especially over the next few crucial years, and we are the odd group out."

You can read the full blog here.
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