The story
Founded by Rick Goodman and Tony Goodman in 1995.1
Ensemble Studios was founded by Tony Goodman in 1994. It borrowed the name of Ensemble Corporation, an information technology consulting firm founded by Goodman in 1991. The business was incorporated in February 1996 with his brother Rick Goodman and John Boog-Scott as co-founders. Angelo Laudon, Tim Dean, Brad Crow, Scott Winsett, Thonny Namuonglo, and Brian Sullivan were among the studio's first employees. Bruce Shelley also came on to help with Age of Empires. In 1997, Goodman sold off the consulting firm and released the game with Microsoft. The game topped one million units sold by the end of the year, and sold three million copies during its lifetime.
After six years and 8.5 million units sold, Microsoft acquired Ensemble Studios for $100 million in 2001. Ensemble remained at its original location in a high-rise office in Dallas, Texas, until April 2008 when Microsoft moved it to the Shops at Legacy in Plano. Their office was 50,000 square feet and designed to house 120 employees.
In 2008, Goodman was told about Microsoft's plans to close Ensemble. He was offered the opportunity to buy back the studio but declined. Instead, he chose to form a new company and continue working with Microsoft on Age of Empires. Ensemble had been working on a Halo MMO, which was cancelled.
Ensemble announced that it would close after the release of Halo Wars in 2009. According to multiple independent reports, all non-essential staff were laid off and remaining staff were given incentives to remain until the completion of the project. Microsoft issued an internal statement on September 10, 2008 which was then leaked to the public. The company shut down on January 29, 2009.
From Wikipedia’s article on Ensemble Studios, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4