Why did Ensemble Studios close?

[Akboris]

It doesnt make any sense. This game comes out, its a success, the studio that made it is closed by microsoft just before release. Why?

Halo Wars even got a sequel, this literally makes no sense.

Perhaps it reflects change in Microsofts strategy. Back in 2009 Microsoft was still desperate to keep the Xbox competitive, which is why this game foolishly didnt release on PC until 2017, where now Microsoft is happy to port its xbox games to PC.(?)

I guess in Halo terms, the game didnt sell as well as a Halo game should have, and there isnt a console market for RTS games.

Ensemble Studios also made Age of Empires which is also got a sequel due.

[ElClapo]

id suggest watching Act Mans youtube vid on it he explains it all it was a big mess

[𝓝𝓪𝓬𝓱𝓸𝓫𝓸𝓲]

This has more information. https://www.reddit.com/r/aoe2/comments/5lr4md/what_happened_to_ensemble_studios/

Ensemble was a mess. Shame.