11 Months Ago, Softpedia says (in Ensemble Studios Was a Victim of Its Own Succes, Former Employee Says) That is what has recently happened to Ensemble Studios, the creator of hit strategy franchise Age of Empires, which has been shut down by its owner, Microsoft, after completing the Halo Wars RTS title. According to David Rippy, a former member of the ...

12 Months Ago, TeamXbox says (in David Rippy: Ensemble Was a "Victim of Its Own Success") Last year, Microsoft announced it will close Ensemble Studios right after the completion of Halo Wars. The announcement came as an unpleasant surprise and as soon as last month two studios born out of the Age of Empires developer. ...
Video game review: Halo Wars Advance Titan

And GamesIndustry.biz says (in Ensemble Studios a "victim of its own success" - Bonfire)  UK
Speaking of the need for studios to diversify in terms of platforms and genres, Rippy explained that the Age of Empires and Halo Wars developer was unable to get non-RTS projects approved and suffered from being pigeonholed. "With the cost of creating ...
Review: Halo Wars Stuff.co.nz

And Fudzilla says (in Bonfire is the second new studio)  Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bonfire Studios will be based in Dallas, Texas and the management team is made up of former employees of Ensemble Studios who were responsible for the Age of Empires franchise as well as the upcoming Halo Wars RTS for the Xbox 360.

13 Months Ago, Fudzilla says (in Two new studios to come out of Ensemble)  Bosnia and Herzegovina -
While we don’t know all of the details yet, Microsoft’s closing of Ensemble Studios (which has been responsible for the Age of Empires series as well as the ...