9 Months Ago, Kotaku.com says (in Ensemble: We Were A Victim Of Our Own Success)  NY
David Rippy - who is now in charge of Bonfire Studios, and leading a team of other ex-Ensemble employees - says the former Age of Empires developer went down because it had been pigeon-holed as an RTS specialist. With the cost of creating games so high ...

And 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 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.

10 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 ...