Ensemble Vets Assemble Bonfire

The closure of Ensemble Studios has birthed a second new developer: Bonfire Studios, founded by David Rippy and "former management team members" from Ensemble, and comprised entirely of former Ensemble staffers. While there have been no announcements of coming projects (beyond "an original IP") or publisher deals from Bonfire, the company's press release does highlight the fact that its staff has all just completed the console RTS game Halo Wars and has "over a decade of experience" working on real-time strategy games. In addition, a few details on the new project are up at the company's website, claiming the new title already "has a great in-depth story, combat and game play", and refusing to reveal its genre. David Rippy, who was a lead producer at Ensemble and is serving as Bonfire's president and CEO said, "Ensemble had an incredible group of highly talented people and the companies coming out of it are really made up of the best of the best. Ensemble was one of the few studios with two A-teams. We are already working on an original IP that we'll start talking about in the next few months." The formation of Bonfire Studios follows the announcement of Robot Entertainment, another studio founded by former Ensemble members. Robot Entertainment is officially working with Microsoft Game Studios to create additional Halo Wars content and "support online gaming and community for both Age of Empires and Halo Wars." Ensemble Studios was founded in 1995, acquired by Microsoft in 2001, and shut down by the company earlier this month.