When it was announced that Ensemble Studios (Age of Empires) would be closing their doors forever, Ensemble’s founder and 1997 Santa Fe Enchilada Eating Champion* Bruce Shelley says that the studio was “shocked” at the news. I can’t say I blame him — Ensemble Studios was nothing less than pure win. Shelley also said on the Ensemble Studios blog that many members of Ensemble have been offered positions at Studio head Tony Goodman’s new independent studio.

Worried about Halo Wars? Don’t be. Shelley made it perfectly clear that Ensemble will be finishing the game. In fact, they have everybody working on it:

In August we shut down work on everything non-Halo Wars related and now the entire studio is focused on finishing this game by the end of this year. Everyone in the studio has a job until Halo Wars is finished. There have been no layoffs and none are expected. We have received fantastic feedback on the game at a variety of game shows and events, and want to deliver on the promises we have made as our last hurrah. We want a great Halo Wars game to be the final tribute to everything that ES has come to mean to us and perhaps you as well, over the past 13 years.

I previously had no desire to buy Halo Wars, but now that Ensemble is on their way out, I may pick up their swan song. Halo Wars will be released exclusively on the Xbox 360 on January 30, 2009.

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