Without a doubt one of the most successful PC game developers of all time is Ensemble Studios. All of their RTS products, include their three (so far) Age of Empires series along with Age of Mythology, have sold millions of copies worldwide and established the Dallas based developer as a major force in game publishing. Its senior designer Bruce Shelley is also one of the most well known PC developer personalities, having worked on classic games under Sid Meier like the original Civilization and Railroad Tycoon before co-founding Ensemble in 1995. FiringSquad got in touch with Shelley just before E3 to chat with him about Ensemble's current and future plans along with other topics.

FiringSquad: First, Age of Empires III continues to be a best seller months after its release. Overall, are you happy with the way the final game turned out?

Bruce Shelley: Yes, we see it bounced back to #5 in the list of best-selling PC games in the US. That's great considering some good games have come out recently and Age was published last October. Making Age III was a struggle because we first attempted a lot of innovation and then pulled the game back to be more like past Age games. It was sometimes painful, but we are very happy with how the game ended up and how well it is being received.

FiringSquad: Ensemble Studios is without a doubt the biggest developer that has concentrated on RTS game design. What are some of the biggest challenges the company has had to deal with in making real time strategy titles work?

Bruce Shelley: Ensemble Studios is relatively small so in our history to date we have never managed to get a second team and project going. We keep closing down prototypes and putting everyone on the newest Age game. We are hoping to change that over the next few years and actually do some non-RTS games. Some of the biggest challenges in RTS are keeping up with the standards set by our competitors like Blizzard, EA, Big Huge, etc. The competition has been good for gamers because the best games in this genre really are good. Keeping up with technology is a struggle. We got two games out of our first engine but each game since has required a new engine to be competitive, if not out front. RTS games are very difficult to balance and require massive testing for that reason. We started hiring some of the better Age players in North America to come work for us as testers and that has made a difference. There is also a fine balance between giving people a new experience through innovation and topic change, but keeping intact a core of familiar gameplay so they recognize an old favorite. We also make a huge comittment to our single player campaign because we think a majority of our customers play that.

FiringSquad: Some people are saying that aside from graphical improvements, there is little room to innovate in the RTS genre. What is your response to this?

Bruce Shelley: I don't believe it. High quality RTS games are extremely successful products and studios will continue innovating in that genre so long as they sell.

FiringSquad: Ensemble has been part of Microsoft for some time. What has it been like being part of Microsoft? Does the main company leave Ensemble alone for the most part or does the company try to influence what Ensemble releases?

Bruce Shelley: Microsoft was our only publisher when we were independent and we have continued to work very well with them as a first party developer. As far as being on the inside, I joke that the benefits are better but the network is worse (security is tight :-) ). In general we have retained a lot of autonomy. Our studio head Tony Goodman has built a strong and productive organization here and they don't want to mess with that. On the other hand, the larger company has its own processes and strategy that we have to fit into. We reach major product planning decisions as a group, not a studio or management team in Redmond. The key thing is that everyone respects each other and we all have a common goal.

FiringSquad: Of course, Microsoft does have this whole Xbox/Xbox 360 console business as well. What can you tell us, if anything, about any plans for Ensemble to enter the console space?

Bruce Shelley: At this point all I want to say is that we have put together some small but talented prototype teams and they have been asked to come up game proposals that they are very passionate about. Those game could be in any genre and are not restricted to the PC.

FiringSquad: Some people have speculated that Ensemble had tried to develop a first person shooter, especially since a number of Ensemble employees worked at one time at id Software. Can you comment on these rumors?

Bruce Shelley: There are people at ES who particularly like FPS games. Battlefield is one of the most popular games at lunchtime or after work, for example. But we think the business case for FPS is very limited. Good RTS games hang high on the sales charts for years while FPS games go up and down like shooting stars. I believe the people I can think of that came to us from id wanted to work in a new genre. Having said all of that, I reiterate that anything is possible in the future for our studio.

FiringSquad: There has been a lot of talk about Ensemble's plans for the MMO space. Can you give us any hints about what the company is planning at this time?

Bruce Shelley: We haven't announced anything beyond the Age III X-Pack and I don't want to comment on rumors at this point.

FiringSquad: What are your views on the growing use of digital downloads to distribute PC games and extra content and does Ensemble have any plans in this area?

Bruce Shelley: Digital downloads are an exciting development (unless you are in retail). We are thinking about how extra content especially might be distributed for future products, and that in turn has an effect on the business cases for proposed games. It is way too early to talk about anything specific, however.

FiringSquad: What other challenges does the video and PC game industry have to deal with in the next few years, in your opinion?

Bruce Shelley: There seems to be a growing movement to more aggressively restrict the retail sales of particulary violent and lurid games. Poiticians of past eras didn't have much luck taking similar action against operas (somebody gets killed onstage in most of these), comic books, film, and TV, however. We hear that there will be tens of millions of online gamers in China within a few years and tapping into the market is very alluring. World of Warcraft opened a lot of eyes about the potential for reaching non-traditional video gamers. It will be interesting to see if other online games can have the same success. The strategic battle between the X-360 and coming Playstation 3 will be interesting, as well as the effect of that competition on PC gaming. I have been making video/computer games for almost 20 years and the only constant is change, often very rapid change. I don't see that slowing down.

FiringSquad: Finally is there anything else you wish to say about Ensemble Studios and its plans for the future?

Bruce Shelley: Our studio is growing and will soon surpass 100 employees, which is causing some changes in our culture. We are excited about doing some new games that are not in the Age series. By later this year we hope to be able to talk about at least one new game.

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