OP and @TabletopLamp523 cringe
@TabletopLamp523
imagine fimping for 3d RTS
3d RTS is 100% the 90s and 2000s way of creating RTS. style over substance.
and like @SugaryGraph1416 said: waste of resources.
RTS imho is supposed to be about strategy, micro/macro, not about out-angling the enemy.
a nice recent thread about 2d vs 3d in RTS:
BlinGAOE didn’t even know sc2 has 3d. I asked him on-stream five days ago.
now, why do you believe they shut ensemble down? because they were having such great success?
Read what people say, is nice for the person to not have to restate it and is nice for you to not have to ask for it.
So you imply AoE I and II wasnt a succes either?
Edit: It wasnt them wanting to close down ensable but threaten to cutt the contract with them it was during Halo Wars development they got to know the plan to lay them all off after its release, so they already had plans after AoE III was released.
you are telling ME to read what ppl say? 
after i stated multiple times how I said if it was a succes the studio wouldnt have been closed.
No, because after age 2… Age 3 was created. And THEN the studio was closed.
No it was during Halo Wars they got to know they wanted to close ensamble studios, so it didnt have much to do with AoE III.
If age 3 was succesful enough for them, they would have developed a new title. even with another studio. Its MS, they have the money, If they dont continue an IP its because it didntsell enough.
See EAs games like MoH.
Just watch this video of Sandy Petersen one of the game designers of AoE I to III:
It had nothing to do with AoE III, it was some time ago I watched it so I got confused Halo Wars with AoE II, but still the fact remains it wasnt due to AoE III.
Also its a bit hard to make AoE IV when your studio is closed down isnt it? Also AoE III made lots of money, it didnt have to do with their sales.
While this is interesting, and shows a lot how the industry was back then, I am not entirely sure if he, a game designer, completely got the story correctly.
I take the how (make halo wars, fire them all) story. But the rest, as he say, the reasons are heresay. Himself also being hit by that action, Its hard not to think he had a slightly clouded judgement.
It may very well be possible that they were clsoed because of one persons greed.
But I dont think thats too likely. However I dont know, i wasnt around in the industry back then. But if a studio now would say we need 3,5 years, and then you get a billion, the companyeither says make it in 3, or offers more manpower so they DO make it in 3, if wanted. So maybe you see why I am still sceptical.
He also said THEY wanted to make something different after 4 Age titles and another strat game. This may very well also have been a reason for MS to close the studio, who knows.
On the other hand it seems all their games were succesful accorording to him, selling millions.Wo indeed it seems age 3 was not the cause. But, at least here, it was a failire. No AAA Game would be sold for 10€ a year after release^^
On the other topic of the interview, i think thats QUITE interesting - they basically wanted to do what was recently revealed by bethesda- starfield. Although that is apparently not a HALO title, it somehow cathces the rest of the vibes so far
This is also a very interessting video of an interview with I believe the head designer and also one of the founders of ensable studios, the entire video is worth the watch if you enjoy the age titles and the work of the original team and get to know more of how it went back then.
at around 24:00 he begins talking about that it was a challange to make AoE III becuase of gunpowder (but also states later on thats what the team liked and also why they liked to make Halo Wars) he also states further on how AoE IV in his idea would have been civil war or ww1 more so than a possible ww2.
But anyways from 24:00 he begins to talk about how they were thinking of AoE IV, but they just got shut down and also he states the same reason as Sandy Petersen. He also talks througout the video about the successes of the entire franchise and even the franchise being the one funding the entire microsoft game department which did afwul everywhere else. He also shortly talks about the Halo MMO and that they had a working prototype, but he became more management as time went on at ensamble studios and wasnt that heavily involves anymore.