Ensemble closure â??doesnâ??t make a lot of senseâ?

The director of technology at the soon to be closed Microsoft developer Ensemble Studios Dave Pottinger has admitted his surprise at the decision to shut the studio down.

Ensemble is currently hard at work at the massively anticipated Halo Wars on Xbox 360, though its solid reputation was built on the back of the critically and commercially successful Age of Empires series on PC.

Speaking to ShackNews, Pottinger stated: “It’s Microsoft’s right to decide where they want to put their money. Personally we all disagree with the decision. It honestly doesn’t make a lot of sense. But that’s their prerogative.

“Microsoft has a plan. We’re not in it the way that we used to be. They’re making the choice that they need to make to be profitable, and make the right choice for the shareholders and things like that. It’s hard to look at the stuff Ensemble’s done and equate those two things, and justify it in that sense. I think we made, what, $700 million in total on the Age franchise?”

Ensemble recently revealed that it was a fair way into a Halo MMO project before the plug was pulled on the game.