Ensemble Studios

Ensemble Studios was formed in 1995 by brothers Tony Goodman and Rick Goodman along with legendary game developer and visionary Bruce Shelley who had previously worked for Microrose. Ensemble's first game was Age of Empires released in 1997 which was a real time strategy game. Age of Empires gained critical success and launched Ensemble into the limelight. Bruce Shelley described the success for Age of Empires to be "innovation, rather than imitation of its peers". Following the release of Age of Empires an expansion pack "Rise of Rome" was released. By this time Ensemble was fully established as a successful studio and had launched a website engaging fans to what goes on inside Ensemble.