Ensemble dev disputes "crunch" rant

By Oli Welsh Published 18 March, 2010

Microsoft could have stopped fall.

Ian Fischer, a former member of Ensemble Studios - the Halo Wars and Age of Empires studio shut down by Microsoft - has disputed that a reliance on "crunch" was what killed the studio.

Fischer has written an open letter to Paul Bettner on his blog, in answer to Bettner's rant against crunch culture at GDC.

Fischer takes issue with Bettner's suggestion that Microsoft's decision to close Ensemble was "fiscally responsible" because "we were simply too expensive".

He argues that Ensemble "was no costlier or less efficient than any other developer of our calibre during this period," inviting Bettner to "take a look at the number of games put out by Valve or Blizzard or Epic during the same time and speak with the people we know at these studios about their budgets and teams".

"Every single game Ensemble Studios made, across more than a decade, paid for its development and made a profit," Fischer said. "Microsoft had its reasons for closing the studio but to imply that it was because we cost too much is fiction... If, at any point, the leadership in Redmond wanted to reduce the cost of making games in Dallas, they could have done so with a phone call."

Fischer disagrees that Ensemble burned out its developers, pointing out that its retention rate was close to 90 per cent, and he argues that the company leadership "worked to eliminate or at least reduce [crunch] constantly and we improved this with each game".

If Ensemble had a failing, he said, it was valuing freedom over efficiency and constantly seeking to expand the studio's boundaries.

"Yes, sometimes after we had steered hard left into the weeds, we needed to work long hours to get the car back on the road," he said.

"If you want to find mistakes with what we did, I'd suggest that those trips into the weeds, looking for new territory, with a partner who wasn't fond of being there, was more our error. Had we decided to crank out RTS after RTS instead of chasing after the MMOs and FPSs and RPGs and RTS-differents we constantly had in prototype, I'm sure we would have been a more efficient studio that could have operated with zero crunch.

"The vast majority of us didn't want to do this. I'm glad for that."

Picture of Oli.

About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

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Comments (36) Latest comment 2 years ago

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  • Johnhost #1 2 years ago

    RIP Ensemble. But I hope those devs can find it in their heart to create some more quality RTS like Halo Wars. Perhaps Gears of War?

  • Armoured_Gideon #2 2 years ago

    I've been playing through Halo Wars recently. This long after the initial release, in a vacuum unspoilt by the initial noise about it, I've been enjoying it immensely.

    It's a real shame that Ensemble no longer exists to have a chance to refine it and produce a follow up (the achievement 'Ready for the Sequel' has a tragic, unforeseen poignancy now) or indeed produce any other game. Good luck to them all in their future endeavours.

  • altitude2k #3 2 years ago

    I do hope to see Halo Wars 2 at some point. An absolutely fantastic and underrated game. Was quite surprised to hear Frankie say that 343 had no plans for a sequel currently in place.

    My guess is that Robot would take the reins on the next one, when it eventually happens.

  • RodHull #4 2 years ago

    @Armoured_Gideon

    Just because a developer vanishes doesn't mean a sequel is impossible. Microsoft still owns the IP so could find someone else to have a bash. Crackdown 2's being made by a different developer for instance, albeit a developer composed of ex-DMA traitors. Sorry, meant employees.

  • schachmatt #5 2 years ago

    I understand that Microsoft didn't see any sense in the Age of Empires developer going to produce a FPS or RPG/MMO without Ensemble exchanging most of the team plus investing heavily in engines/software/infrastructure.

    And isn't having to do crunch after "going into the weeds" sort of blaming himself even more.

  • glottis0 #6 2 years ago

    I suspect that as outside observers, we'll never get an accurate portrayal of the situation. Maybe Bettner was correct and Fischer is just an apologist - or maybe Bettner was a bitter whiner, and Fischer is setting the record straight. Probably reality is somewhere in between.

    I think that although 'crunch' is almost always a bit nasty for the people involved, there are good ways and bad ways to do it. Having decent food, pre-arranged 'late' days, and time off in lieu afterwards helps a lot to mitigate any inconvenience. Also, I've never heard of someone being fired for working normal hours - you just have to decide if the extra hours are worth the benefits (usually bonus, promotion, or simply getting a better game released).

  • Murton #7 2 years ago

    @glottis: +1 for truth.

    Given the two stories offered I'm more inclined to go with Bettner, not saying that Fischer is wrong but the tone that Fischer is using here seems overly defensive and that never sits right with me. Shit happens and when it does it needs to be pointed out, not dismissed as if it didn't happen.

  • LOLLERS #8 2 years ago

    glottis0 - i've never heard of anyone be fired, but I have heard of people being forced out of a company because of 'commitment issues'. Probably because it's illegal to fire someone for working their contractual hours, although most game industry contracts basically say 'You have to work as many hours as we say, whenever we say' i've not heard of that particular clause ever being put to the test.
    Edited by 1 at 18/03/10 @ 10:40

  • kangarootoo #9 2 years ago

    "Fischer disagrees that Ensemble burned out its developers, pointing out that its retention rate was close to 90 per cent"

    Regardless of what happened in this particular case, the above quote is no reliable guide to staff morale. "Fear, uncertainty and doubt" along with a healthy doe of "hope" means unhappy staff will stick at a job even if it is miserable. In other words "better the devil you know" combined with "things will get better one day, they have to" will keep people plugging away ad infinitum.

    This happens in and out of the games industry. Retention rate has far more to do with opportunities than morale.
    Edited by 1 at 18/03/10 @ 10:12

  • woodnotes #10 2 years ago

    I think some 'moving on' needs to happen.

  • EgbertoTheGreat #11 2 years ago

    "This happens in and out of the games industry. Retention rate has far more to do with opportunities than morale. "

    True but Dallas has many games studios, so the staff would have had many opportunities & thus the retention rate is probably indicative of a happy workforce.

    Why the minus Mr minus man? What's so objectionable about that?
    Edited by 1 at 18/03/10 @ 10:45

  • GamesConnoisseur #12 2 years ago

    How well does RTS sits with console scene? Could be a matter of prioritising the long term allocations of resources against the areas where the platform could best shine?

    FPS is an overlarged and bloated area of industry but its does produce some classics and also the public are still lapping it up and throwing money at it.

    RTS I always love and enjoy but couple of my mates traded in Halo Wars as said it was boring! The game is anything but, still its just doesnt communicate popularity other than PC gamers or past 30 somethings gamers?

  • JahB #13 2 years ago

    take a look at the number of games put out by Valve or Blizzard

    and then take a look at Ensemble's. as much as i enjoyed AoE, the good man must have serious delusions of grandeur comparing himself to those two.

  • effinjamie #14 2 years ago

    "take a look at the number of games put out by Valve or Blizzard or Epic during the same time and speak with the people we know at these studios about their budgets and teams"

    Maybe your argument would hold up if you made games with a fraction of the same quality as the aforementioned developers!

  • miiiguel #15 2 years ago

    huh? Epic games, like Gears of the Red Necks better than Ensemble pieces? I disagree.
    Anyway, the examples given by this guy are also, imo, fail. Valve makes more money with Steam than with game development; Epic could just stop making games altogether and just sell Unreal engine, and Blizzard... well, that is even easier, they found their gold mine.

  • kangarootoo #16 2 years ago

    @EgbertoTheGreat

    A lot of studios doesn't necessarily mean a lot of opportunities if those studios aren't hiring.

    Its a fair point though. I shall plus 1 you :)

  • Gastrian #17 2 years ago

    Edit - I'm an idiot who should not post during his lunch break when he doesn't have enough time to read the links.

    Well I've personally got no sympathy for this guy after the following statement;

    "If you want to find mistakes with what we did, I'd suggest that those trips into the weeds, looking for new territory, with a partner who wasn't fond of being there, was more our error. Had we decided to crank out RTS after RTS instead of chasing after the MMOs and FPSs and RPGs and RTS-differents we constantly had in prototype, I'm sure we would have been a more efficient studio that could have operated with zero crunch.

    First off Microsoft was not your partner, Microsoft was your employer, they owned the studio and paid your wages. Secondly you were employed to do a certain task, if your employer only wanted you to do RTs games that's their choice not yours. I work on an accounts section of a company and my specific role within that team is to process invoices for payment and while my team may also do expenses I can't just decide to go and do expenses instead of invoice processing and if I were to complain and make a point of it my HR department, managers and union would just state that invoice processing is my job and if I didn't want to do it anymore I should look for employment elsewhere.

    That statement of his just annoys me as its so full of arrogance, it pretty much reads "It was our error not realising that our bosses couldn't comprehend that we were above the task we were being asked to perform". Its even compounded by that very last statement "The vast majority of us didn't want to do this. I'm glad for that." So you are glad that you were a pain in the arse developer who would not do your job without complaining, that you had to "crunch" because you spent time doing what you wanted not what your employer asked you to do and made you and your entire team unemployed because of this? I'm sorry but this guy needs a reality check and not even a P45 for him and his team is giving him that! The simple fact is the vast majority of us are bored of the job we do but we know we are doing what we were employed to do and when we've had enough we start looking for employment elsewhere, we don't do what we feel like because if we do, we are going to get fired.
    Edited by 1 at 18/03/10 @ 22:27

  • UncleLou #18 2 years ago

    I work on an accounts section of a company

    We never would have guessed.

  • smoison #19 2 years ago

    Microsoft has basically killed off thier entire PC games developement, so an RTS developer wasn't going to survive long.

    Halo wars (consol only?) should have been a sign of the danger comeing.

  • thesombrerokid #20 2 years ago

    this is a disgusting viewpoint, it's not the responsibility of the employees to drop everything and pull the managements ass out the fire because they fucked up, this only happens in the games industry and doesn't have to the company i work for would never dream of doing anything like that to it's staff, the management recognise they've a responsibility to keep the company profitable without burning out it's staff.

  • Ranger101 #21 2 years ago

    "the company i work for would never dream of doing anything like that to it's staff, the management recognise they've a responsibility to keep the company profitable without burning out it's staff."

    I wish I worked at your company :-( T_T

    Gastrian's sentiments are understandable, but the delivery of the message was not.

    Microsoft has a responsibility to ensure that 'their employees' (partner is the correct term - they were still an entity) are tasked with projects that would play to their expertise and interest, and assert success. You can't tell an RTS team to build FPSes without ruffling feathers or missing skills - being a coder doesn't mean you can instantaneously transport your skills between project of different types.

    It's like asking a professional landscape photographer to start doing professional human portraits - that shit's the same right? No it's not. You want professional, quality portraits, you go to someone who knows how to do them instead of someone who's getting distracted by the scenery.

    I think I side with Bettner though - man was probably more connected to the finanacial workings and time management.

    (Disclaimer: I am a coder).
    Edited by 2 at 18/03/10 @ 13:37

  • Gastrian #22 2 years ago

    @ UncleLou,

    Your comment is funny only because its so full of 100% FAIL!

    You have no idea what my job is do you even though I said what I do? An accounts department is a transactional department responsible for making sure payments to other companies are made and receipts and funds received are allocated to the correct bank account, it has no invlovement with company decisions. Now if you were thinking I was a "bean counter" then my post would be completely at odds with that as the news piece states these guys were profitable which means they would be in an accountants good books.

    My point was related to performance and attitude which is a Human Resources or Corporate Management area of influence which has nothing to do with my department. So yeah how does me working on an Accounts Department explain my post?

  • memeroot #23 2 years ago

    Accounts guy
    Ok so many of us have sold our soles to the financial devil but regardless I made my carrier by challenging orthodoxy within a dull inefficient environment and year on year bring in 6 figures because of it.
    Do. What you feel is right for the firm and don't limit yourself by their limited expectation and you can progress and achieve otherwise you'll be sat in accounts forever

  • LOLLERS #24 2 years ago

    THIS.

    "it's not the responsibility of the employees to drop everything and pull the managements ass out the fire because they fucked up, this only happens in the games industry and doesn't have to"

  • EgbertoTheGreat #25 2 years ago

    Gastrian,

    You're assuming that MS didn't want them moving out of the RTS genre. The company's role within MGS was not as fixed as your position is within your company. Infact MGS's position in the market isn't fixed either. Ensemble were the last remnant of a PC focused era of MGS & as such their survival depended upon them changing their focus. Sadly, for whatever reason, MS decided that change was not viable.

  • UncleLou #26 2 years ago

    Your comment is funny only because its so full of 100% FAIL!

    You have no idea what my job is do you even though I said what I do?

    Quite on the contrary, I know exactly what you do.

    I am pretty sure that you have no idea of the exact relationship between Ensemble and Microsoft though.

    So yeah how does me working on an Accounts Department explain my post?

    Because you deduct from your role as an employee in the accounts department to how an autonomus, albeit economically dependent, creative team should or should not work.
    Edited by 1 at 18/03/10 @ 13:54

  • ignatiusjreilly #27 2 years ago

    @Gastrion

    You post seemed to fit that of an accountant (unfairly or not) because you are purely talking efficiency and duty to your employer, making no concessions to the artist or the passion that goes into a making something you love and believe in.

  • kangarootoo #28 2 years ago

    @Gastrian

    Stop being so touchy about your job :)

    You make some good points (though you don't help yourself by starting off with "I've no sympathy" - most overused term on the internet imo, alongside "I've lost all respect";).


    However, you say its not up to you to start just doing expenses instead of invoices just 'cos you fel like it, but here is another example. Your boss asks you to start also fixing the photocopier as well as processing invoices. Its your boss telling you what to do, so you do it to the best of your ability 'cos you are a professional, but its not really your area of expertise so you don't do a great job and you certainly aren't very happy about it.

    Further to that, an experienced professional should see it as part of their job to feed back to their eomployer on processes and decisions, not just do what they are told facelessly. There is of course no point being a petulant arse about it, but in my example above, quietly buggering up the photocopier because you were told to fix it isn't the professional approach either.

    The professional approach is to have an adult conversation about how asking you to fix the copier is a bad idea. If I get an instruction from my boss that I think has problems, I'll point out the issues as I see them. Maybe my boss has overlooked something, maybe the mistake is mine, we are both good at what we do but we are also human and don't get it right first time every time. I know I can have that conversation, and I believe that it is MY responsibility to raise that conversation if necessary. If I just do what I am told, every time, without question, even if I see a problem, I'm not doing my job as well as I could be.

    But some bosses don't like to be told their ideas are bad by anyone, especially not those they oversee. Maybe MS is one of those bosses?

    I am just supposing here. I don't know who is "right" and I don't much care. What I am trying to say is that two sides of a discussion, equally feeling that one side is right and one is wrong, but differing on who they side with, and probably both wrong. These thing are complex. Chances are some of the guys working at Ensenble fucked up, and some did not, and some of the guys working at MS fucked up, and some did not. Taking a single paragraph, quoting it, and essentially saying "on the basis of this bit here, this is who I think was solely responsible for this chain of events" is rather naive (sorry, but it is).

    But what I would bet money on is that poor communication and a "them and us" attitude developing on both sides likely turned a fixable problem into a sinking ship. Diplomacy for teh win says I.
    Edited by 1 at 18/03/10 @ 14:06

  • spekkeh #29 2 years ago

    Not sure if I believe Fischer. If every single game Ensemble made, made a profit, then why would Microsoft even think of closing the studio?

    Methinks Bettner, being a manager, had a somewhat clearer view of the financial picture than assistant designer Fischer.

  • ignatiusjreilly #30 2 years ago

    Methinks Bettner, being a manager, had a somewhat clearer view of the financial picture than assistant designer Fischer.

    I don't remember Bettner saying the games weren't profitable? Just that they were too expensive (i.e. not profitable enough), which might answer your first question.

    Also, see this from the original blog post:

    "By apologising for your inactions “as a manager”, you suggest that you were a manager and therefore imply that you have some insight into the operation of the studio or into the justifications for our closing. You were never a member of the management team at Ensemble Studios. For that matter, neither you, nor anyone else, was “Creative Director” at our studio. You were in no way involved in any of the conversations between Ensemble’s and Microsoft’s leadership regarding the closure of the studio."
    Edited by 1 at 18/03/10 @ 14:43

  • kangarootoo #31 2 years ago

    Do we know HOW profitable the games were? 1p profit is profitable, but its hardly a good investment.

    Not losing money is hardly the highest goal any company can set for itself. If profits were poor, I could understand MS taking their money elsewhere.

  • kangarootoo #32 2 years ago

    @ignatiusjreilly

    There is something really quite depressing about open letters of this type.

    Dirty laundry, meet public.

  • ignatiusjreilly #33 2 years ago

    @kangarootoo

    Yeah, don't get me wrong, I don't blame MS for doing it. They didn't get where they are today by being happy with just turning a simple profit. But then I wonder why they bought a PC-centric RTS specialist in the first place.

    Re: the blog post - his whole team got slated on every games site on the web, I don't blame him for trying to get across his side publicly.
    Edited by 1 at 18/03/10 @ 14:58

  • kangarootoo #34 2 years ago

    @ignatiusjreilly

    Ah well, fair enough if the team was getting slated. I've not followed any of this outside of this site.

  • Zaiz #35 2 years ago

    The Age of Empires games sold fantastically well, in case anyone was wondering, and Age of Empires II is still on store shelves, so is Age of Mythology, and...Age of Empires III. Ensemble has been a highly profitable studio, and the reason why Microsoft canned them is likely to be a complete mystery, other than perhaps Microsoft ditching PC development entirely, for no real reason. PC games are still profitable, or else Relic and other PC only devs wouldn't be alive.

  • Gastrian #36 2 years ago

    @Kangarootoo

    Well all I can say is my bad for not reading the blog first (damn those small lunch breaks), Eurogamer for cherry picking its quotes (its like the news piece and blog are talking about two different subjects) and being very highly strung at the moment cause last year I had to help my brother out financially because his employer "let him go" because he qualified as a carpenter and was entitled to more money (That was the exact reason given). This month I've already had to sign five farewell cards for colleagues who've been laid off, not because of their work (they were better performers than the permanent staff) but because we hired them from an agency so they weren't entitled to severance pay with the last three leaving at the end of the month, two of which I'm good friends with. I've also got twenty friends/colleagues going up against each other as well as the rest of the company for a handful of jobs, they get their interview results at the end of the month, if they passed they stay if they didn't they have to hand their passes in at the end of the day and sign on with the job centre the following day which makes any subject regarding redundancy a touchy subject.

    I've now read the full blog and take back everything I said in my previous post and will no longer take Eurogamer new pieces at face value.