On Next Generation is an tour of Ensemble Studios, talking with its employees and executive producer Patrick Hudson, who tells us what the company will do next… and, surprisingly, they’re looking into MMOs.
The idea was proposed to Ensemble right after Ultima Online came out. ‘Why don’t we do an MMO?’ At the time, Ensemble was in no position to be thinking about it. But Fischer persisted ever since.“After we shipped Age III,” Hudson says, “We started diving up the studio to do more games than we’ve ever done, and get beyond Age of Empires.” A small team was put around Fischer to start working on a prototype.
“And that’s where those guys still are.” Hudson says. “A pretty small group, just noodling away on ideas, a long way away from anything substantive and shipping anything, that’s for sure. But it’s fun to explore.”
The MMO market has become very crowded since World of Warcraft came out. Ensemble is a highly respected studio, and if they can come up with something fresh and nonfantasy, I guess they’ll have a winner on their hands.
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