Ensemble chief and veteran game designer Bruce Shelley has admitted that he is shocked by Microsoft's decision to close his studio - home to the Age of Empires series and present home to Wars.

Shelley says his studio had felt they were 'immune' to closure, the developer telling his blog that "everyone at our studio was shocked, and I think remains very disappointed that this is going to happen."

He continues: "I believe we thought we were immune to shut-down talk because our published games have done so well and have been so profitable. Plus we felt we had built a really stable (low-turnover), talented, hard-working, and creative team, which is not easy to do.

"We thought we were among the best studios in the world, and that may be true, but we don’t fit in the future plans of MGS as an internal studio so we’re out."

. Disappointment all round, then.

By Luke Guttridge