Robot Entertainment today announced the opening of its doors. Founded in Plano, Texas by several original Ensemble Studios creators, the staff currently comprises 45 people, all with ties to the now closed Ensemble. Ensemble founder Tony Goodman is the CEO of Robot.

"The video game industry is in a state of upheaval," said Mr. Goodman, "not just games, but the entire landscape. Everything is changing: where we buy games, how we buy games, how much we pay, how long we play, who we play them with. As a fast-moving independent team of game developers, industry leaders and market experts, Robot Entertainment is ideally positioned to play a transformative role in the industry's future."

The development team at Robot helped develop the Age of Empires franchise in addition to the upcoming Halo Wars for Xbox 360. The team will continue to support those franchises for Microsoft Game Studios and are also developing their own original IP.