Ensemble expats to make a new strategy game with Stardock's help

Sins of a Solar Empire publisher Stardock Entertainment has cut a deal with the Texas-based mobile game studio BonusXP to publish the studio's forthcoming PC strategy title. This is notable because it means a number of ex-Ensemble Studios (Age of Empires) developers are making a new strategy game, a return to form that both partners are making a show of celebrating. The project will fall under the purview of game industry veteran Bruce Shelley (Civilization, Age of Empires), who recently joined BonusXP full-time after serving as a consultant. It's also interesting because BonusXP plans to implement Stardock's Project Tachyon cross-platform networking platform as part of the partnership. The system (which is being developed by a former Blizzard engineer who worked on Battle.net) is yet untested, though it will likely be built into Stardock-published titles (like Mohawk Games' Offworld Trading Company) starting next year. You may remember that BonusXP was founded in 2012 by industry veterans who had previously served at studios like Ensemble, id, Zynga, and more. BonusXP's initial remit was to create replayable casual games for the mobile market, and the studio has followed through on that by launching mobile games like the endless platformer Monster Crew and the match-3 strategy game Cavemania.