Microsoft Game Studios boss Phil Spencer says that Rare and Lionhead Studios will not be subject to the a shutdown or "re-organization" like their fellow (former) first-party developer, Ensemble.

Speaking with GamesIndustry.biz, Spencer said that no other first-party studios under the Microsoft Games Studios banner was in line for shutdown or an organizational shuffle. Ensemble, famous for developing the Age of Empires series of real-time strategy games, was putting that RTS experience to work on the upcoming 360-exclusive Halo Wars.

Said Spencer:

"So the productivity and effort in those two studios is just great to see, and the number of studio resources we have in the UK - this is our largest concentration of studio resources anywhere on the planet. The studios, and the franchises, remain a very important part of our success...

And Rare, and Lionhead, and Remedy, and the other relationships that we have here are really important." 

Rare is currently working on the Banjo-Kazooie revival Nuts and Bolts, while Lionhead has just finished the Peter Molyneux vehicle Fable II (pictured).