Lionhead Studios Closing

[137th Gebirg]

Microsoft cancels Fable Legends, plans to shut down Lionhead Studios

Microsoft is canceling development of Fable Legends, Lionhead Studios' Xbox One and Windows PC game, and is "in discussions" to close the Fable developer, according to a statement released by Hanno Lemke, general manager of Microsoft Studios Europe.

"After much consideration we have decided to cease development on Fable Legends, and are in discussions with employees about the proposed closure of Lionhead Studios in the UK. Additionally, we will close Press Play Studios in Denmark, and sunset development on Project Knoxville." - Hanno Lemke

This is a cryin' shame. I know Fable III fell quite short on what was promised, but I still thought it was a great game with brilliant scenery, music and atmosphere. I for one am quite sad that There will be no more Fable's.

 

[SPCTRE]

Can't say I'm going to miss the Fable franchise (and I'm afraid I'm part of the majority here).

 

[137th Gebirg]

Yeah, I recognize Fable isn't the most popular of titles. IIRC, the GM of Lionhead had a habit of promising amazing things and then never really delivering - a big reason behind what did them in, I suspect. I concede total bias on this, as Fable II was the first XBox 360 game I ever got and it made a lasting impression. While Fable III clearly fell short in many ways (see promises vs. delivery above), I still have a thoroughly irrational soft spot for the franchise while others say "meh". It's all good.

 

[ThunderAeroI]

This isn't such a big deal, as Peter works for a different company now called 22 cans.

 

[Hippocrates Noah]

I bought the first Fable game when it came out and couldn't get into it. I didn't really give it much of a chance, I barely played it. I planned to eventually play the game and see if it ever got rolling (RPG games sometimes take a little while to do so) but never got around to it.

 

[Owain Taggart]

I played it about 2 years ago, and honestly it hasn't held up terribly well. It might have been more groundbreaking when it originally came out, but it felt like quite a generic action-rpg and even calling it an RPG is being nice as the rpg elements were toned down significantly.

 

[John Clark]

I think the only game of theirs I've ever played was the first Fable - The Lost Chapters (pc version) (though possibly for less than half an hour) and a demo of The Movies.

I've probably got to get around to playing more of Fable at some point. I know there are some games I got when younger that I only really enjoyed later on so perhaps this'll be the same.

 

[Hippocrates Noah]

I played it about 2 years ago, and honestly it hasn't held up terribly well. It might have been more groundbreaking when it originally came out, but it felt like quite a generic action-rpg and even calling it an RPG is being nice as the rpg elements were toned down significantly.

Yeah, that was kind of what I thought. But like I said I didn't give it too much of a chance. I like quite a few RPGs, I grew up on the Dragon Quest/Dragon Warrior games and by the time XBOX came along there had been some pretty good RPGs on the market like Morrowind and Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic. Fable might be a lot of fun, but I was looking for something a little more RPG-like and I was getting more of a Zelda vibe from it. Still though, I feel for fans of the franchise. It seems like game developers give up a little too easily on franchises. Even if an installment is successful and makes money, failure to meet their projections often ends in cancellation of the series. I realize the economics are different in the two industries, but film franchises often continue as long as there's a dime to be made, if a game doesn't make money hand over fist the developers give up and move on to something else. Not always, but quite often it seems.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Yeah, ironically I play less and less of those kinds of RPGs and have gone more for the traditional type in recent years, most of which I missed the first time around due to not being into the genre. Heck, I've just started playing Neverwinter Nights which is old-school. So much so that it's amazing to think that it's a Bioware game as it's a Bioware you wouldn't recognize from playing ME or DA.

But yeah, I agree. Trends certainly seem to move quickly in the game industry. On the other hand, if something is successful, you see other devs come out with something similar, sometimes even improving on a concept. Fable actually had a fairly good concept, but as with all of Molyneux's ideas, I don't think he could fully deliver them. The strongest thing it has going for it is its style. It has a strong unique style. But like you say, it does have a bit of a Zelda feel to it. I actually wonder if maybe he had shopped it to Nintendo before landing at Microsoft, as it definitely has more of a Nintendo feel to it, and less of an XBox feel. It's almost uncharacteristically inoffensive compared to the rest of the catalogue.

 

[Amaris]

Aw, they were the studio that created Black and White, one of my favorite games.

 

[Mr Light]

Fable 2 and 3 are some of my all time favorite games. I'd been waiting for the next forever.