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[Kintaro]

All people wanted was another traditional Fable. That's all. Sad to see. =/

 

[fantomena]

What.

 

[link1201]

This sucks not because Fable Legends isn't getting made but it sucks because this means a new "Real" Fable game may never get made. Hope those at studio find a place to showcase their talent.

 

[TharpDaddy]

Hopefully Fable isn't a dead franchise now.

It almost certainly is. The only other MS studio that sticks out to me as 'whimsical' enough to develop a Fable game is Rare. It's going to be hard to justify a new Fable game after they just cancelled a spinoff that was in development for so long.

 

[ArkkAngel007]

Well, that explains why things were quiet on that end. Despite not having much of an interest in Legends, it's a shame to see the studio go.

 

[Four_Chamber]

Fable Legends was doomed from the start- didn't see the allure of that game at all.

Say what you will about Molyneux, but that guy was this studio. When he left it became a generic product. Fable I and II were fantastic games and that's what I'll remember this studio for.

 

[Max_Po]

Well I was not feeling Fable Legends Beta I felt the combat was pretty weak.

Whose decision was it to cancel it ?

 

[Human_me]

This is concerning.

 

[Zareka]

Woah, what? I wasn't particularly interested in Legends but I never expected it to get canned, never mind Lionhead to shut down completely. Dang.

 

[inky]

So we will never get a sequel to The Movies. Fuck this

You were still hoping? LOL, I gave up that dream long ago.

What we need is an indie studio to make a spiritual successor at this point. MS or Activision don't give a shit.

 

[Rellik]

This is the saddest part:



I've only played the first Fable (very, very late, on PC, a few years ago), but I liked it a lot. It's one of those few games I know I'll remember fondly in the future. It's sad to hear that apparently few gamers are excited about the franchise

Fable did get worse with every game, but I still enjoyed the series.I was hoping for a true Fable 4. I guess we won't be getting that now

 

[Mivey]

Sounds like horrible project management to let a game go so far into developement and then cancel it. Either it was completely disfunctional (techincally, or as a game) or Microsoft saw no commercial chances for it, but either way someone dropped the ball here.

 

[Tagyhag]

Fable Legends looked to be mediocre but it's never good to have people lose their jobs, hope they get back on their feet and RIP Lionhead.

Black and White was awesome and though Fable wasn't all it was meant to be, I still thought it was a great game and I have good memories with it.

 

[Sheriff_Battlesnake]

Rare next? :-/

I wouldn't think so, but hey, this was a surprise too. It seems like they are trying to put more eggs in Rare's basket instead of less. but I suppose only time will tell.

 

[Lanrutcon]

Where the heck did this come from?

 

[Kane1345]

Wow

 

[DopeyFish]

Yeah, this always bothers me, due to often having a nagging feeling that in most cases, those fans aren't me. Consolidation behind the majority fanbase still rearing its head.

Fable popularity has dropped off a cliff though

imo they never kept it fresh enough... fable always had problems living up to the old "project ego"

 

[purg3]

Always hate to see people lose their jobs, but damn, this game must have been a disaster for MS to pull the plug?

Hope everyone lands on their feet.

 

[Guymelef]

From Halo-Forza-Fable-Halo to Halo-Forza-Halo?

 

[Barzul]

I played Fable Legends. I didn't like it. It's sad that people are losing jobs. Hopefully they find something new fairly quickly and MS offers decent severance packages. I wish they had gone the new IP route like Rare did with Sea of Thieves.

 

[justsomeguy]

the the movies team got fired a long time ago though, ten years ago actually.

I guarantee that's not true. Maybe some of them did (I have no idea), but not all of them (I have certainty).

 

[Dreams-Visions]

Also, when was the last time we had a decent Fable game? That Kinect game was legit awful, right? Maybe it's MS' fault for forcing them to make a Kinect game. We probably could have had a proper sequel in the time lost on that project.

This is legitimately upsetting news. The Fable franchise should have been so much more than what it became.

We could say the same of quite a few MS-owned franchises.

Mech Warrior / Mech Assault
Perfect Dark
Crimson Skies
Brute Force
Kameo
Conker

and so on.

TBQH, it tends to feel like Microsoft is where franchises just eventually die if they don't involve guns. Sometimes even then.

 

[Wace]

I wonder who owns the code... I mean, is it possible to rebrand it as, IDK, Mythical Legends and publish somewhere else in the current state? What's the point of canceling ready product in the age of digital distribution?

 

[foxbeldin]

Well that's sad.

 

[Moaradin]

Wow that's nuts. That game seemed very far in development and was gonna come out soon!

 

[Xater]

I thought the game always looked absolutely terrible and it probably should not have been greenlit. Seeing it being canceled so late into development is still weird.

 

[Doc_Drop]

My condolences to the teams,never good when mass closures happen. Hopefully everyone will land on their feet.

That may be the last nail in the coffin for Fable,massive shame as I always wanted the game they were trying to make and enjoyed the Fable trilogy for what they were

 

[reKon]

Well, shit...

 

[Walpurgis]

Remember...
"My Strategy is more around our own first party franchises, and investing in franchises that we own, and probably fewer exclusive deals for third party content. I want to have strong third party relations, but paying for many third party exclusives isn’t our long term strategy."

I remember. At this rate, I don't think there will be an Xbox console next gen.

 

[ironcreed]

Btw - title is misleading. Lionhead is not closed just yet. They are still discussing this.

It would be great if they were able to keep it together and go all out on Fable 4 instead. Which is what they should have done to begin with. But unfortunately this sounds like the end.

 

[Tom Nook]

Wow, out of nowhere. Sucks for the Lionhead.

Hope everyone gets another job.

 

[Enter The 36 Chambers]

Surprising as hell.

Legends looked awful imo though.

What does press play make?

 

[DeepEnigma]

We could say the same of quite a few MS-owned franchises.

Mech Warrior / Mech Assault
Perfect Dark
Crimson Skies
Brute Force
Kameo
Conker

and so on.

TBQH, it tends to feel like Microsoft is where franchises just eventually die if they don't involve guns. Sometimes even then.

And they also own the well regarded (before they bought it) High Heat licenses and do nothing for a first party Baseball game.

MSFT, where the 'no you cannot have nice things' licenses go to die. :/

 

[SuperBanana]

Oh wow! That was sudden.

 

[wapplew]

I don't understand, why the studio have to go down with the game? Can't they just start making something else,it's not like MS is lack of fund.

 

[Shin-Ra]

Lionhead gave me a work experience placement back when The Movies and Black & White 2 were in development.

My test PC was under the desk and I accidentally destroyed its power supply by rubbing my leg against the mains cable. The rubber PSU plug must've been fit too loosely!

 

[FrsDvl]

That was unexpected.. They released an update for the beta not that long ago!

 

[viHuGi]

Spencer. What are you doing?

Nothing lol

 

[Logash]

Don't want to sound too dramatic, but I'm honestly expecting Rare to go soon; this will all depend on how their new game does, but every game they've released for MS so far outside of Kinect Sports really hasn't sold that well.

Sad to hear another studio die off though and one which had an exclusive series which seemed a big part of the Xbox brand.

I would say that Rare can live on their legacy alone. Not saying that there won't be negative consequences to a failed game but I doubt Microsoft wants to be known for shutting down one of the oldest European studios put there. Not to mention the fact that if they do they will have a significantly lower dev presence in Europe. I think the worst that could happen is a massive shakenup in the dev team.

 

[InaudibleWhispa]

Damn, that's sad and somewhat surprising. I wasn't much looking forward to Legends but I really enjoyed Fable 1 and 2, as flawed as they were. Such warm and cozy games and I was curious what a sequel would look like without Molyneux steering the ship. Maybe we'll find out with another studio, but I feel like Lionhead pumped a lot of heart into the games that will be lost.

 

[Figments]

The Fable franchise deserved better than the trash Lionhead was forced into making these last times out. (The Journey, Legends)

So no first-party role-playing exclusives on Xbox, then? Time to make more shooters? May as well be GenericBox.
Not happy with this.

You act as though a single player RPG fits within their overall business strategy of pushing Xbox Live.

 

[DerZuhälter]

I don't know who's idea the direction on the new Fable was, but to be frank, it was a terrible idea. It looked completely unappealing and didn't even cater to old fans of the series (the few it had).
Feel sorry for the guys and gals losing their job. Hopefully you find a new place soon.

 

[Nibel]

Never believed in Fable Legends but Microsoft closing one of their first-party studios is crazy

 

[RPGCrazied]

RIP

All I wanted was a proper Fable 4, Legends sadly wasn't that. Still, hope those employees find other work.

 

[Gaz Pwnage]

Oh well.

Another hit to the Industry in the UK.

Thanks Microsoft.

 

[kami_sama]

Holy shit. This came out of nowhere, at least for me. I hope everyone lands on their feet.

 

[Ape]

Better refund me the cash I spent on gold for that canceled game.

 

[Death Metalist]

Holy shit, that's terrible. I'm sorry for all that are losing their jobs because of this. Out of no where.

 

[Vinterbird]

Man they pulled the plug on this real late into its cycle. I bet we will find a copy of this on a dev console one day like so many other late canceled projects.

It's on a lot of consoles right now. Beta was live

 

[RedSparrows]

Yeah, this always bothers me, due to often having a nagging feeling that in most cases, those fans aren't me. Consolidation behind the majority fanbase still rearing its head.

Yeah, I have a horrible feeling like that. It's not like the Xbox platform has always been the most diverse (and hell, I mainly use it for Halo alone), but there's always been enough. Killing off two of their most distinctive devs is a crap move in that respect.