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[Tatsumi Oga]

After I played the beta for a while I kept thinking how this should have been Fable 4 from the start. It looked damn good with some very cool character designs and I loved the town and how it looked. Combat was definitely fun but the way these quests were set up got old way too soon. Its goddamn sad to see them closing the studio though, both studios. WHY?

 

[Alienous]

They should have hired Phil Mitchell as their Microsoft go-between.

"Lionhead just need a little bit more..."
"We can't give them any more time. The game is way over budget"
"Get out of my pub. The ladies and gents there are working their arses off"
"... how much time do you need?"
"Time? What I need is... what I need is crack"
"We're closing the studio"

Spoiler

I put too much into this post before I knew it was going nowhere.

 

[Celegus]

Ouch. Only played Black & White which I quite liked at the time, but RIP Lionhead. Good luck to all those affected.

 

[SparkTR]

They had already made 3 huge AAA Fables before. And yes they had issues in development but they still shipped them. The talent and ability were already within the studio, so no the point stands and the demand from consumers would have been there.

Lionhead is only dead right now because of Fable Kinect and Fable Legends happened instead of Fable 4. Terrible management of the studio and the IP.

Heartbreaking we'll never get to explore Albion agaib

Could also consider that AAA in 2016 is probably a lot different than AAA in 2008 in terms of production costs etc.

 

[Ascenion]

Whens the last time you even play it? PC version is the great.

Likely a few months. My roommate played it more than me. It just never looked good and when I played it my fears were pretty much confirmed. A prime example of nobody asked for this. I was hoping they could glean so,etching out of it for Fable 4 since it wasn't all bad, but like others have said, it just wasn't good.

 

[Mengy]

Woah. Didn't expect this today when I woke up this morning.

 

[RedSparrows]

Thread: 'wow, that was unexpected. I expect X now.'

 

[Garlador]

First Phantom Dust, now Fable Legends.

... I'm growing concerned Microsoft doesn't know how to manage their IPs and studios.

I hope everyone who lost their job lands on their feet.

 

[Quazar]

They should of never cancelled BC. Joking aside, really sucks Lionhead came down to this. Pretty crazy

 

[tamaster92]

RIP Lionhead

Hope that the game gets out there somehow or another, it seemed like 90% done anyway.

Would be nice for it to be leaked

 

[CrimsonEclipse]

Sounds like to me, someone above Phil's paygrade doing some cleanup. Sad for those that lost there job though. I played in the beta and while it was fun I didn't see myself putting hours into it.

Be interesting to see where the IP goes now, possibly another studio will take the helm.

 

[Kaako]

It's all because of Kinect if you think about it.
Kinect mess up Rare, Lion head, mess up Xbox one from power to price, all because of the "sucess" of Kinect.

Lol fucking Kinect. Ran a train through a whole bunch of studios.

 

[Chaos2Frozen]

This came out of nowhere.

Were there any signs of development troubles?

 

[DeuceGamer]

This seems really strange. Hate to see studios closed and hope everyone affected land on their feet.

 

[Miles X]

MS is winding down from the games industry, is all I really get from this. They'll attempt a PC initiative but fuck it up, then slowly close/sell off their franchises and studios bar Halo.

 

[Bedameister]

This is just sad.

 

[SuitedforGaming]

What is Microsoft doing?
It's like they're tring to shoot themselves in the foot at every opportunity they have to redeem themselves.

 

[Doug Heffernan]

This game screams Don Mattrick not Phil. I could be wrong though.

Absolutely.
Everything about Fable Legends reeks of that always online microtransaction phase from 2014.
It needed to go, and really it was the only remaining vestige of the Mattrick era still in development hell.

I don't understand the closing of Press Play though. Seemed like a nice small project to add some indie creativity to the portfolio.

 

[Garrett Hawke]

This came out of nowhere.

Were there any signs of development troubles?

Apart from it taking forever to come out, no. They put a good amount of work into Unreal 4 as well which many studios will see the benefits of.

 

[DopeyFish]

This came out of nowhere.

Were there any signs of development troubles?

1.5 year long beta

 

[SummitAve]

Bummer. I really appreciated their style.

 

[Baron_Calamity]

Was The Movies just a huge commercial flop? I've seen people on here talk about it, but other than that, I've never seen it, never seen it on sale, never even heard people acknowledge the game. How did a seemingly well-received game go completely under the radar?

Different stories go around about what happen to the Movie during development and after release.

The official Story was The Movies didn't sell well and the console points were canceled. The unoffical story is the game sold very well during a time when pc games did not sell and Activision was trying to buy Lionhead only to be outbid by Microsoft. Activision canceled the ports.

 

[Generalpsyduck]

That was sudden. I would be lying if 8 did not see it coming though.

 

[flaxknuckles]

Should have just made Fable 4.

 

[Obliterator]

That decimates their output. It is basically 343, Rare, Turn 10 and The Coalition now. BigPark, Good Science Studio, Launchworks, Lift London still seem to be open, but haven't released a game in ages according to their Wikpedia pages. It makes it kinda hard to count them. BigPark doesn't even have a website anymore.

Yeah its pretty crazy. MS have almost no 1st party at this point, and if Sea of Thieves doesnt sell what they want it to Rare could easily be next

 

[Revolutionary]

Now people will never be able to enjoy this emote in all of its glory
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3SvWAunMvo

But seriously though, the presentation in the game was very good, even if the story was a bit hard to follow in between rounds of co-op. I'm really surprised they outright canceled it instead of retooling it into a singleplayer game, or even just opening the beta and reaping the MT purchases.

 

[Garrett Hawke]

Absolutely.
Everything about Fable Legends reeks of that always online microtransaction phase from 2014.
It needed to go, and really it was the only remaining vestige of the Mattrick era still in development hell.

What, so the studio had to go to? Nah. F2P is not a Mattrick thing - Phil literally just announced an F2P Forza for PC.

 

[wapplew]

Fable 4 by platinum game!

 

[Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew]

For some reason I feel that Rare MMO will be canceled too.

Rare is making an MMO? Hmm.

 

[poncle]

Fable Legends was a fresh, ambitious project and I was really hoping it would be a success. So sad...

 

[AncientDiety]

Absolutely.
Everything about Fable Legends reeks of that always online microtransaction phase from 2014.
It needed to go, and really it was the only remaining vestige of the Mattrick era still in development hell.

I don't understand the closing of Press Play though. Seemed like a nice small project to add some indie creativity to the portfolio.

LOL at blaming mattrick and no one else.

 

[JayWood2010]

I won't be surprised if MS close down Rare and just keep their IPs. Killer Instinct is superb but it's made by Double Helix then handed over to Dave Lang.

I really don't think that would happen for two reasons. As I said, most of their games has been financially successful excluding Banjo Nuts&Bolts (Phil Spencer said it didnt sell what he hoped it would) and Kinect Sports Rivals. Rare Replay just released with a lot of success.

They also have such a huge history in video games that it would likely hurt Microsoft more than help them in terms of closing them.

Lastly Rare has not been in the same situation as Lionhead. Lionhead has continuously delayed Fable Legends and has created little Buzz. Its sad to see what happened as an end result, but they can't keep delaying a game especially when its Free to Play. There has to be a point of emphasis to release the game as it costs a lot of resources to keep a studio alive that isn't bringing a return, and it sounds like it was going to be delayed again.

In the end, I just hope that all the developers get back on their feet quickly.

 

[Mifec]

Rare is making an MMO? Hmm.

Sea of Thieves, idk if it's a MMO but they likely mean that.

 

[Mr. Giggles]

Awwwww rip lion head and press play.

I only played black and white and the first fable and I loved them.

Damn dawg

 

[Alexastor]

What a shock. Good luck to all finding a new job!

it's interesting to note that MS has killed all (most?) of their first party F2P games. Project Spark, Fable Legends and Project Knoxville.

Age of Empires Online. Never forget.

 

[Generalpsyduck]

Who is going to make fable now hmmmm.

 

[DistortionOfReality]

Damn. Pretty well regarded studio in Lionhead, can't believe it has just shut up shop like that. Best wishes to all employees

 

[Intel_89]

This is pretty huge, I wonder what'll happen to Rare if that pirates MMO fails.

 

[GuitarAtomik]

I wonder if the Fable Legends beta download will be obsessed about as much as the PT demo download in a few months.

Doesn't matter. Once the server is turned off you won't be able to get past the title screen.

 

[Doug Heffernan]

LOL at blaming mattrick and no one else.

No. I do blame Phil for not cancelling the project earlier. All that money lost...

 

[ironcreed]

For some reason I feel that Rare MMO will be canceled too.

Sea of Thieves. I would not be surprised.

 

[Poodlestrike]

They also have Decisive Games (?) making a strategy game.

Assuming that's still happening :/

 

[AncientDiety]

No. I do blame Phil for not cancelling the project earlier. All that money lost...

Phil was head of their studios.......

 

[Nirolak]

I was expecting them to at least give Fable Legends a couple months of being live before killing it.

Surprised they didn't just spin off Press Play. Maybe you can't do that with studios in that country?

 

[Zedox]

I think they (Lionhead) were about to propose another delay (maybe 6 months?) and MS prolly said eff it and closed it down. Somebody got fired hard. That's the only way that makes sense. I mean this beta was out for a long time. Wasting development costs. That's the only thing that makes sense to me.

So MS needs to still make a Fable game and a Phantom Dust game. Much work needs to be done on their side. They are losing 1st party games. Not to mention a Windows 10 game as well.

 

[Primethius]

What, so the studio had to go to? Nah. F2P is not a Mattrick thing - Phil literally just announced an F2P Forza for PC.

Everyone also forgets about Killer Instinct.

:lol

 

[arts&crafts]

I liked fable 1 and 2

 

[Vanillalite]

No. I do blame Phil for not cancelling the project earlier. All that money lost...

This I'll agree with. Game feels like a Mattrick always online joint.

Phil should have canned it when he had the chance vs letting the team try and rework the game though. Should have just cut bate, and told LH to make a Fable 4.

 

[Obliterator]

Could also consider that AAA in 2016 is probably a lot different than AAA in 2008 in terms of production costs etc.

Sure but plenty of other companies are still making AAA games, including MS

The fact is MS has a terrible track record with internal studios and this is yet another example in a long history of how they handle them

 

[Count of Monte Sawed-Off]

That sucks. I wonder if lionhead would have been better off if they'd just let them make more single player fable RPGs instead of turning the series into an on-rails shooter and whatever they were doing with legends. A single player rpg would probably be a lot easier than the multiplayer stuff they're doing and there's still a lot of money to be made in the genre.