Peter Molyneux Leaves Lionhead

[Dazzyman]

Nothing to stop him buying the licences off them. I did know EA absorbed the IPs when they bought bullfrog tho

[EvilBoris]

Well there is, EA might not give them up.

[Adam Stone]

I personally think this is the best thing to happen to Lionhead right now - and also, of course, for Peter.

It's going to be incredibly exciting in Lionhead the next few years - I imagine we'll be able to get that spark back, get Lionhead back to its former glory. I'm very excited :-)

[EvilBoris]

Will there be that period after someone leaving where everything gets blamed on the person who is gone?

'Who's mouldy half eaten can of beans is this at the back of the fridge?'

'it was peter's'

That bastard


'Who forgot to pay the window cleaners?'

'That was Peter's Job'


'Which one of you slept with my mother?!'

It was Peter

[Guts]

I personally think this is the best thing to happen to Lionhead right now - and also, of course, for Peter.

It's going to be incredibly exciting in Lionhead the next few years - I imagine we'll be able to get that spark back, get Lionhead back to its former glory. I'm very excited :-)

So Molyneux was holding the whole company back?

[Daragon]

I think in fairness it was (and still is) probably Microsoft holding them back, just like with neighbouring Rare, presumably by locking them into working soley for the 360, despite their obvious involvement in the PC gaming market.

The "God" game genre, which Peter was probably the pioneer of just doesn't work on consoles.

[Flabio]

*points at Fable 3 on PC*

[Brad]

Fable II is the only Lionhead game not to appear on PC isn't it?

[Daragon]

*points at Fable 3 on PC*

That's a port to be fair and doesn't nullify the point I'm making which is God games don't work on home consoles, or anything else that's new and exciting outside of XBLA. Do you have the option, if you want to, to produce original games for the PC?

[Brad]

I do also see Daragon's point in all this. The decline in the quality of PM's games coincides exactly with the first Lionhead XBox game (all just my opinion).

[Goemon]

MS must be livid about this.
IMO the main reason they bought LH was because it had Molyneux as a front man.

His name carries weight with what he creates, now all the have is an average studio.

[Daragon]

The exact same thing happened pretty much when they bought rare as well, they were buying the studio name in effect not necessarily the talent. The Stampers and the majority of those responsible for Goldeneye and the other N64 games had already left by that point.

As good as Peter's classic games have been, they weren't just a one man job. How much of the team from Bullfrog made the transition to Lionhead?

[Family Fry]

"Many Bullfrog developers left to found their own studios and these became Intrepid Computer Entertainment Ltd., Big Blue Box Studios Ltd. and Lionhead Studios. The latter eventually absorbed the first two and became the only studio to carry on the Bullfrog legacy."

My what an average studio.

[Daragon]

Ok, so the talent remained in Bullfrog/Lionhead's case. But I'm assuming that since the latter haven't made any PC games outside of fairly average ports they simply haven't been permitted to if the manpower is all there.

It's almost like buying a Ferrari and then leaving it to sit in a garage somewhere and never use it (ok, so maybe not the greatest analogy, probably better for Rare's situation but not a million miles off what I'm trying to get at).

[Brad]

Just the one PC port since MS took over in fact. Black and White 2 and The Movies were both PC only but that was before MS got hold of them.