Fable legends cancelled and possible Lionhead studios closing

[Asura]

MS once again demonstrating their fantastic handling of yet another studio .

The weird thing about this is what do they have left, now, in terms of big hitters?

Forza and Halo? No offence to fans, but they're two of the least inspiring AAA franchises.

Everything else is either third-party or indie-grade.

I wonder if this is where the turnabout happens, and E3 is the venue for the big announcement - that Xbox is pulled back under the Windows umbrella brand, and that "Xbox" is just the physical living room machine.

[Team Andromeda]

Some would argue that he stands on the collective shoulders of those beneath him who made those games, though.

Could say that with anybody really (other than say the likes of geoff crammond ) . Its not like the likes of Suzuki-san, Miyamoto-san, mikami-san made games on their own . They also had to have talented staff underneath them .

[Team Andromeda]

Everything else is either third-party or indie-grade

Not much different from the 360 days, other than Halo and Gears I don't think the 360 had that many big hitters . Its not like Fable was really going to help MS shift millions of XBox Ones .

[Asura]

Could say that with anybody really . Its not like the likes of Suzuki-san, Miyamoto-san, mikami-san made games on their own . They also had to have talented staff underneath them .

I agree, but I tend to think that about most gaming "personalities". This whole era of breakaways and kickstarter has shown us that, if nothing else, video games of any significant scale aren't a very "auteur" medium. They're the collective work of teams of skilled people, each of whom contributes in a very important way.

The studios want the industry to be marketable like the movie industry, where they can hold up individual directors and actors, and build their brands around them. They do this because a person, a "face" is good for that stuff. It personalises the medium and makes it seem more like an honest creative endeavour.

Unfortunately, this is a lie. It's spin. Video games (at AAA level) don't work like that, except in very rare cases.

[Team Andromeda]

This whole era of breakaways and kickstarter has shown us that, if nothing else, video games of any significant scale aren't a very "auteur" medium

Well lets remember than Lionhead its self started out as a break-away . Think it's always happened and will happen . The likes of Peter Molyneux deserver credit for setting up their own studios and making sure to get the right staff in to make great games. Even if, with the likes of Peter Molyneux... it always seems to end in tears and closure sadly

[Asura]

Well lets remember than Lionhead its self started out as a break-away

True, but I think that's a bit different. I'm more talking about these modern breakaways, where individual developers form their own studios and fund them based on their own persona. I'd be willing to bet that you can predict their success based on the number of original staff that go with them.

[fishbowlhead]

The weird thing about this is what do they have left, now, in terms of big hitters?

Forza and Halo? No offence to fans, but they're two of the least inspiring AAA franchises.

Everything else is either third-party or indie-grade.

I wonder if this is where the turnabout happens, and E3 is the venue for the big announcement - that Xbox is pulled back under the Windows umbrella brand, and that "Xbox" is just the physical living room machine.

They have precisely naff all. All the hard work of the original xbox teams, getting studios on board, gathering up talented people to build studios and franchises, all completely wasted by poor management.

It's ok though, as they paid a cool billion for the gears of war rights, so that's something right?.

[Asura]

It's ok though, as they paid a cool billion for the gears of war rights, so that's something right?.

Did they? Honestly?

I suppose there's Minecraft... The series which already exists, has sold to everyone who's ever going to buy it, offers a sandbox experience and primarily appeals to a demographic that doesn't monetise well.

[Team Andromeda]

They have precisely naff all. All the hard work of the original xbox teams, getting studios on board, gathering up talented people to build studios and franchises, all completely wasted by poor management.

In the 360 days Robbie bach shut down more In-House Studios and felt it was cost effective to outsoruce and work with 1st parties . That to me was total bad management as was peeing down the drain all than money on Kinect and having the likes of Lionhead and RARE waste their time on the pile of utter crap .

I really wish MS would put its money to doing deals with the likes of FROMSOFTWARE and Temco like it did in the XBox days .

[EvilBoris]

They have:
Mojang
343 industries
The Coalition
Turn 10
Rare Twycross
Rare Birmingham
Big Park
Good Science Studio
Team Dakota

Twisted Pixel got separated back to indie status
Press Play was announced as closing also today

But they have been sending more and more 1st party IPs out to 3rd parties now
The Creative Assembly are doing Halo Wars 2
Playground games does Forza Horizon
Crackdown 3 is being done be Reagent games

[Neon Ignition]

A shame, Lionhead had a nice identity to their games. Only really surprising though from the perspective of them being off the radar for so long. I'd love to know what the studio direction has been for the last few years as theirs clearly been a drive to work on the Fable ip and yet a consistent drive to ignore the market and to keep funnelling into spin-offs with clearly niche audiences.

[Asura]

theirs clearly been a drive to work on the Fable ip and yet a consistent drive to ignore the market and to keep funnelling into spin-offs with clearly niche audiences.

Seriously?

The traditional Fable games are the niche. The recent one was to try and get a slice of the online freemium competitive gaming audience (the MOBA crowd), which is the new mainstream.

[Neon Ignition]

I'd say so, Fable 3 is probably the one of the trilogy considered the weakest and it's down as having sold over 5m units. After Journey failed it makes Legends seem even more of a dice role. I can understand the initial aim but it's been a long time since the picture has been clear on F2P on consoles and given the near vacuum of hype it isn't hard to imagine the game wasn't going to be a success, presumably that's why MS has yanked it despite how far along it is. I definitely think of Lionhead as a quality studio but MS wasted them for the last 6 yrs

[Asura]

I'd say so, Fable 3 is probably the one of the trilogy considered the weakest and it's down as having sold over 5m units. After Journey failed it makes Legends seem even more of a dice role. I can understand the initial aim but it's been a long time since the picture has been clear on F2P on consoles and given the near vacuum of hype it isn't hard to imagine the game wasn't going to be a success, presumably that's why MS has yanked it despite how far along it is. I definitely think of Lionhead as a quality studio but MS wasted them for the last 6 yrs

You're right about the mismanagement. I think The Journey is a bit of a different case, as Microsoft were desperate for a killer app for Kinect and that was meant to be it, sadly of course it didn't really work out - not for lack of trying. In the end, Sony's Sorcery for PSMove was a far superior product.

Worth remembering for products this size, you're trying to predict things several years in advance. The success of League of Legends and its ilk caught the entire industry by surprise, which is one of the reasons the industry lurched in that direction. Fable Legends was an appropriate idea given the context under which they'll have kicked it off. The mistake they made was trying to release a freemium game "fully-formed", when the whole point is you release an unfinished game that's fun to play, and add more as players support it (you don't need hype; your hype comes from people actually playing the game). Big companies like Microsoft hate that approach though; it's an anathema to how they work.

[danholo]

No relationship to this company, so no loss for me. Now, Bullfrog, that's a different story. Spent plenty of time with these:

Syndicate
Theme Park
Hi-Octane