RIP Lionshead Studios: Reflecting On Their Best & Worst

Pixelgate writes:

''At one point in time, Britain was a true hot bed for video game development. The age of PC’s and accessible programming spawned numerous success stories such as Matthew Smith’s Manic Miner and David Braben/Ian Bell’s Elite.''

[PixelGateUk]

Comment made in error *please delete mod* fudge my life

[Miguelitons]

Sad to hear that Lionshead Studios getting closed.

[PixelGateUk]

It's a shame that Legends is just being left in the dust. The concept was kinda cool

[TheCommentator]

I think that was the real problem though is that Legends was only "kinda cool". If the studio wasn't able to create a title that captured peoples' interests, in spite of all the extra development time given to it, something had to be done to damage control the situation. I would argue that the original Fable was the last good game Lionhead produced anyways. Fable 2 and 3 were less RPG, more social, moved away from swords in favor of guns, and had strange multiplayer modes to name a few oddities.

When I thought of what a Fable game should aspire to become, Kingdoms of Amalur sprung to mind. More open world, more crafting, more RPG. Mix that in with the classic elements of the original Fable and we've got something to wish for. Perhaps someone wiser may pick up development and reboot the Fable franchise, but let's be honest, Lionhead had been lost for a long time before this announcement. The outcome was inevitable considering that Fable Legends was not turning out as expected. I can only hope MS has the smarts to make what the fans want in the Fable franchise if they decide to revisit it in the future.

[Sciurus_vulgaris]

It not yet offical, but is seems likely. MS has had some terrible PR for the past few months, Xbox One losing exclusives, XBL issues, Young Conker lol and now potential loss of two studios .

[Mikefizzled]

To be fair, Lionhead isn't confirmed. Press Play has shut with immediate effect.

[Dasteru]

Crap news. Despite the sour taste left behind by Fable 3, i was still looking forward to a potential Fable 4. Hopefully they let the franchise go to a different developer and do not just let it die with them.

[gangsta_red]

Fable III, Fable: The Journey and Milo and Kate...yea, can you really blame them? MS needs to give this studio another shot at making another game.

[Hoffmann]

What company or person has the rights for the old Bullfrog IP's like Theme Park or Black & White now btw?

[WeAreLegion]

EA has Black & White. I know that.

[ScorpiusX]

EA was only the Publisher of Black & White , MS owns the IP .

[PixelGateUk]

EA do. Though i think after Syndicate remake bombed they're not so keen on looking into further remakes

[Pancit_Canton]

NOOOO!!! Milo is gone forever......

[Momo118]

that's so sad

[WelkinCole]

Either MS has bad luck with their studios (what little they have) and their games or the problem is MS themselves and the way they treat their studios.

Defend MS as much as you guys want but I can't think of any MS 1st party that has produce anything exceptional for the last couple of years. It can't be just the devs fault.

QB is looking like its going to be phenomenal but it is Remedy and 2nd party.

Contrast to Sony and it is quite striking.

[ScorpiusX]

QB Belongs to MS according to trademarks and Remedy does have a great relationship w/ MS.

[WelkinCole]

And what does that tell you if MS are treating their partners well?.

What happen with Bungie whom was 1st party?.

It went right over your head.

[jb227]

Remedy may have a great relationship w/ MS but they aren't first party. Insomniac have a great relationship w/ Sony & they've made titles for other platforms. The reason they made Sunset Overdrive at MS was because they let them keep their ip, what happens if Sony offers the same during this time where MS seem to be holding the license to all titles produced by third parties on their platform?

Seems pretty easy for Remedy to go multiplat, doubly so if QB does well & increases their reputation, then they can grow their Alan Wake ip to a larger platform. Seems like a win/win to me, MS fans still get the game, but so does the rest of the players.

[ScorpiusX]

@jb227 yes they aren't first party , yes Insomniac made SSOD due to the ability to maintain ownership of IP.

As for this time which you speak of here's hoping it never comes to pass , hope that the Succuess of QB is a push for MS to buy the studio and obtain AW IP in the process. The only win is AW remain at Xbox, W10 by way of purchase or Publishing

[notachance]

bungie - left
peter molyneux left bringing his core teams
rare - degraded to making kinect games
renamed MS Vancouver studio to Black Tusk, handing gears 4 to them without them having any track record at all
epic games not few days ago downplaying MS hard
Lionhead producer also did the same

it's not MS fault at all, these people are at fault /s

[Fist4achin]

I enjoyed Fable and Fable II.

[PixelGateUk]

Same. I really liked playing the property game in Fable 2

[Gaming4Life1981]

Yeah fable 3 was a huge letdown but fable 1 & 2 was good. After looking up all lionhead studios games, I only like fable and fable 2 so them closing is not surprising. I did really want to play fable legends but hey now that team can take their talents elsewhere and make better games for us all to enjoy.

[ChrisWGraf]

I never played any Fable games myself, but I know they had a decent impact on the video game world. Fear not, in 5 years someone will 'reboot' it, as is done with everyone that was popular once.

[MasterD919]

I think some of the blame could be passed on to Peter Molyneux given the last few ridiculous years of his career with them. He really left on a sour note.

Milo the tech demo...where did that even go? Fable Legends? Even Bethesda paid the price for an Elder Scrolls MMO...what made them think Fable would do any better? Especially, considering Fable 3 was the worst in the series aside from perhaps that Kinect game.

Hopefully, the team moves on to bigger and better things elsewhere.

[S2Killinit]

Does this mean there will be no more Fable? Besides Fable 3, I actually will miss that game.

[FunkyBoy]

The black and white series were seriously some of my favorites back when pc gaming was kinda simple. Like u didn't need a custom or strictly gaming rig to enjoy most of the games. Games like this, diablo, the old total war games, and guild wars 1 kept me entertained for hours on end. I always hoped for a black and white 3 especially now when considering what they could do with it but that doesn't seem possible now. Hopefully the employees are able to find jobs or start their own smaller studio. It sucks the fable series got progressively worse because I really enjoyed the first 2. Thought it was gonna be a staple series but by 3 they had gone in such a different direction than I had hoped for.