Phil Spencer Saddened by Fable Legends' Cancellation; Talks Scalebound, Sea of Thieves and Much More

Xbox Division Head Phil Spencer loves to keep an open channel of communication with the fans on Twitter, and today he went on one of his usual Tweeting sprees, focusing primarily on the proposed closure of Lionhead that went down earlier this week, but also giving more information on other topics.

[remixx116]

I still think he shoulda gave them a shot.....all that wasted effort, my as well have put the game out, I heard great things about the alpha.

[343_Guilty_Spark]

They had 4 years.

[naruga]

the game was looking mediocre and sloppy made (even after 4 years)..if i was MS i would disapprove the development even from the pitch. Untested concept with high failure risk,uninspired plot, boring (judging always from gameplay shows ), lazy artwork ..too many wrong things for one game..although i wouldnt close Lionhead alltogether

[nix]

"saddened"

Buhahahahahahahaha...

Sorry, but it was systematically planned.

I feel sorry for the devs who lost their jobs but please MS, stop this melodrama.

[Kingthrash360]

This^
MSteven is a billion dollar company, no way he didn't know about this before the comments he made (while smiling) a week before closing the studio.
It's business, yeah I get it...bit don't act like you were saddened by this. There was a better way to shut them down.
Gotta be the fakest this I've heard about him saying.
Would be better to say "it was a hard decision to make,but it had to be done for our vision of the future of xbox. I wish them luck"

[Black0ut]

To the above two posters, what CAN they say without you guys coming into every single MS and Xbox article and twisting their words?

You two seem more interested in these affairs than the xbox users themselves...That says wonders friends...

[Kingthrash360]

Above
A major studio for ms was closed....Like suddenly closed. So sudden that they were in the middle of a beta for one of their biggest franchises. One week ago it was all good...the next, bye Felicia.
Nothing being spun at all. Gamers love games. I havent even played fable since part 2, but I know how many liked the game...alot. if it was trash then fine but these people worked hard for ms and should have been let go in a more professional way. Sure they had their choices but there is a better way to let go of loyal devs....similar to Konami and kojima. Just because it's ms you act like it's ok. But it's not, that is a billion dollar company and can be more respectful of their own people.
Spin it how you will...but that's just the truth.
You xbots just go against anything people say when it comes to ms. If you can't see what wron with this...or see the major PR Phil is giving to these devs then you are too far gone in this bs war.
The war is over, wake up. It's about gaming and the gaming community, not protect a side.

[bleedsoe9mm]

wasn't their last release in 2010 so thats 6 years , either way its completely unacceptable , who can blame ms from a business perspective .

[Pogmathoin]

It is disheartening to see what happened, but would it have been better to put out a broken game, that may never get it right? People have complained about broken games a lot this gen, and maybe, key word, the right thing was done..... Its a lose lose situation, but whats the alternative, let it go because this is the studio built by Peter Molyneux?? The landscape is changing, I am not sure I like it. There are good games out there on X1, PS4, but this does not feel like the heyday of console gaming...... They are both chasing markets for the sake of demographics...... A game does not need multiplayer because its the in thing..... A game does not need to fit in.... Just make a game that is good on its own merit... People will come play it. I am not pushed on MP no more, Stars Wars Battlefront passed me by, I want single player. I have not played the last two CoD's..... I am afraid regular gamers will be neglected in the pursuit of VR.... Sony got it right with PS4 and just games..... Afraid they too will lose sight with VR. Maybe I am just too old, and do not want to move forward, and live in the C64, ZX48 days...... But thats when games where games...... Pure and simple....

[r2oB]

@ bleedsoe9mm

Are you referring to Remedy or Lionhead Studio? Since, you know, both haven't made a game since 2010.

[Majister-Ludi]

Why is it I always see the same people coming in and shitting on these Microsoft articles. Why do you feel the need to do so. No matter what is happening you will find a way to twist it and make it a negative. If this fable game came out you would say it sucked. There is no winning with you. I didn't direct this at a single person because there are so many on this site but you know who you are. If your this much of a negative Nancy on a forum I can't imagine how depressing you are in real life. It's sad really especially when you consider most would never consider getting these Microsoft products but are so miserable in there own lives they have to try and bring others to there level. Fable has gone downhill each game. I still believe they can return to greatness under a new team with a new vision, and I can't wait to see what's next.

[indyman7777]

Yeah they had 4 years. Usually a AAA action RPG's takes 2-3 years to make. It's not like a turn based rpg which takes 5-6 years to make.

So I think they had a plan to cut the cord, and take a new direction.

Maybe they have a new studio with a better concept that we don't know about yet in the wings (I hope).

[dirkdady]

The game was pretty much done. Surely putting it out As digital only would have helped recoup some costs.

[meche334]

it was only gonna be digital. it was f2p

[dirkdady]

Well then it's quite they mystery why they just didn't put it out with relatively low operational costs aside from server support which msft has.

[dkp23]

Probably because nobody was going to play it. take the hit and move on.

[bleedsoe9mm]

thats why i say they must have found a major bug that would have broke the game on wider release and if was going to take allot of time and money to fix

[rainslacker]

Long term support of a F2P game does cost money. The entire premise requires constant content updates which get people to hopefully pay for it.

[AngelicIceDiamond]

This, this, this. I highly agree they should of released it and made some sort of profit off it. All tht hard work and effort for nothing. Fable Legends was the first game using DX12 across X1 and PC.

[Death]

Phil already said they were watching the log in numbers closely. If those in the beta weren't interested, then what do you think the public would have done when released? Free to play games aren't actually free. It's simply a different pay model. If there was no chance at recouping costs, how much more should they have invested?

For those saying this was planned, why would Microsoft keep the lights on in the studio much less pay the staff and benefits just to hold up the charade? They invested heavily into a game that didn't meet their expectations. It sucks, but it's not that hard to understand.

[dkp23]

I was in beta and it was a complete mess in the beginning, they added more customization and leveling up stuff but it was t enough to keep interest. I tried to continue to play but found it pointless. The long matchmaking didn't help either.

[Death]

I'm in the same boat. I tried it months ago and was underwhelmed. I still hoped there would be more to come and was looking forward to the release.

[MachuchalBrotha316]

I bet it was a forced move by the higher ups.

[MRMagoo123]

Why is he saddened, from what I have heard from the xbone fanboys is that Phil makes every decision about the xbone and that's why it's so amazing now .......he must have seen it coming cos he was the one that did it.

[Godmars290]

It was suppose to have MMO elements and require constant updates. Without support it would have only been a failure.

Then again, many of the choices to make it an MMO/F2P likely came from MS.

[mark_parch]

it wouldn't have been productive to release it as its a free to play game and would have died out after a few months

[-Foxtrot]

Should have just done a single player Fable game but no no apparently they had to jump on the online bandwagon.

What a waste

[MasterCornholio]

Well he should have gave them a chance. Its not like Microsoft can't afford to take risks.

[gangsta_red]

Give a F2P game that had reports of being less than mediocre a chance?

Could you imagine the internet if this game would have released as a flop with a meta score of under 70?

The internet caught on fire when a bunch of kinect studios closed, the internet would have blew up if the game released with garbage reviews and no users.

[MasterCornholio]

"Could you imagine the internet if this game would have released as a flop with a meta score of under 70?"

That's called risk. Sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn't.

Sometimes you get gems like Until Dawn and other times you get bad games like The Order 1886.

Why are you so worried about fanboys on N4G?

Do they really hurt your feelings that much?

You really need to be less sensitive about these types of things.

[Goldby]

MasterCornholio

The Order was not a bad game. it had great visuals, very cinematic take on gaming, which is always welcome. yes the story was a little lack luster but to say its a bad game. that's ridiculous. in your eyes, what made the game bad?

[IIFloodyII]

It still wouldn't be the worst thing from the Fable franchise (hell, a sub-par entry would actually be a big leap in quality, compared to the last few releases in the franchise) that MS gave a chance, so why would anyone care about what some people on the internet thinks about it?

Putting all that time and money into something, only to throw it away when it's nearly done, is just so wasteful.
I'd hate to be one of the poor guys who put 4 years of work into something, only for it to be deemed not worthy after so long.

[gangsta_red]

@IIFloodyII

In an earlier comment I made mention that MS should take the assets and designs and just make a full fledged Fable 4 action RPG.

I also agree, why put all that work to waste. Turn it into something else. Even though it would probably take another 4 years just to turn that game into something different.

[ShottyatLaw]

I'd be curious to see if they commissioned mock reviews on it recently, too.

[rainslacker]

There are all sorts of mediocre F2P games out there that get the chance. Fable was probably in a better place than most of them due to the IP name alone.

That being said, I do understand the reason why MS would want to cut the cord. If the game was going to require a lot more development time to get right, it would be costly to fix the problems. Then they have to determine if there would still be enough interest after that to get enough users to actually profit enough after paying for servers and new content(DLC/MT) creation...which is vital to the success of a F2P game in terms of profit.

I'm not sure if closing the studio was necessary. There has to be more to it than MS just decided to cancel the game, and close the studio, because if that were the case, it would just seem spiteful and more costly whenever they need a studio to create a different project. OTOH, the cost to continue operating the studio could just be too much to make it worth it, there was a lot of long term experienced devs there which bring in top wages, so maybe it was just more beneficial to close it and move onto another studio, or restructure how they handle 1st party titles by creating something more akin to Sony's WWS, or contracting out work to 3rd party devs.

I dunno, I can think of a hundred different possibilities of why things may be the way they are. Trying to bring any of them up though just gets people trying to say I'm anti-MS, so what's the point?

[gangsta_red]

That is not a risk anyone would be willing to take. With Until Dawn and The Order the reviews before the game released already told us how the game might actually be.

Early reviews of Until Dawn were very favorable and the early reviews of The Order before release threw out a ton of warning bells that the game wouldn't be as good as it was hyped up to be.

The same can be applied to Legends. I haven't heard one person who played the beta of Legends say it was fun and can't wait for it to be released. It's obvious that the powers at MS felt the same way when they played it.

On top of that it would have the F2P model. You saw how fast Evolve dropped off, now imagine a F2P game like that.

"Why are you so worried about fanboys on N4G?"

Uuuuh..Not sure where I said anything about fanboys on N4G. I did say the "INTERNET". Unless the internet solely consists of N4G and I didn't know.

"Do they really hurt your feelings that much?"

Hmmmmm...not sure where my feelings got hurt since I'm just leaving my personal opinion based on past observations.

"You really need to be less sensitive about these types of things."

Damn...*sob* *sob* you're right, I was trying to hold back the tears (Simply Red, good song by the way!) bu...but...now that I think about it all...it is hard dealing with all this. Thanks Master, I think we made good progress exploring my feelings.

[MasterCornholio]

There there you will be OK.

Just hang in there red.

:)

[GrubsterBeater]

It's okay, Red. We know N4G users can be mean about the XBox sometimes.. you can have a cry. You deserve it.

[Lamboomington]

Well, obviously they gave it a chance or multiple chances and it didn't work.

It is what it is. Let's not try to side with MS or Lionhead, trying to figure out if MS was wrong or Lionhead was incompetent. This stuff just happens, it's a reality of game development (esp AAA). You need lots of talent, manpower and money. Nothing moves without money, for obvious reasons.

[Black0ut]

I agree with Cornholio on this one... I do believe that the game should have had a chance even if it did turn out as dud/'okay' as many people have found the beta.

It's still sad to see this all happen but it's not the first time in the gaming industry and it's certainly not the last. These things happen on both sides of the fence and it sucks.

[akurtz]

😒

[MCTJim]

and there is my confirmation Fable is cancelled...Farewell Fable Legends its been fun.

[Free_Fro]

That guy saying, "I love you Phil".. "<3"

Made me laugh, no shame lol.

and someone asked Phil to bring Ori to PS4 ^_^ eheh.

-
xoxo

[nevin1]

"and someone asked Phil to bring Ori to PS4 ^_^ eheh. "

At this rate, MSoft might become a 3rd Party publisher.

[super_bruno]

Not a bad Idea if you ask me.

[Free_Fro]

@nevin1

They would probably buy out their competitors before that happens ..

see? I could sound as ridiculous as you if I wanted..

now get back to your duty. . don't you have a bridge to guard?

--
No Xs and Os for you.
^_^

--
Chris, why post that link?
they aren't ready for that.. :D

[AngelicIceDiamond]

Doesn't make much sense why would MS do that?

[rainslacker]

I'm sure if Sony decided to use Windows on PS hardware, MS would publish games on the console.

[christocolus]

@fro

That was hilarious. Lmao. I hope we get to see Sea of Thieves pretty soon.

@nevin

Wut? Will never happen. Many publishers will go under before MS ever decides to do something like that.

http://m.neogaf.com/showthr...

[GrubsterBeater]

That link shows their revenue, not profits.

There is a difference between profit and revenue.

Revenue they are doing fantastic, profit wise... not so much..

[Sparta07]

@ chris " Software only not hardware "
Also Revenue is not profit.
Not saying it will ever happen but you never know. Lol besides ever since xbox exclusives are coming to pc everybody is saying is not a bad thing that more people get to play the games plus Microsoft will still make money.

[AngelicIceDiamond]

Glad to hear Scalebound and Sea Of Thieves as well as the rest of MS games are ok and shaping up well.

[Nolando]

I really hope we get some release dates for these new IPs at E3 this year. one thing is to announce and to know they are in production. Another to know we are going to play soon! Cmon i really want to play Scalebound!

On an another note its nice to have Sea of Thieves impressing him. i am looking forward to that. is that XBO exclusive or also on PC?

[Lonnie18]

I don't understand something, can I get an answer here? Why was it when this game which looked great and was at the fore-front of every xbox fanboy's aurgument about what makes their system great is all of a sudden a sloppy mess? This is what I'm hearing now Lionhead had 4 years to make this happen, the game was sloppy at best, are you kidding me lol!

[ShottyatLaw]

Well, basing any conclusions on what you heard from fanboys sounds like the cause of your confusion.

[Gazondaily]

There was no mass praise for this so you're the one pretending for some reason. This was at the forefront of every Xbox fans argument? What a load of bull.

[NeoGamer232]

Please quote the " forefront of every xbox fanboy's arguement".

There are a lot of articles on Fable Legends and I think there was some praise but there were also many people who played it and didn't praise it.

I'm sure everyone hoped it would turn out well. Obviously that didn't happen.

[linkenski]

Phil Spencer is the most obvious PR guy in the world. Says he's sad and then continues on to bargain "...but look at all these GREAT games coming for Xbox One! L-let's just forget about Fable Legends and closing Lionhead, eheh-hehe-heheh"

[NeoGamer232]

First, Phil seems to be just stating what he thinks.

Second, there are (hopefully) great games coming to XB from the first party side. Sea of Thieves, Crackdown 3, Quantum Break, Killer Instinct Season 3, Scalebound, Halo Wars 2, etc.

And they have already delivered great new games this gen... Sunset Overdrive, Halo 5, Killer Instinct Season's 1/2, Forza Motorsports 6, Ori and the Blind Forest, Max Curse of Brotherhood, D4, Project Spark, Forza Horizon 2 all received solid Metacritic scores. And they have done some great partnerships... Acquiring Mojang, Titanfall, and Rise of the Tomb Raider.

There are no lack of games from MS. Gaming is alive and well on XB1.

[iNathan]

nevermind lol

[Jag-T1000]

Yada, yada, yada. Give us some release dates. And where the hell is Cuphead?

[ElectricSponge]

Yea he is not sad lol more like glad Microsoft want talent send them Sony lol

[Dowie]

Happy to hear that Phil is happy with Sea of Thieves, lets hope it stays that way.

[SynestheticRoar]

Hope cuphead is coming to PC.

[feraldrgn]

The team working on Fable Legends gets fired & it isn't given to another team to finish, then Phil says he's sad about the cancellation.
Typical PR.

[Subaruwrx]

@feraldrgn - I actually believe Phil is sad about the cancellation of Fable Legends. After all, he's the head of the Xbox and the cancellation of this game after MS invested in it and hyped it for several years won't exactly look good to his superiors at MS.

[II__BONE__II]

So he's saddened by the loss of a game but not saddened for the loss of these peoples jobs.....I don't see him mention than anyplace.

[extermin8or]

The real issue here imo is that a decision like this isn't just made overnight it's made awhile in advance ans yet he was out talking about games such as fable legends as coming to pc and xbox one just a few days ago... And to then come out making out like this was some shocking decision - he made it...

[Maximilliam]

Fuck the Fable series.
Series was basically doomed from the start when Peter Fucking Molyneux boasted about them growing fucking acorns.
Only the first game was good and that was considered merely meh to most.
Are you happy now Molyneux? YOU are the one responsible for this, not Microsoft. You weasel.