There was a time when Lionhead Studios was one of the most praised game development studios in the world, creating the hit fantasy RPG fable and increasing its reputation with Fable 2. However, the studio closed in 2016, a move that – after a series of troublesome launches – was not a surprise, but a disappointment. Y Microsoft He also regrets what happened.
In the sixth episode of a new six-part documentary series called “Power On: The Story of Xbox“The relationship of Microsoft with Lionhead from the time it was acquired to the time it closed. In the segment, Shannon Loftis, from Xbox, who was serving as Lionhead Studios’ CEO of Global Game Publishing when it closed, said Lionhead’s shutdown was one of Microsoft’s biggest “mistakes.”
Loftis went on to explain that the time after the first fable —And the purchase of the study by Microsoft– until Fable 2 were “good years” for Microsoft and Lionhead. However, Microsoft committed Lionhead to the Kinect, the failed motion control device that Microsoft put a lot of emphasis on towards the end of the Xbox 360’s useful life and the early years of the game. Xbox One. Lionhead released Fable: The Journey for the Kinect, which, according to Loftis, “it deviated quite a bit from the mainstays of what made Fable 1 and 2 so popular“.
At the end, Microsoft Lionhead closed in 2016, ten years after acquiring it. However, Microsoft learned a difficult lesson after the study closed, according to Phil Spencer, who has said: “You buy a studio so they are big now, and your job is to help them speed up how they do what they do, not for them to speed up what you do.“. Spencer has been a key figure in the recent success of Xbox, helping to reinvigorate the company’s image following the troubled Xbox One debut.
There seems to be a regret about the management of Lionhead Studios, with Loftis stating “I wish Lionhead was still a viable studio“. For years, the franchise of fable was one of the most outstanding exclusives of Xbox. In fact, another Fable game was in development during Lionhead’s final days. Called Fable Legends, it was an asymmetric multiplayer game in which four heroes would face off against one villain. The project was canceled on March 7, 2016, approximately a month before Lionhead Studios closed.
But nevertheless, fable he is not dead at all. Playground Games, the studio most famous for its work on the Forza Horizon series, is working on a reboot of the franchise. Fans have seen little of the new Fable game, although it is said to be out before The Elder Scrolls 6, meaning it will likely be out in the next 2-3 years. This doesn’t bring Lionhead back to life, but it does follow up on a much-loved series.