Changes at MS UK & Denmark, Fable Legends Development Ceased

[function]

Lionhead just got Ensembled.

Quick, make some Kinect! No, no, maek some free too play!! No, no ... bye.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

Eventually they'll finish their diabolical plan to create an ensemble of rare lionheads.

 

[Egmon83]

Truly sad news; the past decade saw an lot of amazing, excellent as well as creative output from Lionhead studios. It such a sad day for gaming as a medium. I am not going to play any games today, just to honour Lionhead studios

 

[eastmen]

that's a shame , I had fun with the game but there was a lack of content. I think if they had held it till the fall and kept updating the beta they would have had a good free to play game

 

[Scott_Arm]

If you consider that Fable 3 was basically released as an unfinished game, it had been a really long time since Lionhead had actually put out a really solid game.

 

[Rikimaru]

Microsoft just can can not manage and develop games studios.
Rare's Project Dream won't be a hit either I think.

 

[Egmon83]

If you consider that Fable 3 was basically released as an unfinished game, it had been a really long time since Lionhead had actually put out a really solid game.

well, in my defence, I only read the molyneux interviews.

 

[eastmen]

Microsoft just can can not manage and develop games studios.
Rare's Project Dream won't be a hit either I think.

I don't think this is fair , sony also closed a few studios during the ps3 era . That doesn't mean they can't manage and develop game studios.

Not all projects come together and form a great game.

 

[Rikimaru]

Are there even good MS first party games after Bungie departure? I hear Forza is good and Halo is divisive. Certainly not exceptional anymore. Just another "AAA".

 

[Shifty Geezer]

What's MS's first-party output been? My uneducated view is similar to Rikimaru's. Rare were put onto Kinect and couldn't deliver beyond some fad hits. Last 'real' game they did was Kameo? It does seem as though studios MS acquires fizzle out of what made them special. If we look at Sony, though they close studios they also get good output from those they operate. Studio Liverpool was closed simply because they could get more from other studios, they felt, even though Liverpool were able to put out Wipeout quality titles.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Studios#Software_development_studios
19 game studios. Halo, Gears, Forza, and a bunch of Kinect and Hololens. Some in that list aren't even making games it seems, like Garage. First party game output on X1 seems very sparse, and then MS axe a studio, reducing their production capability.

 

[Scott_Arm]

I'd say if Microsoft is guilty of anything in terms of mismanagement, it's hanging onto titles like Halo for too long. People always say they want more, but Halo 5 was the 7th game in the series. Eventually people lose interest. They've mostly looked to 2nd/3rd parties to bring new IP to the platform, like Quantum Break, Titanfall, Sunset Overdrive.

 

[eastmen]

I'd say if Microsoft is guilty of anything in terms of mismanagement, it's hanging onto titles like Halo for too long. People always say they want more, but Halo 5 was the 7th game in the series. Eventually people lose interest. They've mostly looked to 2nd/3rd parties to bring new IP to the platform, like Quantum Break, Titanfall, Sunset Overdrive.

Halo 5 has 7 games spread across 3 generations of video games that doesn't seem bad at all to me. People are still buying new marios or new call of duties , heck we are getting the 4th uncharted soon.

MS tried to get Kinect up and running and they used a lot of first parties to do it. But don't forget Lionhead made 2 full length fables last gen. Part 2 was really good.

Last gen Rare did viva piñata series , Kinect sports , kameo , banjo kazooie. This gen they have sea of thieves announced.

Colation is doing gears of war

Team Dakota did project spark

 

[Scott_Arm]

I think Halo and Forza have gone stale for a lot of people. At some point series die out. COD reinvents itself. They have different series in different time periods etc. Halo is just the same every time. I thought the campaign for 5 was a lot of fun, but it's obvious the interest has died down. If they wait four or more years, maybe Halo could make a big comeback.

I would like to add, I'm not sure I believe Fable Legend's failure is on Microsoft. Without any kind of details what was going on, who knows. Ultimately it's the dev studios business and responsibility to release games in a timely manner. They have their own internal structure, project managers that are supposed to keep things on track. Things have not been right with Lionhead for a long time. How deep Microsoft's roots are in the day to day, I do not know.

 

[deathindustrial]

Wasn't Fable using Unreal 4? Maybe MS is also trying to punish Epic by dropping use of their engine?

 

[AlNom]

I doubt Fable Legends has that much of a pull with Epic.

 

[Deleted member 13524]

Maybe MS is also trying to punish Epic by dropping use of their engine?

If anything, Microsoft is punishing itself for funding a development team for 3+ years and have pretty much no revenue from that investment.

 

[iroboto]

If anything, Microsoft is punishing itself for funding a development team for 3+ years and have pretty much no revenue from that investment.

They took risks. It failed. It's better that they go this route than simply going with something safe. The homogenous nature of games is indeed taking over and having risks like these are learning lessons for ideally future successful endeavours.

That being said, I feel that this is something Sony is much more experienced at.

 

[BRiT]

Are there even good MS first party games after Bungie departure? I hear Forza is good and Halo is divisive. Certainly not exceptional anymore. Just another "AAA".

Even if Bungie stayed and put out Destiny under MS, they still wouldnt be considered a good first party MS franchise. Destiny is absolutely horrible.

 

[BRiT]

What's MS's first-party output been? My uneducated view is similar to Rikimaru's.

Minecraft. They keep knocking it out of the park!

 

[Nesh]

What the hell happened? This game looked like it was far in development. You would expect at least for the studio to finish the game before it closes. So much work wasted.
MS is falling behind Nintendo and Sony in its first party offerings. They barely have their own studios and those they acquire close down or become independent. If it wasnt for Bungie, Remedy and Epic I dont know where MS would be standing now.
The XBOX brand was associated mostly with Halo and Gears. Forza has lost its shine with so many games being released after another, same with Halo, Gears is in the hands of a new team that has to prove itself, Rare hasnt produced anything groundbreaking in years and Lionhead Studios is now dead. Quantum Break is one of the very few games that are very promising at the moment.

Beyond Gears and QB, I dont see much light at the end of the tunnel