Changes at MS UK & Denmark, Fable Legends Development Ceased

[iroboto]

It's almost as if studios are ultimately responsible for their own futures ...

Producers have a very important job. Everyone does. Staying on track, knowing what to cut, delivering on time is essential to keeping the lights on. But we keep demanding more from our games, and so the budgets keep increasing making failure and closure more common.

This thread is pretty off the rails btw.

 

[Scott_Arm]

Producers have a very important job. Everyone does. Staying on track, knowing what to cut, delivering on time is essential to keeping the lights on. But we keep demanding more from our games, and so the budgets keep increasing making failure and closure more common.

This thread is pretty off the rails btw.

Yep. Making games seems to be a difficult and ruthless industry. It's a huge gamble. A couple of misses and you're done, and the standards for success are a lot higher than they used to be.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

Yep. Making games seems to be a difficult and ruthless industry.

Games have grown to approach the economics of where movies were just a few years ago. Maybe Troy Baker and Nolan North aren't being paid $10,000,000 for their talent but in terms of the number of people involved in AAA (and AA) game development, it's no wonder it's a serious and costly business. It's mind blowing that some games can cost tens of millions of dollars.

 

[Scott_Arm]

Wow, Peter Molyneaux is worse than I ever could have possibly imagined. It's honestly amazing that Lionhead every released a game that was worth playing.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-05-12-lionhead-the-inside-story

 

[tuna]

And when he left Lionhead went down the drain. Really crappy guy.

 

[Scott_Arm]

And when he left Lionhead went down the drain. Really crappy guy.

Or you could view it as him jumping off a sinking ship only to go out and create a new one (Godus).

 

[AlNom]

Wonder who the people are who rejected F4 and pushed the "games as a service".

 

[Scott_Arm]

Wonder who the people are who rejected F4 and pushed the "games as a service".

My guess would be Don Mattrick, Phil Spencer and some others.

 

[Deleted member 13524]

Can we just be like all other forum dwellers this time and choose only one person do demonize, as if it was all that sole person's fault?

I choose Don Mattrick. I hate that haircut. Phil Spencer looks like he works out so I don't want to insult him in case he decides to come to my house and kick my ass.

 

[BRiT]

If it isn't Don Mattrick's fault then it has to be Steve Ballmer's fault.

 

[AlNom]

I almost wouldn't mind it if Sea of Thieves was set in the Fable universe (there were pirates in Fable).

 

[Scott_Arm]

I almost wouldn't mind it if Sea of Thieves was set in the Fable universe (there were pirates in Fable).

Would also be the only way they could get a fable game out in a reasonable timeframe. Otherwise they're building a new studio to make it and it's probably four years from release.

 

[AlNom]

Touché

Wonder if any of the ex-Loinheads went to Rare (since they're in UK).

 

[Silent_Buddha]

I've been burned so many times by Molyneux, but I can't be the only one that wants Microsoft to take him up on this...

And, despite it all, Molyneux still loves Fable.

"When I finish what I'm working on now, if someone comes to me and asks, hey, do you want to do Fable 4, I'd totally be up for it," Molyneux says.

"I would get Dene back. I would get Simon back. And I would remake this world. It's such a rich world and there are so many avenues we didn't explore. That would be really good fun to do.

"And I'd still want the equivalent of another dog."

Yes, he over promises. Yes, he's like a kid in a candy store with eyes larger than his stomach and not enough sense to know when to stop. Yes, he can't help adding things to development on a whim.

But goddamnit, I've liked almost all of his games. Except for the ones he made that was focused on mobile devices, bleh.

But who else would have the balls to have tried to make something like "Milo & Kate" an actual game...and come close to doing it. Who else didn't give a damn about social boundaries in making their games (Fable series) at a time when it wasn't fashionable to do so? And more-so when it's one of the cornerstone franchises of a console from a corporation that is more known for conservative business development and constant consumer "studies" to gauge what is appropriate to release? The fact that he managed to push through some very socially sensitive material (in the Fable series) and that Microsoft respected him enough to allow him to do it, even though it flew in the face of their corporate culture is highly admirable.

I dunno. Yes, he's a twat. Yes, he dreams bigger than he can deliver. But he's very good at getting people to move out of their comfort zones to approve projects that they never would have approved of otherwise. And certainly causes marketing departments nightmares, which can't help but bring a smile to my face.

Has he learned his lessons? Probably a bit of yes and no. Hopefully enough for him to know to focus on one project at a time, but hopefully not so much that he's stopped dreaming big.

Regards,
SB

 

[Deleted member 11852]

Wow, Peter Molyneaux is worse than I ever could have possibly imagined. It's honestly amazing that Lionhead every released a game that was worth playing.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...al&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

"And as a boys club made up largely of young men, Lionhead saw late nights filled with hard work and hard play. They would drink cans of coke and smoke cigarettes while sat at desks covered in cold, leftover pizza."​

Hard play? Not unless that was the type of coke you snort. But pizza is dangerous - it can lead to harder things, like garlic bread

 

[BRiT]

Yup, It's not hard play unless there is booze and coke and strippers or hookers.

 

[bunge]

Yup, It's not hard play unless there is booze and coke and strippers or hookers.

Sign me up.

 

[nutball]

Yup, It's not hard play unless there is booze and coke and strippers or hookers.

What do you mean "or"?

 

[Scott_Arm]

What do you mean "or"?

I think the latter makes the former redundant.

 

[BRiT]

I think the latter makes the former redundant.

One has skill in dancing, the other does not.