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Microsoft announces closure of Lionhead Studios

CommandMan7
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Microsoft has announced plans to close lionhead studios, the developers behind the legendary 2004 game Fable. Microsoft acquired lionhead studios in 2006, and since then has released 5 games. Their last game, Fable anniversary, was released in 2014 for the PC and Xbox 360. 

 

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After much consideration we have decided to cease development on Fable Legends, and are in discussions with employees about the proposed closure of Lionhead Studios in the UK. Additionally, we will close Press Play Studios in Denmark, and sunset development on Project Knoxville.

 

They have also announced closure of press play, another small studio bought by Microsoft.

 

I wasn't into gaming back then so I've never played fable, but I know many people here enjoyed the fable series. I've had the impression that lionhead studios was loved and well respected by the community and I'm sure many people will be saddened by this news.

 

This is the fourth and fifth closure out of the nine game studios Microsoft has bought over the years. It's maddening to see so much talent and potential going to waste whenever Microsoft aquires a game studio. This is also why I fear for mojang's future.

 

Source:

http://kotaku.com/sounds-like-microsoft-is-shutting-down-iconic-game-stud-1763272488

 

 

 

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Riiiiip.

There was some other company who had a few studios or purchased a few and closed them too.. This reminds me of that :( 

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I have fond memories of the original Black and White but it has been over seven years since Lionhead released a good game (Fable 2). Impressions I've heard from people playing Fable Legends have not been overly positive.

 

The way MS is wording the closure of Lionhead is interesting and makes me wonder if they want to keep some of the team around or discuss their plans for the future.

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wait .. wasn't this game the one supposed to use Async Compute ?!

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Fable was a series that captured my attention with an interesting world, good gameplay but not excellent, and a wonderful lore and narration.  Fable 2 expanded on it, and Fable 3 was just as okay.  It really is saddening to see them kill a game company that mattered a lot during my olden years of gaming.  Just like when EA destroyed Westwood and took from me the joy that was Command & Conquer.

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RIP, so this is the PC gaming scene I've come to...

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RIP Lionhead. Hopefully another team picks some of those guys up.

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1 hour ago, zMeul said:

wait .. wasn't this game the one supposed to use Async Compute ?!

no, it was going to use more of the DX12 stuff Nvidia cards supported (rasterized rendering or whatever it was called).

 

This is why AMD won in Ashes and Nvidia won in the Fable Benches.

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Really enjoyed playing Fable 2 & 3 not too many years back. Was hoping there would be another like it in the future. :( 

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Not all that surprise since the studio isn't making all that great games anymore.

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Black & White was my favourite childhood game. Microsoft why do you buy game studios then close them? :/ 

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40 minutes ago, Prysin said:

no, it was going to use more of the DX12 stuff Nvidia cards supported (rasterized rendering or whatever it was called).

 

This is why AMD won in Ashes and Nvidia won in the Fable Benches.

How did Nvidia win the Fable benches? On my phone so cant post the benchmark, but the Fury X beat a stock 980 ti and the 390 beat a 980.

 

EDIT: furyx and stock 980 ti were tied. Still a win for 980 ti since it can be OCed, but nvidia lost everywhere else.

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Oh wow. Original Fable is one of my all time greats, and I still have good memories of Black & White. Hope they get picked up. 

Can we get a RIP vote button?

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EA-crosoft hard at work

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1 hour ago, ivan134 said:

How did Nvidia win the Fable benches? On my phone so cant post the benchmark, but the Fury X beat a stock 980 ti and the 390 beat a 980.

not in fable. Perhaps after AMD made drivers for it. AFAIK, Nvidia didnt bother to make drivers for their cards in that game/bench

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1 minute ago, Prysin said:

not in fable. Perhaps after AMD made drivers for it. AFAIK, Nvidia didnt bother to make drivers for their cards in that game/bench

No, they both released drivers specifically for the benchmark.

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Microsoft's doing another EA?

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I'm not terribly surprised by this, given the recent reception of the last few Fable games.

 

Fable 2 was fucking amazing. Quite frankly one of the best games I've played. Fable 3 had a straight up retarded UI, and some stupid gameplay decisions. The actual combat, etc, of Fable 3 was totally fine, but the UI, the Menu, and most especially, the map, were straight up fucking broken because of bad design choices.

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5 hours ago, CommandMan7 said:

Microsoft has announced plans to close lionhead studios, the developers behind the legendary 2004 game Fable. Microsoft acquired lionhead studios in 2006, and since then has released 5 games. Their last game, Fable anniversary, was released in 2014 for the PC and Xbox 360. 

 

 

They have also announced closure of press play, another small studio bought by Microsoft.

 

I wasn't into gaming back then so I've never played fable, but I know many people here enjoyed the fable series. I've had the impression that lionhead studios was loved and well respected by the community and I'm sure many people will be saddened by this news.

 

This is the fourth and fifth closure out of the nine game studios Microsoft has bought over the years. It's maddening to see so much talent and potential going to waste whenever Microsoft aquires a game studio. This is also why I fear for mojang's future.

 

Source:

http://kotaku.com/sounds-like-microsoft-is-shutting-down-iconic-game-stud-1763272488

 

They might have closed down lionhead and currently ceased development of fable legends. However I don't think it's a perment cease in development.

Considering how far Fable Legends it has come it would not be in microsofts interest to give up on the game.

What I think may happen is that Lionhead will close and Microsoft will buy up the rights to the IPs it owns and will produce Fable Legends and any other games it was in production of under the microsoft studios name.

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1 hour ago, dalekphalm said:

I'm not terribly surprised by this, given the recent reception of the last few Fable games.

 

Fable 2 was fucking amazing. Quite frankly one of the best games I've played. Fable 3 had a straight up retarded UI, and some stupid gameplay decisions. The actual combat, etc, of Fable 3 was totally fine, but the UI, the Menu, and most especially, the map, were straight up fucking broken because of bad design choices.

Fable legends was/is an amazing game. The beta has been so fun and would've made an excellent F2P game or even as an ordinary game for ~£50.

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I don't get Microsoft on this one. Granted that the last games from the studio wasn't pushing sales. But say I was interested in a console. If the XBox One had everything that the PS4 has, and the PS4 has exclusive games because Sony has studios, why would I pick the XBox One?

 

They should hiring greater talent, to make more compelling games that pushes sales.

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1 hour ago, GoodBytes said:

I don't get Microsoft on this one. Granted that the last games from the studio wasn't pushing sales. But say I was interested in a console. If the XBox One had everything that the PS4 has, and the PS4 has exclusive games because Sony has studios, why would I pick the XBox One?

 

They should hiring greater talent, to make more compelling games that pushes sales.

This Microsoft we are talking about though, they really don't know how to do that well.

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