It's a goddamn shame what's happened to Lionhead. I mean on the one hand, I can see why they would want to cancel the game. It's been in development for almost 4 years, with it being in beta for over 1.5 years. It's also a F2P game that would need a lot of support post release so if you aren't feeling confident about it's long term viability then yeah it's probably better to cut your losses now.

However, that doesn't change the fact that Microsoft has poorly manged Lionhead these last 5 or 6 years. All these different spin offs that nobody wanted and now this last project has finally done them in. I mean maybe the Fable franchise could be revived one day by another developer but it still wouldn't be the same and it's a damn shame that Lionhead never got to make another big RPG.

I hope all those affected are able to get back on their feet soon.

Good luck to all the people, gosh. I'm sure there are a lot of places for those folks.

Unfortunately all the games from Lionhead start and end with Fable 2 for me. Max was a pretty okay launch window game. It just makes good business sense.

Here's to Fable!

This is very unfortunate news. Luved the Fable games. My hopes are with those affected to find new employment quickly :)

Black and White came out in 2001. This is the equivalent of Rockstar's biggest hits being the original GTA III and Midnight Club.

pressing F for Lionhead

Fable Legends was a huge mistake. A Fable game with none of the Fable trappings in it. All they had to do was make a new Fable inspired more by the first Fable! It could have been huge!

Is "project knoxville" an attempt to make the Tennessee Vols a good SEC team again? People in my state need to know.

Remasters suck, but I sure would have bought a remaster of Fable 2. That game was incredible.

I'm still bitter about those a-holes closing Digital Anvil years ago. The sooner they leave the console market the better.

I love that I can jog my memory of a game by watching 5 seconds of a quick look I watched over two years ago.

Bad news. Both studios seemed like they had unfulfilled potential.

Fable legends seemed like a mess. I liked Max though even if it wasn't stellar. Good luck to those who lost their jobs.

Hopefully Microsoft stands by their committment to help the affected employees find work and get back on their feet :(

I bought into a lot of the pre-hype for most of Lionhead's major games and honestly I have never been impressed with their offerings. Lots of hot air, gimmicks, and not so clever humor.

Sucks for the employees, though.

actually, considering how man developers microsoft finances.... I'd imagine anyone involved in Fable would be the last one they would ax. Rememdy I'd imagine they would cut first, even if they are a cult favorite but still come out once every 6 to 7 years with a game and probably cost too much with those insane graphics production.

The Movies is one of the greatest games of all time. I stand by that.

RIP british jobs

This remains me I had a beta key for the beta

totally forgot it existed ; )

My thoughts exactly.

I enjoyed Fable 2. Shame they'll never make another good one. Fable 3 was ok until i got a bug that made it impossible to continue the story.

@wrighteous86: I just can't see how you can assume that. Xbox One and PS4 are selling incredibly well, neither are in trouble in any way.

That sucks, but honestly that studio hasn't done anything to peak my interest since Fable 2.

I want to know whether the game was terrible and deserved to be canceled or the Xbox division made one more horrible business decision. Both scenarios seem possible, and I don't want to judge either party without knowing.

and it would be great if they made the game not glitchy or slow or laggy...

Peter Molyneux and his former company, Lionhead, remind me a little of Spinal Tap: people fellate them as some sort of tour de force, as greats in their craft, but when you actually look at the product being offered, it's utterly vapid. There's a lot of glitter, promise and show, but nothing of substance. They run from gig to gig, dropping as much dazzling and distracting jargon as they can before quickly fleeing the scene, booking the next show on the promise of the previous, not its merits. Audiences too overcome by the preamble, too hopeful to ask for their money back. The motley crew's never ending slumfest across the nation, funded by this ever hopeful, eternally let down consumer. The idea of what could have been, of what might be in the future(!), too great to let the party end. Time and time again Peter and Lionhead deliver at best superficially passable attempts at the medium.

People have been giving Peter the benefit of the doubt for far too long. The supposed basis for the continuance of the abusive and one sided relationship: dated examples of a genre that dazzled not because of playability or substance, but for sheer lack of options and the resulting uniqueness. The guy's simply a poor game designer that lucked into an ephemeral niche that could only exist at the time, and while I don't doubt there are talented people at his former company, they have not shown themselves capable game designers or producers.

Like Sonic, it's time to put this to bed -- for the last time.

Not surprised I've been trying to play the beta and it's been a broken mess not a good sign 4 years in

Because Microsoft is shutting down a number of its studios, increasingly emphasizing Windows and Xbox as more of a "platform" than a console that will be available on the PC , and including ports of most of its exclusive games going forward.

When Xbox is continually incrementally updated, and all of its games are available on PC as well (with cross-play, as they've stated) what makes the Xbox anything more than a closed PC? It's basically on its way to becoming a Steam Box. And then there will just be Xbox branded PCs down the line, and it won't even be a console in the traditional sense anymore.

This situation really reads more to me of 2-3 year console updates that are constantly compatibl with previously released titles. One of the strengths of DX12 is scaling, which means older systems run the new games worse up to a certain point but on the whole it's still one base console that just gets more constant revisions to keep up with the times but without leaving its library behind.

I got invited to the Fable Legends beta last week

@wrighteous86: What on Earth is a console in the "traditional sense," if not a computer? All consoles are computers. Now and ever. Hell, the original Nintendo console? Family Computer.

@canadianmath : K

@canadianmath: I don't even know on what level you are making that comparison.

@bisonhero: The one with the rocket launcher.

This is sad, I remember having TONS of fun with fable 2, one of the best games I played on my x360.

This is why they should've never changed their game design like this, If they went for a regular RPG single player game It would've been a success...

I love the Fable games, and still play them. I feel sorrow for seeing a creative studio with unique ideas close, even if some of them didn't pan out or were less than stellar, they were different. The gaming market just became a little less diverse and interesting.

Considering Molyneux left Lionhead ..his own studio.. nearly 4 years ago now, with no clear successor of equal recognition to take over or the studio having any game of note in the pipeline. That Lionhead lasted this long without being closed down or merged with Rare or whatever in-house is a miracle in itself. If the staff didn't see this coming after all the negative press regarding the poor showing of Legends, then they're very naive.

If it wasn't for the (misjudged) hyping of Fable. The legacy should have really ended with Bullfrog in the 90's & Lionhead & it's many disappointments would have never happened.