Lionhead Studios and Press Play Studios Shut Their Doors, Fable Legends Canceled
Today is a sad day for Fable Fans, after much consideration, Microsoft has “regretfully” announced the closure of the famed Lionhead Studios and indie developer Press Play Studios.
Lionhead Studios was very well known for gems such as the Black & White games and the beloved Fable games, it’s founder Peter Monileux has gained a rather bad fame for over hyping and over exaggerating the features of his games, one of his most famous remarks was during the first Fable development, as he was quoted for saying that Fable would be the best RPG of all time, which to this day was still a very bold comment to make in front of the press.
Black & White 2
For those who don’t know about Press Play Studios, they were the developers of the Max and the Magic Marker games and Kalimba, they started as an indie game developer until Microsoft acquired the studio in 2012 in order to develop Max: The Curse of Brotherhood for the Xbox One and Project Knoxville, however, the latter was also cancelled along with Fable Legends.
Max: The Curse of Brotherhood
Here is what
“Today, I have some difficult changes to announce that affect some of our Microsoft Studios teams and projects in the UK and Denmark.
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.
These have been tough decisions and we have not made them lightly, nor are they a reflection on these development teams – we are incredibly fortunate to have the talent, creativity and commitment of the people at these studios. The Lionhead Studios team has delighted millions of fans with the Fable series over the past decade. Press Play imbued the industry with a unique creative spirit behind games like Max: The Curse of Brotherhood and Kalimba, which both captured passionate fans. These changes are taking effect as Microsoft Studios continues to focus its investment and development on the games and franchises that fans find most exciting and want to play.
I speak for all of Xbox when I say that despite this news, we remain committed to the development communities in the UK and Europe, and Xbox will continue to support new IP and originality in the games we offer on our platforms, whether they’re AAA blockbusters like Quantum Break from Remedy, adventurous new IPs like Sea of Thieves from Rare, or unique new creations from independent developers like Moon Studios with Ori.
We have nothing but heart-felt thanks for the members of Lionhead and Press Play for their contributions to Xbox and gaming. We are committed to working closely with those affected by today’s news to find them new opportunities at Xbox, or partnering with the broader development community to help place them in jobs elsewhere in the games industry should they desire.”
Source – news.xbox.com
