Fable Legends cancelled, Lionhead might shut down

[argyle]

This was sad news to me just because I see it as the true end to the greatness that was once Bullfrog Studios. Granted, I don't know that anything Lionhead ever made lived up to the best Bullfrog games, but part of the pedigree was still there at least. 

Somewhere there's a parallel universe where Lionhead and Rare never got bought by MS, Midway didn't go under and Konami didn't go insane.

[gf78]

This was sad news to me just because I see it as the true end to the greatness that was once Bullfrog Studios. Granted, I don't know that anything Lionhead ever made lived up to the best Bullfrog games, but part of the pedigree was still there at least. 

Somewhere there's a parallel universe where Lionhead and Rare never got bought by MS, Midway didn't go under and Konami didn't go insane.

That's a nice sentiment. 

[burningdoom]

This was sad news to me just because I see it as the true end to the greatness that was once Bullfrog Studios. Granted, I don't know that anything Lionhead ever made lived up to the best Bullfrog games, but part of the pedigree was still there at least. 

Somewhere there's a parallel universe where Lionhead and Rare never got bought by MS, Midway didn't go under and Konami didn't go insane.

That's a nice sentiment.

In that same universe, Sony and Nintendo never had a falling out and are dominating the game industry.

[ignition365]

Further news.

5 studios' logos have been removed from Microsoft Studio's website, as well as the logo for Project Spark.

Big Park, Function Studios, Good Science, LXP, and SOTA.

Just an update on this.  Project Spark has officially been discontinued.  Servers will shut down in the coming months.

[gf78]

Further news.

5 studios' logos have been removed from Microsoft Studio's website, as well as the logo for Project Spark.

Big Park, Function Studios, Good Science, LXP, and SOTA.

Just an update on this.  Project Spark has officially been discontinued.  Servers will shut down in the coming months.

What an atrocious company.  Let's force Lionhead to make Kinect crap that doesn't sell.  Then let's force them to make a free to play game and axe it before it even comes out and close the damn studio.  Now let's cancel another game and fuck all, we aren't going to host the user created content anymore either!  What does it hurt to keep that player generated content available for existing users?  It doesn't!

Microsoft has a long history dating back to the first Xbox of scuttling studios, even if their games are successful.  And it all began with the purchase and subsequent destruction of everything that was good at Rare.   

[ignition365]

Further news.

5 studios' logos have been removed from Microsoft Studio's website, as well as the logo for Project Spark.

Big Park, Function Studios, Good Science, LXP, and SOTA.

Just an update on this.  Project Spark has officially been discontinued.  Servers will shut down in the coming months.

What an atrocious company.  Let's force Lionhead to make Kinect crap that doesn't sell.  Then let's force them to make a free to play game and axe it before it even comes out and close the damn studio.  Now let's cancel another game and fuck all, we aren't going to host the user created content anymore either!  What does it hurt to keep that player generated content available for existing users?  It doesn't!

Microsoft has a long history dating back to the first Xbox of scuttling studios, even if their games are successful.  And it all began with the purchase and subsequent destruction of everything that was good at Rare.   

Allegedly the "Conker" game made for Project Spark is free, so that might be something to grab before the servers go down.

Also, allegedly several companies made offers to buy Lionhead studios and the Fable franchise before Microsoft shut it down completely, but Microsoft chose to decline all offers, presumably to prevent anyone else from making money on something they couldn't make money on.

[desocietas]

According to the article I read, there's no longer anything to download unless you have your own user generated stuff on the servers.  They ceased further downloads once the announcement was made about the shutdown but were offering refunds to those who had purchased the software.

[gf78]

According to the article I read, there's no longer anything to download unless you have your own user generated stuff on the servers.  They ceased further downloads once the announcement was made about the shutdown but were offering refunds to those who had purchased the software.

This is just one more reason why I don't support Microsoft.  They have a long, proven track record of unceremoniously cancelling games, services and support abruptly.  Not to mention shoddy hardware.  I guess they are putting all their eggs in the proverbial basket with Halo, Forza and Gears.  But at this point just like Call of Duty or Assassin's Creed, these series are feeling severe franchise fatigue and sales have dropped more and more with each new release.  Forza has turned into a complete cash-grab of DLC car packs and season passes, going so far as to put less cars in the newer games than before so they can charge for them!  As for Gears, I don't think a new game was necessary.  The story had a definitive end with 3.  That should have been it.  But now we have a "new" enemy that isn't the Locust....but just so happens to look exactly like the Locust.   

Is Microsoft even actively involved in any other 1st or 2nd party titles?  Aren't the rest of their exclusives 3rd party paid titles?  Oh wait...they have a Rare game that may get canned before it's even released. 

[bubsystation]

According to the article I read, there's no longer anything to download unless you have your own user generated stuff on the servers.  They ceased further downloads once the announcement was made about the shutdown but were offering refunds to those who had purchased the software.

This is just one more reason why I don't support Microsoft.  They have a long, proven track record of unceremoniously cancelling games, services and support abruptly.  Not to mention shoddy hardware.  I guess they are putting all their eggs in the proverbial basket with Halo, Forza and Gears.  But at this point just like Call of Duty or Assassin's Creed, these series are feeling severe franchise fatigue and sales have dropped more and more with each new release.  Forza has turned into a complete cash-grab of DLC car packs and season passes, going so far as to put less cars in the newer games than before so they can charge for them!  As for Gears, I don't think a new game was necessary.  The story had a definitive end with 3.  That should have been it.  But now we have a "new" enemy that isn't the Locust....but just so happens to look exactly like the Locust.   

Is Microsoft even actively involved in any other 1st or 2nd party titles?  Aren't the rest of their exclusives 3rd party paid titles?  Oh wait...they have a Rare game that may get canned before it's even released.

Nah.

MS has put more effort in their games this gen, theres only like 5 total Gears/Halo/Forza games currently, and Sonys has done similar closures.

I think the real problem is that they usually don't give out reasons why they close studios and kind of move on leaving people to speculate what happened which sometimes makes people angry. Other usually don't do this. For example, Fable Legends is dead, why We know they closed down the studio for a reason but we were not even given a vague hint as to why that may be.

They have been doing it that way for years, at least give us something.

[argyle]

In case you guys haven't heard the latest reports of MS' douchebaggery, supposedly there were several big-name publishers lined up to buy Lionhead but MS refused to let go of the Fable IP, so they all passed.

http://gameranx.com/updates/id/52509/article/buyers-were-lined-up-to-prevent-closure-of-lionhead-studios-sources-say/

[ignition365]

In case you guys haven't heard the latest reports of MS' douchebaggery, supposedly there were several big-name publishers lined up to buy Lionhead but MS refused to let go of the Fable IP, so they all passed.

http://gameranx.com/updates/id/52509/article/buyers-were-lined-up-to-prevent-closure-of-lionhead-studios-sources-say/

Also, allegedly several companies made offers to buy Lionhead studios and the Fable franchise before Microsoft shut it down completely, but Microsoft chose to decline all offers, presumably to prevent anyone else from making money on something they couldn't make money on.

[bubsystation]

In case you guys haven't heard the latest reports of MS' douchebaggery, supposedly there were several big-name publishers lined up to buy Lionhead but MS refused to let go of the Fable IP, so they all passed.

http://gameranx.com/updates/id/52509/article/buyers-were-lined-up-to-prevent-closure-of-lionhead-studios-sources-say/

I don't see....

How keeping their own IP is them being douchebags. I mean Fable 1-3 The Journey are MS games, and of course re-releasing them would be hard without owning the IP, plus they may revive it with a different studio/

If the only thing guys wanted form Lionhead out of buying them was Fable and not Black and White or anything, then I think the douches are actually the buyers.

[ignition365]

In case you aren't following the Kickstarter thread.

Some ex-devs from Lionhead studios started up a new indie studio and have been granted use of the Fable license (presumably why Microsoft didn't sell the franchise) and have launched a kickstarter that just started a few minutes ago for this Fable card game.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/flamingfowl/fable-fortune-a-fable-ccg-with-co-op-pvp-and-quest

[gf78]

Nah.

MS has put more effort in their games this gen, theres only like 5 total Gears/Halo/Forza games currently, and Sonys has done similar closures.

I think the real problem is that they usually don't give out reasons why they close studios and kind of move on leaving people to speculate what happened which sometimes makes people angry. Other usually don't do this. For example, Fable Legends is dead, why We know they closed down the studio for a reason but we were not even given a vague hint as to why that may be.

They have been doing it that way for years, at least give us something.

I believe the only studio Sony has closed this gen is Evolution, the team behind DriveClub. 

I don't really see how Microsoft has put more effort into their studios and 1st party games this gen than before.  Besides Halo, Gears and Forza...what do they have?  They have paid a couple of 3rd party develoers to make exclusives and that's about it.  Rare hasn't released a good game in years so it's up in the air to see what happens with their new title.  I'm not getting my hopes up.