Changes at Microsoft Studios, UK and Denmark: Fable Legends Cancelled

Lionhead Studios is closing and Fable Legends is being cancelled.

[Abash]

Wow was not expecting this. Both Lionhead and Press Play facing closures? Best of luck to the developers at both studios.

[MightyNoX]

I did, seeing how Phil cancelled Shangheist and cancelled Phantom Dust.

Rare will be next.

[Mikefizzled]

Phil put Phantom Dust into motion. They cancelled the Darkside Games version of it because it wasn't up to quality.
I don't know how much I believe it but it's becoming less plausible that quality was his reason.

[KaZeDaRKWIND]

I wouldn't mind. Maybe the Rare employees who are left could actually make decent games again.

[breakpad]

it was damn obvious ..the game itself was frivolous at least

[UltraNova]

WOW that was abrupt! What the hell is happening down at Redmond?

Best of luck to the affected...

[dirkdady]

The way MS went about on the phantom dust "cancellation" was shady at best. Darkside found out the project was shelved rather publically along with everyone else.

I know ms technically extended the name and says it's not cancelled but back in October Greenberg reconfirmed that there is no new dev attached to this project (I.e. Shelved or cancelled - take ur pick).

[uptownsoul]

I hope all the paid staff find somewhere to work (and hopefully with similar pay)...

[dirkdady]

Makes you kinda think about msft's long term strategy.
The main reason any first party manufacturer runs studios is to beef up its library to set its console apart from others. I think we've seen from playstation that while they've had their share of closures they've been also willing to run studios with razor thin margins and take greater risks with niche titles as long as it contributed to the ecosystem.

Just what is msft thinking to make them make such moves.

[morganfell]

"Makes you kinda think about msft's long term strategy."

Use funds garnered from studio closures to purchase timed exclusive launches on the Windows 10 store.

[4Sh0w]

It's business so this happens sometimes but I really wasn't expecting Lionhead to close and it's strange that a game which is basically almost complete with positive feedback from the beta is being cancelled. I wonder what really happened internally with Lionhead to cause this???

Best of luck to the devs and staff at Lionhead, hope they get a new position with Microsoft or elsewhere if possible.

Fable Legends played well and it was a pretty different game than the all too familiar cookie cutter stuff, plus its done so no reason not to at least release the game.

[Gazondaily]

Got a source to say Phantom Dust is cancelled? Spencer is the one who made a push for Dust to be made in the first place, although its future seems sketchy.

[jmac53]

@Morganfell what money? They just cancelled a game that was almost fully developed. The only way to really recoup that investment is to sell the game. I would say MS is at a loss doing this.

[Kingthrash360]

Yeah, keep ignoring it. But they are on the way out of console gaming. This is huge news...I thought the game was almost done. People were saying the alpha was great....wow. I'm stunned by this news.

[Mr Pumblechook]

What an absolute cluster truck.

Just two days ago I received an email from Lionhead that said "Fable Legends - A new reason to play every day." Now the game is being cancelled and the studio is likely for the chop. The development of this game has been an utter mess. Switching it to 'free' with microtransactions and always online didn't help. But what baffles me is how did development get so far, just weeks before final release, only for it to be cancelled?

[BitbyDeath]

Fable was one of MS's biggest IPS, if they're only keeping ones above it then that only leaves

Forza
Gears
Halo

Ninty should buy RARE back before they get shutdown.

[morganfell]

@jmac,

You do not know the real status of the development. You can assume but you should be well aware of that which assumption is the mother.

Time does not equal percentage of completion.

Now you can say that Phil remarked on it being in Beta. Are you really buying into that? He knew last week the status of what was happening and what did he say?

There is still an ad budget, distribution, bonuses, and other matters to which one must attend. As well there is the projected operating costs for said studios which are forecast one if not more years in advance. Then there are the funds to be gained from selling off assets from the company which is going to happen. Lack of useful engagement means people are leaving and assets will be sold

[Rayven]

The article's title is a clickbait. I read the article and Fable's cancellation was not mentioned. It probably will be cancelled, but one should not add things to the title that was not mentioned. The original title in the website does not mention anything about a cancellation either.

TL;DR
Whoever posted this article here jumped the gun when they said Fable Legends is cancelled. We don't know yet for sure.

[rainslacker]

@Rayven

Second paragraph right after the one sentence paragraph which starts the announcement

"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."

While it's possible it could come back later, as of right now, it is effectively cancelled, and rarely do projects get restarted at another studio....although it is known to happen.

This is directly from MS, using their own blog. If they had intentions to continue it elsewhere, they likely would have said they are looking for a new dev and more info would come soon.

[IamTylerDurden1]

Yet, microsoft fans STILL claim Phantom Dust isn't cancelled. It's honestly sad to see ms run Fable and Lionhead into the ground.

[-Foxtrot]

I didn't like the look of Fable Legends but I was hoping it would be the Fable franchises multiplayer line of games while the main games took on a more single player approach.

Such a shame

[javauns]

This make no sense, I literally played this game a few days ago. They should have released it and patched their way through. Then put the rest of the team on a single player fable. But the other studios closing too is crazy. I guess the board members are really pressuring the xbox gaming division so they have to trim some fat. No wonder the other studios are stuck in the sequel position and don't take chances on new IPs.

[Kavorklestein]

It could be to trim some fat, but it might not just be simply "money"... it also could be because
Lionhead was asking for too much and taking too long for MS to feel comfortable with letting them continue development at their expense.
Especially considering this was for a free to play game, a game that even LIONHEAD must have had no faith in to go the free to play route...

And, to be honest, the game had nothing new to present, like I literally didn't see any progress or anything that excited me at all in what was shown in recent months, in fact, the recent footage sometimes looked downgraded from the initial reveal.
And this is after announcing it almost 3 years ago.

Lionhead only has themselves to blame.
You can't tell me that a freaking MOBA takes 3 years to develop.
Was one lone programmer doing all the work?
I mean for f***'s sake, that is REALLY pathetic.

A person could probably go to school for game design, work at an Indie studio and have a moba, an rts, and a platformer mostly completed in 3 damn years if they really wanted to.

The people affected have my sympathy of course, but when it comes to games, you gotta stay relevant.
Especially when Lionhead did make some great games in the past.
I mean,
They can't just keep making games with the same cheesy art style over and over, games with less and less features, and depth, and expect to stick around when it's clear as day that they showed that they were losing finesse, going stagnant and sitting around with no new or captivating ideas.

In the end, nobody truly knows all the details, but if ya ask me,
Lionhead has been around long enough to be better than they have become.
I personally feel like they got lazy, and deserve this outcome.

[Overload]

Yeah, I didn't expect this.

This doesn't seem "more committed" than they've ever been though.

[Gazondaily]

Well it depends on how the game was turning out. If it was looking to be a money sink and there were quality concerns then it might have been best to flush it down the toilet. I never played the beta so I'm not sure.

[Kingthrash360]

Fable was a known franchise of ms. I've heard many people say it was good...for a beta. It was almost done, why not just delay it....wait it didn't even have a release date. This had been a rough 2 weeks for Xbox only gamers.

[Kryptix]

The game was gonna come out in 2016. They straight up didn't give Lionhead Studios a chance to see how well it would do. That's pretty low on Microsoft's part to destroy a developer's dream when it was close to being finished.

A part of me wants to believe that the project will be sourced to another studio, since it was more than halfway done, but I highly doubt it. Nobody knows how to expand and design Fable more than Lionhead Studios. The only Fable I played and finished was 2, but it was a good game, yo so I did have some respect for the developers that were there.

[rainslacker]

I wouldn't commit to saying it's totally canned at the moment. They may have intention to carry on the project elsewhere, but as of right now, don't have a plan of action on that aspect.

It does seem rather odd, given that it's so close to release, to close up shop at the dev instead of just releasing it unless the game was an utter mess.

The typical reason a successful studio gets shut down is because it's more cost effective to not have it running, in which case they could have at least rode it out for the release of the game(which was very soon as I recall), and moved long term support for the title onto another studio which was cheaper to operate.

Even closing up shop costs substantial amounts of money, so makes more sense to just let them operate for a few months...although I've long since tried to understand why big corporations do some of the seemingly stupid things they do, because spreadsheets tend to beat common sense.

[Sevir]

It's tough in the game industry, you're not truly safe as first party or 3rd party, and it's difficult being indie!

It's sad these creative studios are facing closures, I sure hope these developers find new homes and new endeavors to put food on the table for their families.

[showtimefolks]

Fable legends looked bad/uninteresting

[RiseofScorpio]

Still really dumb to dump 3 years of work.

[mafia_pc]

i played it and it's not that bad and it's supposed to be free

[XanderZane]

The game was actually very good and looked incredible in action. You must not have played it.

[rainslacker]

@Walu

Maybe not dumb. Not up to date on FL, but if the game was not very good, then pulling the plug may just save them more time and money in the long run. Being a game that required constant server access to use, as well as continuous content updates, it's not just a release and be done with it kind of situation.

If MS truly feels that the game will be a money sink due to it's quality or appeal(again, have no clue on it's quality, just discussing hypotheticals), then there is no sense in continuing it's development. Even though they're losing a lot by not following through, they're just cutting their losses, instead of incurring more.

If this was a SP game, and of reasonably good quality, it would probably not be canned, and the studio would probably remain open until the project was finished.

[CitizenFour]

I played the beta, and I was pretty disappointed. If they would have made a classic Fable game.. like Fable 4 maybe? I think things may have been different.
Fable 1, 2 and 3 were all pretty classic Fable games. Why they decided to change a working formula is unclear. Would have loved a new "classic" Fable RPG. Really hoping they don't kill of Fable completely.

[AngelicIceDiamond]

Horrible wtf happen MS see now this is negative news not X1 games goin to PC. Fable Legends was looking up to par then it ever did.

MS trying to stay relevant in the game industry but yet pull off this crap...

Unacceptable.

[lxeasy]

Such a shame I was looking forward to Fable Legends...smh I can't two very talented studios are closing.

[ChuckTheIceMan]

How is this any different than Sony and Ready at dawn?

[Rimgal]

Sony does not own and never owned Ready at dawn. They are an independent studio that worked on some Sony IPs. Just like Insomniac, From Software and many more.

And the studio is not closed.

[notachance]

where did you pull that phrase from lol

[rainslacker]

Ready at Dawn was closed? In june they just appointed a new CEO...and as far as I know, are working on their engine for commercial release.

In any case, Sony does not have the ability to close down R@D, because they do not own it.

Other Sony studios were closed due to either being redundant, or not profitable enough to maintain their existence. Some were absorbed into other studios....which makes operating costs lower.

Otherwise, it's not much different. However, given that a rather high profile title, from an established IP that was releasing this year and is looking to be nearing the end of initial development was also stopped, the news is different, because I'm not aware of Sony ever just canning a project, then shutting down a studio like that...although it's possible, and likely that has happened and we just didn't know about the projects.

[MRMagoo123]

I'm not sure but this MAY be the most stupid comment I have ever seen not just because of the obvious xbone fanboy damage control but the fact it's completely not real

[Nintentional]

If only this happened to Metroid Prime: Federation Force instead 😕

[Kavorklestein]

I LOL'D

[XanderZane]

I wasn't either, especially since Fable Legends was almost done. I've been playing it for the past few months and the game was great. Only reason I see them cancelling it was because it was going to be a FREE game and they would only get money from in game transactions. After the excellent Max and the Curse of Brotherhood, I don't know what they were working on. This really sucks.

[mEATgrinder]

Better start looking for work because you failed to deliver

[IamTylerDurden1]

I was, every time i saw Fable Legends or heard about the ridiculous whoring of the Fable brand i cringed. I fully expected Lionhead to dissipate into dust and the Fable brand to erode into nothingness.

It's a joke what ms did to Fable. A horrid Kinect game and a cancelled free to play, what did u expect?

[Genuine-User]

"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"

Damn man!

I wish everyone affected the best of luck.

[DragonDDark]

The f*** just happened..?

*jaw drops*

[MatrixxGT]

This is what MS meant by " not all Xbox games will come to PC".

[IamTylerDurden1]

It didn't just happen, after Peter left ms raped the brand. Yet, ppl still tried to act optimistic about Fable Legends. I'm as big a Fable fan as there is, and Fable Legends and the Kinect game sickened me.

Funny how much venom Peter gets. Meanwhile, ms dismantled the the entire Fable brand and Lionhead itself.

[TwoForce]

Jesus Christ ! That's very bad to be honest. I didn't expect this.

[ThePope]

Ive heard nothing but great things about Fable Legends. Weird.

[MasterCornholio]

This is so sudden........

I really wasn't expecting this.

[Goldby]

Well slap me Silly, and call me Petunia."

No jokes though, i hope even more success for the guys from Lionhead in the future.

[AngelicIceDiamond]

Clearly I don't work for MS but MS has all this money so what the hell happen? Upset right now MS E3 is very questionable now I dunno how good its going to be this year tbh.

[iceman06]

This seems to provide more evidence to the fact that, although MS has huge amounts of cash and could theoretically spend for years, there are some restrictions as to how much they can or will spend. (much like every other company in the industry) No knock on MS, just maybe adding common sense to the ubiquitous notion that MS has virtually unlimited resources to apply to gaming.

[rainslacker]

Closing a studio isn't inherently bad, but it depends on what they are doing with the people from those studios, and where the work those studios are doing is going to....if it's going anywhere.

Closing a studio and consolidating it into other studios by making those studios into a team within another studio, can be cost effective, and deliver the same results in terms of games. The one studio who made Wipeout for Sony was consolidated into one of their bigger studios as I recall(details are fuzzy, they had a few studio closures at that time).

The cancellation though was kind of a shock, although there's a chance that they plan to move development elsewhere....but the closing at the same time seems odd since LH could have at least finished it for the initial release.

[Rimgal]

That's weird. Wasn't Fable Legends supposed to come this spring?

But regardless best of luck for those who lost their job.

[SpaceRanger]

Yeah they kept touting it in their "best line up" ads and pushed it right before the suspected fall launch in 2015. They even showed it in those monthly Major Nelson videos saying how great it runs, which to me made me think it was just about ready. It's not the first time unfortunately that this has happened to a game though, and it won't be the last.

I likewise wish those at this studio the best of luck! I'm sure their top talent will be picked up by supporting studios in the UK.

[Kribwalker]

I was in the closed beta. It played fantastic and the graphics were great. Don't understand why they'd cancel it...

[Rimgal]

Yeah but how do you go from Closed Beta to Closed Down the whole studio just like that? Just seems weird to me.

Something must have happened for MS to do this.

[javauns]

The ms stock value dropped lol. Man I love my xbox but moves like this confuse me.

[UnHoly_One]

Yeah I don't get this at all.

Having played in the beta, the game looked like it could have been released months ago.

It was going to be Free to Play anyway, why wouldn't they just release it as-is?

[Manic2014]

Damn, was not expecting that. Best of luck to those talented people!

[G20WLY]

Totally. It's a pretty day for those guys. Another once-great studio ruined. It's bad news for the fans too, but to a less serious degree of course.

[dumahim]

I don't think they would consider it a pretty day.

[PancakeLova]

So is my character from beta not going to be carrying over?

[Aenea]

Carrying over to what?

[-Foxtrot]

The Void

[Xavior_Reigns]

@ Foxtrot

LOL geez man too harsh.

[nix]

I guess it's time to light few candles and say a little prayer to those characters.

#RestInPeace

[badz149]

Maybe...the cloud?

[Hueynewton2012]

"Maybe.... the cloud

LMAO

[notachance]

the cloud will carry them to heaven or something now

[dumahim]

Maybe the power of the cloud will finish development.

[MrSwankSinatra]

carrying over to what? they just said they're canceling fable legends all together.

[DonkeyWalrus]

Well no sh*t he was making a joke

[Takwin]

Lol

[SpaceRanger]

"So is my character from beta not going to be carrying over?"

+bubble up for making a funny!

But to reiterate what everyone above me said, it sounds like there won't be anything to carry over to.

[UltraNova]

Yes, to video game heaven.

[jobboy]

lol

[Goldby]

I wonder if WoW would make a stature somwehere for them in their game lol

[wenaldy]

It's over man. Game over!!!

[christocolus]

This news is really sad but your comment made me LOL. That was funny.

I wish the teams at both studios all the best in their future endeavours.

[RiseofScorpio]

I wanted to play as the guy with the Crossbow in the final release :(

[Khaotic]

You just have to find a way to let go. It's hard but your toon is in a better place now.

[jb227]

Screw your character progress, what will happen to my preorder?

[XanderZane]

If the game is cancelled, there's nothing to carry it over to. I had just updated the game last week.

[AizenSosuke]

No that honestly one of the saddest news I have ever heard all year best of luck:(

[blackblades]

That's the saddest news you ever heard in your life. Wow.

[NarooN]

Well he actually said "all year", not his whole life, but still... lol

[jznrpg]

I guess you dont read news or watch news etc.

[Mikefizzled]

The single worst decision Phil has made. This is seriously testing my confidence in Xbox.

[thrust]

Hahaha really^^

[DarkOcelet]

I didn't like the idea of Fable going F2P and i wished it would be cancelled but the closure of LionHead Studios? I was not expecting that at all.

Hopefully those affected find a new job soon.

[slate91]

Kind of needed. Dont remember that last good project they put out. Fable legends, while a visual masterpiece, kind of screamed of irrelevancy. Just very unfortunate that people are out of a job now.

[-Foxtrot]

Yeah a single player focused Fable game reboot is what we needed

[343_Guilty_Spark]

It said "proposed".

[TheBurger29]

It was almost done though... why not just finish it and get some money from it. Nope! Just cancel it and say F*ck You to the devs. MS really is evil.

[badz149]

@TheBurger29

This is MS! They don't do that kind of thing. Just remember Nokia. Over $7bn down the drain!

[itsjustexuma]

Everything he's done in gaming is a failure

[Black0ut]

haha sure thing pal

[LightofDarkness]

Lionhead haven't made a great game in over 10 years (and even Fable's greatness is debatable). The whole reason they bought them, the then supposed creative genius Peter Molyneux, left the company years ago as well. They've been nothing but high expectations and broken promises. It may seem sad, but I wouldn't count this as a huge loss at all. This is now money that can be better spent elsewhere on either new IPs or handing the reins of their existing IPs to more responsible hands.

[DonkeyDoner]

yeah like buying minecraft
money really did well spent

[OLSKOOLGAM3REGARDLES]

Finally!!!!! Someone speaks the truth... ^^^this guy.

[candystop]

Very true! I've been part of the closed beta for quite some time and honestly did not like it. Beautiful yes but that was it for me.

[Darkfist]

you mean like Rare?

[green]

This close to release? Damnnnnn......

[Muadiib]

Having played in the beta, the game was not close to release I assure you.

[green]

I am in the beta and i have not touched it since christmas. Pretty boring but i always felt they was a great game in there.

[IamTylerDurden1]

Obviously ms didn't believe in the game. If they thought it was even decent or had potential to make $ then they would've at least released it.

[BlakHavoc]

Good luck to those that were effected, sad news.

[343_Guilty_Spark]

*affected

[BlakHavoc]

Thank you, now I know

[maybelovehate]

I will miss Fable, but honestly I have been missing it since Fable 3. As for Press Play, seems like an odd decision. Thought they were highly successful in mobile.

[Kalebninja]

WHAT?! I didn't give a rats ass about FL but I really wanted a Fable 4 ;-; and now no Project Knoxville either...

[Khaotic]

Microsoft still owns the IP, maybe they give it to another dev.

[IamTylerDurden1]

All i want is a proper Fable game. The brand is in disarray, i doubt you'll see anything Fable related for many years. MS essentially destroyed the franchise.

[spicelicka]

What i don't understand is what happens to all the work put into the game? It was near completion, do they just throw is all away? That's so shitty.

[maybelovehate]

Up to Microsoft. They could sell it off to another studio. Give it to another internal studio. Or just throw it away.

[Brohan]

Very surprised by this sense I own the beta and it looks amazing. Maybe this may be because they decided to make a fable story game again with badass co-op maybe,I truly hope so.

[mark_parch]

I can't believe it, the game was almost finished. ive been playing the beta

[Aenea]

Wow, this is sad news indeed.

[Tobsesan]

Are you freaking kidding me? Looks like Phil wants to see Xbox burn. Why freaking close one of the best first party studios???? Noone ever asked for fable legends, i know that. But just cancle the game and focus on a new IP.
You can afford to buy freaking minecraft but not to stay with one of your best studios?
This is a joke to be honest. Looks like Xbox is really not far away from being abandoned.

[maybelovehate]

What has Lionhead done in the past 6 years that was decent?

[Tobsesan]

We dont know what the 2. Team was working on. Its rumored to be a new Ip.

[MrSwankSinatra]

you act as if it's phil's decision to shut the studio down to begin with.

[Tobsesan]

He is the Head of Xbox, of course it was. Its not like it was me.

[Imalwaysright]

He is the head of MS studios isn't he? Other than him I can only see Satya making this decision.

[Wallstreet37]

I concur but their is a double edged sword at play here because alot of ppl gve him credit when good decisions are made even if it wasn't his decision to begin with. Most of these Xbox decisions are made during a Board meeting with several different people having a say.

[MrSwankSinatra]

@Tobsesan & Imalwaysright And? Just because he's the head of xbox, that doesn't mean he has control over what studio gets shutdown. The head of the company and the board of directors are the ones with the power to a decision like that.

[rainslacker]

Going to throw out a possibility.

Spencer was given a budget to deal with, and he had to make a choice on where to spend the money. If Lionhead seemed like a money sink(possible being a rather sizeable studio) then downsizing or closure could be a good route to free up funds from the budget for other things which Spencer, or possibly those above him, feel would be more profitable.

Keep in mind, Spencer does have to answer to the higher ups and has to show that his division is relevant, and the best way to do that is to increase the profit and reduce the expenses/risks.

One way to increase profit is to move it's software onto the PC front...which also helps serve MS in less tangible ways...thus keeping the division relevant.

Spencer does pretty much have an ultimate say over Xbox division's internal workings, but he has to do so from the constraints which are placed on him by the higher ups. Spencer also has influence to get certain things done, by leveraging ideas with the higher ups, to possibly allow more budget, or ideas which may not be immediately profitable. But it's a balancing act, and everything is sort of give and take.

That being said, even with ultimate control, he can't just make decisions which will be detrimental to the division without others stepping in, and I am pretty sure he has to outline and explain every decision he makes when it comes to spending and development.

While I would't go so far as to say that MS is just giving Xbox one last chance before closing it down, the fact remains that all that criticism that the Xbox brand got last gen about being not as profitable to MS didn't just evaporate with the release of a new console.

No matter how committed the CEO or Spencer, or anyone else within MS may be to making the brand awesome and relevant, they still have to answer to the investors, and the big money ones probably don't care that much about the Xbox division compared to the kinds of profits that the rest of the company brings in.

[Tobsesan]

Even worse is the fact that xbox one is lacking RPGs big time and now they close the only RPG studio, its just ......

[MasterCornholio]

Don't they have a JRPG called Scalebound?

So its not like the Xbox wont have any exclusive RPGs.

[Tobsesan]

@MasterCornholio

Ye, but i was talking about 1. party

[MasterCornholio]

Does it really matter whether it's 1st or 3rd party?

An exclusive is an exclusive no matter who produces it.

[divinealpha]

The head of xbox doesn't have power to shut down studious, anybody that disagrees your being ignorant, I will not call you retarded "kappa"

[Imalwaysright]

He isn't just the the head of the Xbox division. He's also the head of Microsoft studios whih both these studios as subsidiaries.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wi...

[divinealpha]

You are mistaken phil is not just presiden t I disagree alpha

[Khaotic]

I have to disagree, everything this studio has done has been slightly above mediocre. The fable games of past were somewhat fun, one and done games where the ambition exceeded what was delivered. I'm sorry for the staff though.

[kraenk12]

Truly looks as if they gave up on X1 all together. Surely didn't expect that.

[frostypants]

Microsoft wants Xbox to basically become a Steam-like service (and run Steam out of the market), and the console will just become a low-end Xbox-branded PC with overpriced proprietary upgrades. Microsoft will be the gatekeeper to the ecosystem and profit on every title sold, without investing much at all into actual development. Think "iTunes" for gaming. That's what they want to be.

Xbox as we know it won't even resemble what it's becoming. And it's sad.

[rainslacker]

Which would make this move seem even odder. It's an MMO, which could easily be leveraged to increase usage numbers for their online service....think Battlenet from Blizzard, or other things from EA/Ubi.

Giving up the one currently known release which had what could be a long term sustainable user base and relatively inexpensive long term costs compared to constant MP/SP releases, it defies logic to simply scrap the game if their intent is to leverage user numbers as a metric for success.

[nigelp520]

WHY!!!!!!!!! What has been going on with Microsoft lately/ What will happen with the Fable Franchise? Sucks bad news for Xbox fans lately

[TripleCs]

It always sucks when you hear about a game studio closing and people losing their jobs.. People have bills to pay and some have families to feed and take care of. Best of luck to the people that worked at Lionhead. Hopefully the people at those studios can find new job and career opportunities.

[TripleCs]

Oh and apparently Press Play is shutting down too.. so I'd also like to extend my well wishes to Press Play. Hopefully the talented people at Press Play can bounce back and find new future endeavors to generate income soon which I'm confident most will. Best of luck to the people at Press Play as well.

[TwoForce]

This is something i was really shocked. Seriously ? What the hell ? That was just sad.

[ThyMasterDebater]

Wow. Didn't see this coming.

[WeAreLegion]

Oh. Wow. That really sucks.

[XMarkstheSpot]

WOW, that literally came out of nowhere, I just got into the closed beta a few weeks ago to. Damn

[Hoffmann]

Microsoft is just fubar. Almost everything they touch went to shit.

[RiseofScorpio]

No Xbox article is safe from you is it?

[Hoffmann]

You write that in the one xbox related article today where I wrote a comment.

Congratulations.

edit:
Beside that, this article was Microsoft related, not purely Xbox related. Just like my comment btw.

[Hozi]

okay so besides MS Exclusives like Quantum Break going to PC, now Fable Legends is Cancelled and they are closing Lionhead Studios? WTF is happening at M$???

[MrSwankSinatra]

Exiting the console market, that's what's happening. The process is just going forward slowly.

[Death]

Fable Legends was in development for PC and Xbox. The PC version is also cancelled. I'm not sure how you jumped to the conclusion Xbox is going PC by this unfortunate news. Let's try at least a little to keep the misinformation and bs personal agendas in check.

[RiseofScorpio]

I guess when Sony shut down Liverpool Studios, Zipper Interactive, BigBig Studios and Incognito entertainment they were exiting consoles too. See how dumb you sound?

[WeAreLegion]

Honestly, I think they're fine. They're just trimming the fat. Sony did this a couple of years ago and everyone was freaking out then, as well. They're restructuring within Xbox and trying to figure out how to move forward. This industry changes constantly and these companies have to adapt. I guarantee Xbox is fine.

[Death]

That makes the most sense. The business model behind ftp games is skitchy at best. At what point are they throwing too much money at a game with little expectation of a return? Still sad news and a bad idea from the start.

[yomfweeee]

Sony cancelled one of their most touted releases of the year and shut down the whole studio.

I sure don't remember that happening.

[WeAreLegion]

You don't remember the director of Driveclub (Rushy) leaving Evolution and others being laid off, Amy Hennig leaving Naughty Dog, and Stig Asmussen's big game being canceled at Sony Santa Monica, as well as his leaving?

[yomfweeee]

Your first two examples have nothing to do with what I said. No game was cancelled and no studio was closed.

Your third example is only remotely similar. Yes, a game was cancelled, but that game was never even revealed to the public and was no where near release. Also, no studio closure was involved.

So, again... tell me when Sony cancelled a major title the year of release and completely closed the studio....

[WeAreLegion]

They didn't. I'm not sure why you're looking for that though. "Trimming the fat" doesn't mean this exact thing and nothing else. It means firing people, cutting jobs, and closing studios. All of which both Sony and Microsoft have done.

I feel like you're not getting this. Sony had a bad string of this sort of stuff pop up for awhile and people were worried. Now, it's happening to Microsoft. So, that's why I'm saying people shouldn't be worried.

You're intentionally trying to redirect this conversation to your personal idea of what it is and that's kind of infuriating.

[yomfweeee]

I wasn't trying to redirect anything.

When you said they were just trimming the fat and that Sony did this a couple years ago, I thought you were saying Sony specifically did what Microsoft did. Which I'm saying they didn't.

But if you are just saying that company's trim fat... sure that is true.

People were worried about Sony, because X1 fans were claiming they were about to go bankrupt... which was never really close to happening.

People are worried in this case because they think MS is abandoning consoles.

[rainslacker]

Sony's big studio closures were from when they had to restructure the entire company. At the time, it made sense they were closing them, consolidating them, or downsizing/restructuring them because it does "trim the fat" as you say.

MS is likely doing the same thing here....but it's rather surprising to be happening so close to a high profile game release....particularly since that game seems to be pretty much finished on most of the major aspects of development.

The blog did say MS would be talking to employee's at the studio about it's closure, so it's possible that many of them will be reassigned to other studios, just like what happened with some of Sony's studio closures.

I certainly don't think it indicates an end to Xbox, the Xbox brand, or the console itself. If that were the case, they'd be cancelling everything, because that decision would be made already, and not done in some sort of haphazard widdling down fashion.

If MS starts selling off studios and IP's and downsizing other areas within the division, then maybe it'd be time to start worrying, because that's what they'd be doing if they planned to abandon Xbox/MGS all together.

[TheColbertinator]

Fable Legends may have been F2P but it deserved better. Fable 4 on Xbone would have been awesome.

This is not good to hear.

[Summons75]

They should at least bring the Fable Anniversary to BC or even give it to Bluepoint Games to port it to Xbox One so some remnant of the Fable legacy can live on. I was actually getting excited for Legends too after seeing some Beta footage. Totally out of left field (at least in our perspective), strange they would continue to advertise it up to this week when they knew a while ago it wasn't going to release.

[ocelot07]

Never liked the Fable games. However this free to play one did catch my eye and I was sort of looking forward to playing this on PC.

Gutted I won't get the chance to.

[BigBosss]

Wow, did not see this coming! I wish all the best for the developers who worked on this game.

[whoyouwit04]

Okay, I think's it's time to jump this ship. Microsoft is not giving their fans any reason to believe they will be focusing on console gaming. I don't know what the hell phil is doing but he needs to get gone ASAP.

[RiseofScorpio]

It really is time to bail. Spencer is running this brand into the ground, to think i thought this guy was amazing a year ago he's now showing his true colors.

#SpencerOut. #MakeXboxGreatAgain.

[MasterCornholio]

He's still amazing though. Just look at how he turned Mattricks XB1 around.

Then there's BC of course which is a fantastic feature.

[bestofthebest]

Dam I just got a beta invite last week, honestly thou I don't think it would have sold well so it was for the best.

[Hitoemi]

Just another marker of them getting ready to shed the xbone as a piece of hardware and shift it to a service brand. Samething Sony is doing with Playstation.

[akaFullMetal]

The industry is probably heading that way, but it has to progress naturally and not forced, which is what microsoft has tried to do and has failed so far.
Cancelling their game is a surprise, since this was coming out soon and had xbox and pc fans excited. Maybe they are getting out of the console business sooner than we thought and heading to a service base xbox because of the way Xbox one has performed.

[Hitoemi]

Could be only time will tell. As I see fanboys cznt handle when someone has an honest educated hypothesis so they down vote. You get it, I wish more people understood what is happening is like the season pass, junk DLC and preorder alarm educated gamers where sounding in the late 90's early 00's. No one listened and now we have Micro', on top of season passes, junk DLC and preorder. They'll understand one day, companies and dev need to make money sure but they dont need to make all the money.

[DragonDDark]

PlayStation is selling like hot cakes. Da fuq u talking about?

[Hitoemi]

Doesnt matter how its selling (I know it is I own one) if you cant see the moves Sony and Microsoft are making then you arent paying attention. Sony recently lowered the price of PsNow and PsVue those two services are the future of Playstation not the Ps5 or next xbox. Microsoft and Sony make far more money off PSN and Xbox live than they make from the hardware sales of Ps4 and xbone. Ive been around the gaming scene for 30yrs, Ive learned to spot market shifts and trends.

This is the whole reason Microsoft was pushing an all digital ecosystem for the xbone at launch, it had nothing to do with the cloud computing BS, its to get gamers used to the way Microsoft wants to deliver games, as a service instead of a finished product. This ultimately benefits the provider far more than the consumer but todays gamers are AdHD driven dude bros who only care about FPS, their lazy, apprently, money surplused consumers who want to pay to win instead of putting in the time to earn achievements, whatever those maybe.

All this is assuming Corporate America doesnt crash the industry before it can happen. Make no mistake there is a gaming bubble and its pretty big, its a matter of when not if it'll burst.

[sAVAge_bEaST]

No, Sony is ramping up hardware, with PSVR. Sure they will use the PS brand as a service, but they also want to stay in the hardware business, They do Hardware right.

[uth11]

except Sony isn't hitting PS4 in the kneecaps in the process..

[Godmars290]

How do you cancel something that you've been developing and hyping for as long as Legends has been?

Just, wow.

[MCTJim]

Damn Damn Damn. I've been playing the crap out of the Beta...they just released patch notes and an update like 3 days ago. I can say I am disappointed...I really liked this game too.

I'm curious now since I am under NDA if that is dissolved? I'd love to share everything I could about this game.

[Nodoze]

So instead of doubling down on exclusive studios and content...two of them are closed.

Nothing to see here. These two studios join the long line of prominent studios closed after MS purchased them.

Sad actually. It looks like they are trying to turn the Xbox into a Windows PC...

I was looking for a reason to buy one recently and was tempted to pickup the elite, but the roster is very light .

[BlackTar187]

the Elite controller is awesome and works on PC. I recommend it if you play PC at all.

[Gaming4Life1981]

This is crazy news after they kept advertising fable legends and now the game is cancelled and studios closing. As a fable fan only 1 & 2 were actually good, part 3 was terrible. I did want to play fable legends though, oh well still have cuphead and quantum break coming early this year.

[Muadiib]

I guess I'm not under an NDA anymore in regards to the FL beta! The game had some promise and they put a lot of love into it but I got bored with it quickly tbh. Ultimately it's not the Fable that anyone wanted and to me it was at least a year from being ready as it was also a buggy mess, Lionhead never seemed to polish their games well at all.

Ultimately it's still sad to see them go despite the fact they never did quite deliver a truly great game when all is said and done.

There are some very talented artists that will easily find work I'm sure, hopefully some go to Rare and Playtonic.

[Sciurus_vulgaris]

What the hell is going on at Microsoft...? Sad to see people potentially losing jobs.

[RiseofScorpio]

What the hell is going on at MS? I can understand Fable Legends since no one really wanted a F2p fable but Press Play? A small studio. I feel this is the beginning of a long dark road for MS gaming division, i could see them giving twisted pixel and Team Dakota the axe next.

So much for Phil Spencer to be the savior of Xbox, hes done nothing but set up the death of Xbox this year. Its Windows 10 and Hololens from now on.

[Sciurus_vulgaris]

Twisted pixel and ms split several months ago.

[Antwan3k]

very sad news for those developers. I hope everyone lands on their feet

[Shillmeister]

Well if a studio such as Lionhead can be shuttered out of nowhere like this, than my hopes of making something of myself in the games industry and working into a top studio - especially in the UK - are up in flames, or at least strongly shaken. Was not expecting this at all!
Would've thought one of Microsoft's First-Party studios would've been kept safe, especially given the hype Fable Legends had being part of "The best Xbox lineup ever" then it gets cancelled and the studio potentially closed mere months later! :| And given their (so it would seem) lack of First-Party studios (or at least in diversity), it seems questionable and risky on Microsoft's behalf.
Concerned for Rare now if Sea Of Thieves fails to do well :/ Hoping Microsoft has big stuff planned in the long run and is just currently reorganising, and refocusing efforts, instead of planning to leave the console market as this may indicate to many folks.
This is a big hit on the UK Games Industry, losing one of it's prominent and well recognised studios! :/

Anyway after my little worried rant, at the days end this sad news, and I wish all the best to those affected. Met some of the devs at various gaming events and they're a pleasant and creative bunch. Hope they all bounce back from this!

[Free_Fro]

That came out of no where . .

I hope they sort out those who just lost their Jobs ASAP.

--
xoxo

[elarcadia]

That totally came out of left field. I have been playing the beta for over a year now...I wonder what the hell happened?! I just got an e-mail a week and a half ago about a new update! It will be interesting to see what happens next.

[NovaCorps]

microsoft ditch consoles,all exlusives now jumping to pc now closing lionhead and you guyz still "jump in" i say jump out

[343_Guilty_Spark]

Technically Liohead's closure is being proposed. I think Press Play is done though.

[Mrveryodd]

phantom dust was released on the 360 , if i remember it right it was afree game.

[Sciurus_vulgaris]

No, phantom dust was a triple AAA original Xbox game.

[elarcadia]

Woah, I've been playing the Fable Legends beta for over a year now. I really wasn't a huge fan ta the beginning, but it was finally starting to grow on me. Crazy!

[ScorpiusX]

First: the last Kinect fable game was crap .
Second: they haven't made anything amazing since Black & white and Fable 1.
Third: everyone straying away from what Fable was became their undoing.
Fourth: MS needs to reorganize especially those studios not doing anything , can't keep paying people if their not producing .

Sad news but that the nature of the beast & industry.

[DiscoKid]

Wow. That's big...

[AD705]

Maybe if fable 2 and fable 3 didn't suck so much maybe Lionhead would still be around or at least relevant. These people practically killed off their own franchise. The only why those games got somewhat successful is due to the immense amounts of hype every fable game got as being a "you can choose to be good or evil" crap.

Although don't get me wrong Fable 1 was fucking great and I consider it one of my favorite RPGs of all time. But what came after it practically ruined it.

[Ristul]

This is sad news, Lionhead Studios could have been great with more time on their games, loved their brittish humor in the first two Fable games. Why would Microsoft allow this to happen, is the game division on a tight budget?

[Xavior_Reigns]

Xbox One firesale coming soon folks. Sorry fanboys... just jump over to PC to continue your pathetic plastic war with PRIDE!!

[jcole97]

What, so we can play League of legends and get shitty ports? no thanks:)

[Jag-T1000]

Time to get a PS4. After gears4 and scalebound next spring , the Xbox one has nothing. NOTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[jcole97]

Did you magically skip to e3 and see what Microsoft has planned next?

[Xavior_Reigns]

Doesn't matter, it's on PC...

[jcole97]

@xavior does that affect me on xbox and my playing experience? Does that mean console players will all of a sudden buy a pc? I didn't think so.

[Xavior_Reigns]

Nope but you are not many huh. It's affected me since I planned on buying a XBO but no longer see the need. Also yeah I bet many will be buying or making PCs because they're kind of needed in our present world for basically everything, why not include gaming as well. Don't worry Xheads, your precious MS will still get my money.

[Black0ut]

@Xavior

Judging by your blatantly obvious concern trolling and posting style, you never planned to get an xbox...stop kidding yourself thanks.

No need for more trolls in this Xbox thread than already present. Go to your own articles. Much love.

[Xavior_Reigns]

@ Blackout

You know me guy? No you sure dont so dont type as if you did. I will say this... I WAS a big xbox fanboy since the original... thank goodness I woke up in 2013. Otherwise Id be hating myself for sure.

[Herbalistic]

I feel bad for all of those guys/girls whot have lost their jobs over this action.

[Dewitt]

Sorry to all who may lose their jobs, at both studios. MS has always had extremely high expectations for all their exclusives. Unfortunately, I am guessing after several meetings to try an improve the fun factor Legends just didn't have it and they were failing deadlines left and right. Knoxville was a much bigger undertaking than Press Play thought and they had no solid direction in this game. Seemed like a very long development process from I could tell by the footage and demos.

I am going to give MS E3 to show us the blueprint for future, hopefully we will see why all these moves have been made recently. We still have a ton of big titles coming this year and next, so I am still excited to see what else is coming.

[BigGamersSmallTalk]

How can they say they are committed to Xbox gamers and then close down one of the best developers they had? I mean the Beta for Fable Legends was getting better all the time.
Max:The Curse Of Brotherhood was an awesome bright spot on Xbox One early on, and fans actually voted for Press Play's next game, Project Knoxville.

How in the world can Microsoft close down these studios when they lack quality developers to take their place? Wow...

[dreadz74]

I agree this sucks as Fable legends was a fun game that looked good too. However to say Lionhead was one of the best studios is reachin just a little. They have not put out a good game in 10 years. Yes Fable looked and played great I had both beta's PC and XB1 but was a system seller or mover nah. Maybe the cut ties to save money and invest in another studio who knows. This sucks for gamers and the devs involved but when you shut down a studio it's always a financial decision . Since Peter left Lionhead they have not been the same heck he promised many things such a Milo that never panned out. Yes this sucks but Lionhead was not even close to best studio they had .

[BigGamersSmallTalk]

Well that's opinion, I actually loved Fable 1, 2, 3 and Anniversary was 100% class. I even liked Fable The Journey for the great story.
It's personally my favorite RPG franchise, so it sucks. Plain and simple.

[dreadz74]

@BigGamersSmallTalk MS still own the IP for all we know they could give it to Rare. This just means Lionhead is dead as a studio the franchise can come back if they want it too. Fable 1&2 are great 3 was kinda meh anniversary I did not play but reception was Luke warm from what I remember. For you as a Fan of the series I feel your pain but lets be honest this fable was nothing like the original it was more like dungeon and dragons. Still it is troubling anytime a 1st party studio is shut down and gamers are robbed of a game they are looking forward to RIP Fable Legends :'

[jjb1981]

The beta was poo poo in my opinion, but I hope the devs get work elsewhere.

[masterfox]

Fable needed to return to its roots(fable 1) but it never did, the new game was going to be average, a multiplayer game ? really ?.Cancelling I think it was the best thing to happen, maybe a lot of xboners don't know what Fable 1 was for that reason they need to start sending request to MS and ask for that version but in a remaster form, it was the only good game of the series.

[OC_MurphysLaw]

OK kinda nuts, I literally fired up the Fable Legends beta last night and was really impressed by what I was seeing compared to when I first had tried it. Very sad to hear. I hope all those impacted find jobs quickly or the transition becomes a positive for them.

[nix]

Ppl losing jobs is always not a good news. /:

[Doabarrelroll]

I think we can all agree whether you like prefer Sony or MS or Nintendo, when studios close its a sad sign. I hope all those hard working developers with families get a new job doing what the love soon. And sorry for the Xbox owners who were looking forward to fable.

Also before fanboys start yelling this is a sign of the end of Xbox or spencer is becoming mattrick, why don't you wait for Phil's response on Twitter. There's going to be people calling on him to explain himself so just wait before you say something stupid

[Hurfs]

My god! Just when you think Microsoft are sorting them self's out they go and close devs down. Like they have plenty of good game coming this year.

That's a big **** you Europe!!!! Cheers Microsoft.

[ScorpiusX]

Next up Japan where it should have happened a long time ago after MS threw money at studios who's games did nothing for 360 but helped fund some future Multi-platform game for those studios.

[Rob_Ko]

Stupid move. Even if the game wasn't as great as they hoped, it was basicly finished. Just release it, it's F2P anyway so people wouldn't cry about wrong purchase

[cd1]

Fable was one of the very few MS games I had any interest in... Good luck finding work to the Devs effected.

[Black0ut]

Agreed! I loved all of them when I was playing them through school.

Best of luck to all of those being let go along with their families.

[lastking95]

Wow this was unexpected. People that played the beta kept saying it was awesome and beautiful. What happened for it to be canceled? Especially so close to release. Seriously wtf? Head scratcher for sure.

[MasterCornholio]

They probably believed that they couldn't make any money with the game. That's my guess.

[lastking95]

I doubt it, xbox has quite a few free to plays. My only guess is it was lacking content after the deadline and delay and wasn't ready to be release at a minimum quality level kinda like phantom dust.

[Black0ut]

Stating the obvious here but something definitely didn't match the assessing standards. Whether that be content or predicted profits, who knows.

Such a shame :(

[--bienio--]

Nothing of value has been lost.

[Black0ut]

Good to see people showing their true colours on these threads as usual. Stay classy ok?

Best of luck to the devs being let go.

[Germany7]

What a stupid comment, really pathetic.

[sAVAge_bEaST]

Damn, no one likes to hear of any studio closings, let alone 2 in one day. -Get your shit together M$

[dcbronco]

Remember the good old days when fanboys talked about franchises being milked. Welcome to the new days where canceling one means the company is going to stop making consoles. But that's only for Microsoft.

[SynestheticRoar]

Fable gone. Noooooooooooooooo. That's F-up.

[Artemidorus]

If Xbox were in a boxing match, they are taking a beating and it's almost all over....

[feedthereaper]

I think that the reason Fable Legends was cancelled is because they lost faith in its commercial prospects.
That being a Free To Play (FTP) game that it needed high volume of gamers with a decent conversion rate of spending gamers.

I believe a review of games in the Xbox One library and their subsequent gamer numbers have made them realise that they just were not going to get the long-term volumes they want to guarantee enough sales for external items like they hoped. They wanted this to be the Candy Crush of Consoles and instead they realise it will never perform that way.

Data that probably contributed were the sudden drop in gamer numbers for TitanFall, Evolve and recently Battlefield Star Wars.... games that have already generated a revenue from point of sale, and have far more packed into them to supposedly keep gamers coming back for weeks. But even DLC is not keeping them playing and gamer numbers have dwindled to nothing in some cases.

To launch a FTP game that NEEDS massive gamer volumes and keep them playing (and paying to win) for months to come just looked dodgy when bigger titles were struggling to maintain long term interest.

Add to that the fact that Xbox One has shifted strategy this last 6 months and we now have backwards compatibility and even more free games each month with Games For Gold, the appeal of a FTP game isn't as big when you can get other games for free so regularly. Add to that the fact that when these Free Games With Gold titles come online, gamer numbers for each title surge up for a few days then plummet down to bare minimum a few days later, it shows that they really do need that rare diamond like Candy Crush to really make any form of profit. And I think they realised, no matter how good the game was, it was just not that diamond. That Beta players probably lost interest and forgot about the game too quickly, and that the entire concept of making it FTP was sunk.

And once you announce that a game is going to be FREE, it is bad publicity to turn around 6 months or so later and say "Actually, that won't work for us, its now £29.99". It is better to scrap it entirely and let someone come up with a carbon copy idea based on the same code a year or two later, than to risk this damaging marketing strategy of U-turns. I think if they had avoided jumping the gun and announcing it as a FTP game last year, it might still be in development now because it would have been priced to make a profit or sell a console as an exclusive, but someone pulled a trigger too early and wasted their one shot and now they have to call it quits when the gamble didn't work and it looked like a financial disaster looming.

But maybe someone can explain to me what on earth is going on with MS these days. All of their ideas in every division seem to be visionary, but then they begin to lose faith in their own decisions and also become to protective of them as to alienate developers and supporters. Virtually everything they have done in the past couple of years or so has either flopped, failed to even make it to retail, or has had a big U-turn. It is almost like they have too many ideas and no actual strong leaders who will say "This and this makes it to retail, the rest is shelved!". They don't seem to know what they want to be any more. They just know that they can create ANYTHING but don't actually know how to make the creations work with developers or consumers any more.

[Izalith]

A game that Xbox One fans and Phil Spencer hyped with DX12, cloud, true Xbox 1 exclusive, a big one has just fall down. Fable 1-2 was the best ones in the series.

[Majister-Ludi]

I see people making a bigger deal then they should. Lionhead has been under performing. A f2p fable looked bad. They need to reboot and do it right epic and single player. Peter was always so full of bluster and never gave me the fable I deserved. I see this as a positive.

[lilmisscherry]

All I wanted was a single player Fable game, I wasn't overly keen on the direction they took the series. I'm gutted this could have now led to their downfall.

[DynoMiteLaserCat]

Always sad to see a studio go down... hopefully everyone effected can find work.

[Nolando]

honestly. being a die hard Xbox fan. This really upsets me.

the first two Fable games were awesome and theres a reason this franchise has the fan base it got. But it just started derailing when Fable 3 came out. Instead of progressing the game play and making it better it literally took huge steps back and was BORING! In a franchise i can forgive a dud but instead of going back and making a proper Fable 4 they went and make the kinect game and now this. WTF!

Plus I never got the black and white sequel.

[lilmisscherry]

Agreed, I loved the first two and three kind of felt like a let down but I still enjoyed it, was hoping they'd make a Fable 4 at one point so to hear this makes me sad :(

[Rookie_Monster]

Me too. Hopefully there is a good reason for this as maybe funds will now be alloted to buy another studio or something. MS have some explaining to do.

Love the Fable series and hope Employees find new job soon.

[boodi]

wtf you serious???????????fable legends gone?
wtf O_O
cant believe it

[gamer7804]

Well if the game is cancelled and studio closed might as well tell people what I thought of the beta. the combat was fun , classes okayed very nicely with each other. The artwork was top notch and the sound was typically amazing as are fable games. the onlythibg I noticed was not much story but it was a beta. so much for bringing new genres to the Xbox. now is not the time for ms to be closing studios. I guess it's the same ol gears forza halo again. as a huge fantasy genre fan I'm troubled by the lack of this genre on the Xbox. there is already a loss of jrpg, now this...

[Budrazor]

Wow! Always been a Fable fan. Wow!

[Tzuno]

industry falls because they keep getting us bugged beta releases at 60$ and after that they milk people with dlc's, glad that people are fighting back with their wallets.

[d4v0333]

Damn what is going on at Microsoft? Hopefully they don't cancel Gears or Quantum Break.

[DashArrivals]

That will NEVER happen. But strange things seem to be going on over there.

[PhoenixUp]

Microsoft uses an image of Fable Legends during their "Greatest lineup in Xbox history" campaign at E3 2015.

Pretty jarring to see them cancel the title after giving it that type of exposure, but still pretty understandable.

[DashArrivals]

I'm a Playstation gamer. From the outside looking in and by totally speculating, it seems to me, that since the NPD holiday loses after the 'greatest games line-up in Xbox history'.. Microsoft has been going for huge changes...

It's almost as if all this stuff is out of Phil Spencer's hands. The games going to PC. The closure of studios. The cutting of the fat.

It's like they gave him goals that he had to achieve to get more funding. He made decisions about Tomb Raider timed exclusivity. The Christmas holiday advertising. Best games line-up in Xbox history. He was trying his best to save a sinking ship. He didn't reach the goals that were asked...

Now all these changes have happened. Majority of console exclusives going to PC. Closure and cancellation of this game and 2 studios. I honestly feel more 'strange' changes are in the works for Microsoft. They have decided to go in a different direction. This is all 'plan B' stuff.

Microsoft should just stick to PC and game developing. I even think they should sell their games on other consoles, but I guess they want to really push Windows 10 which is understandable.

I know all this seems crazy and I really don't know what I'm talking about LOL. I'm just speculating and, to be honest, I feel a little sick about what seems to be happening. I was never going to play Fable, but I HATE hearing about gaming studios and big games getting cancelled. As a PS gamer through and through, I'm not the least bit happy about these announcements.

Can anyone please elaborate on what they really think is going on?

[N4GJD]

I don't know about these fans that just couldn't understand it was a spin-off game, but fable legends was one of my "most exciting and want to play" games, and that comes from someone who doesn't enjoy the core fable games!

Microsoft is losing my trust again that they can produce a variety of quaility games.

This industry has become a joke!

[zerocarnage]

Lionhead is a waste of space studio, could not stand Peter molenuex, I'll never buy a game from him again after how crap those fables were.. Microsoft was prob ashamed of what that new fable was becoming it was crap I beta'd it, not worth the time nor the money..

Can't see rare being shut, they're most likely focusing on sea of thieves for Xbox one and Microsoft want that baby out, it will be ace..

[FITgamer]

Whelp time to delete the beta off my hard drive now.

[Relientk77]

Microsoft what are u even doing

[ElementX]

Why keep sinking money into a studio that doesn't produce results? Fable 3 wasn't that good and with Legends being F2P I could tell it wouldn't be the quality we expect. Good riddance

[Immorals]

I really enjoyed the beta and the studio is/was based close to where I grew up, sad times :(

[NeoGamer232]

I feel very bad for the people who lost their jobs as part of this.

As for the games, after many years of development Fable Legends failed to make any waves at all in its demos. It is not like it is a Metcritic 80+ game that was cancelled. Probably in the 70's at best.

As for Project Knoxville, nobody really knows what state it was at so, we obviously haven't missed anything.

If the games would've released and they were anything below AAA gamers would harp about the lack of quality. MS chose to shutter what they felt wasn't up to AAA material. I prefer killing the projects then leading me along and trying to get my money for games that aren't that great. There are many games where I would've liked to seen the wise choice vs the money oriented choice.

From what I know (and that is very little) the wise choice for Fable Legends was to axe it. If they would've released it then they would've had to keep supporting it going forward which is costly and not wise if the game was not up to snuff.

[TeamLeaptrade]

This was something I didn't expect. I thought Fable Legends was nearly done too.

[MachuchalBrotha316]

Oh Wow! I was not expecting this, whats going on MS? As a supporter of Xbox and soon Windows10, I'm feeling a lil worried. Is there any more bad news down the line? Lionhead Studios gone! This is sad day. Good luck to Lionhead and Press Play devs. I know Lionhead really hasn't been at there best lately but thank you for the great games.

[FN4GM]

"a lil worried" you should be bloody terrified, any sane person would be, but hey kudos to you for hanging in there for so long when so many others wisely abandoned ship.

[MachuchalBrotha316]

I'm not terrified but disappointed. MS had vision but atm its cloudy. I won't abandon Xbox just because of rumors and speculation. When and if MS decides to ditch Xbox, I have PS and PC as gaming options.

[Black0ut]

Damn!! That's a bloody shame. Best of luck to those being let go.

To the people making fanboy wars out of this: Please, grow up. This is the internet but the situation effects thousands in real life, so maybe show some class for once.

I really enjoyed all the Fables on Xbox and I'm thankful for the games that Lionhead studios developed.

Best of luck guys!

[Germany7]

Really sad news, it's a shame when game studios are closed.
Fable has so much potential, they could create a great game for the series.

[Apollosupreme]

Fable Myth.

[DarXyde]

Oh, dear. Unexpected, to say the least.

However, perhaps we aren't seeing the full picture yet.

Remember how the media panicked when Sony was cutting staff from their studios? I'd say everything turned out for the best in the end and their studios are still putting out some great titles.

Similar happenings, perhaps?

[ABACAB72]

There's a difference. This is M$ we're talking about. Sony may have shut down some studios, but they still had their major studios that made great AAA games. M$ doesn't have that kind of variety anymore. All their AAA studios make are shooters and one making a racer and that's it. Nor do they like to take risks on new IPs for the most part with different genres. M$ no longer has a studio that makes RPGs or platformers. I don't really believe that any studio wants to even make that for them, seeing that they treat their studios like shit. Most people are saying that they are doing this as a sign that they're going to abandon the console market, and I think they may be right. Besides, it's not like that would be bad for the consoles. PS and Nin are really all you need.

[DarXyde]

You may have missed a point here.

That point is, we're possibly missing the point. These studios may be closing, but who's to say they won't restructure or eventually expand remaining studios and have people at Lion head move to their other studios?

Far too early to speak so conclusively

[PistolsAtDawn]

Well it's rough for all those talented game Devs that are losing their jobs, my best of luck to them. While I did enjoy playing the Fable Beta...it sounds weird, but I'm glad about a lot of the "almost announcements" that are surrounding this. While Fable Legends was a good game...everyone wants Fable 4 instead. So the parts of the announcement and Phil's quotes actually give me home. MS talking about bringing those devs into other MS studios, and Phil saying that Fable needs to be the game fans deserve...I would not be surprised if the plan is to pass Fable to another MS dev and just bring former Lionhead Devs over.

[mEATgrinder]

I think they were taking too long and the game quality was poop. Time to go bye bye

[mack1234]

Game over.

[Circuitburnout]

Crap I was really looking forward to Fable Legends :(

[FN4GM]

Troubling times at Microsoft indeed. More signs the xbone is an abandoned platform.