Development on Fable Legends Ends, Lionhead UK to Close - MMORPG.com News

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Development on Fable Legends Ends, Lionhead UK to Close - MMORPG.com News

Microsoft has announced via its official blog that development of Fable Legends has ceased and that Lionhead Studios in the UK will be closing. Fable Legends has been in development exclusively for XBox One and Windows 10.

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Sovrath

These companies are amazing. All the money and effort that goes into these things and they just shut things down when they aren't going well.

And if the game is not "going well" whose fault is that? Management? Maybe they need a better way of working or better project managers.

Ikisis

Didnt they just advertise a beta sign up for Fable like a week ago???? LOL wth

merv808

I thought that game was pretty much done.... Why cancel it now? That doesn't make sense

SBFord

I wonder if MS is rethinking the "XBox One / Win 10" exclusivity thing?

ElRenmazuo

They should just use what they have and turn it into a normal fable game.

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KayAndroid

I hate to say that I saw this coming. All the details and concepts we got were very vague.
And I`m going to call it right now, EQN might be next. I hate to say it, but the pattern is similar. Screencap this comment, y'all! 

rojoArcueid

It is a real shame, i was looking forward to rocking that game with Inga the Protector.

This wouldn't be happening if they had better management and project managers, i agree with Sovrath here.

This is just another example that wearing suits don't always mean they know what they are doing.

Lyrian

Based on a cursory review of their website now that I know it's closing. I don't think the game would have really justified it's existence. I kind of felt...bored...reading it. Who wants to play as set heroes anyway? The trick of Fable from the get go was making something that was yours. They might have had a level of success if they took a page out of Everquest's old - Champions of Norrath games, but I don't really know what they were trying to do here.

I loved the first Fable, and was progressively let down with the following ones. In hindsight the writing on the wall was already there...

azarhal

KayAndroid said:

I hate to say that I saw this coming. All the details and concepts we got were very vague.
And I`m going to call it right now, EQN might be next. I hate to say it, but the pattern is similar. Screencap this comment, y'all! 

The pattern is not remotely similar.

Fable Legend was in closed beta 24/7 since last October, open beta was supposed to be this Spring and they had a live event planned for March 12 that they announced on March 4th. Lionhead devs learned today, just like us, that the game was getting cancelled.

Oyjord

I was in the beta, but honestly didn't play it much. It was like a weird PvE MOBA. I loved the first two Fables on Xbox, but this game lacked almost everything that made those games great.

elveone

Visually the game was amazing but gameplay-wise it extremely repetitive and clunky. It seems that it would have required more time and money to fix it than it would have been financially viable so they cut their loses.

Kajidourden

Sad to see them go, but they had been going downhill with the latest releases and everyone knew it.

elocke

Looks like Microsoft is floundering a little. Reminds me of EA and their moves in the past decade. Which lends to me hating both companies above all others.

maskedweasel

Didn't really know what Fable Legends was about... it definitely wasn't a fable game though.  It would be in competition with a bunch of other games that are probably better suited for the MOBA category where fable really was more of a create your story RPG.  Who was your favorite character in the Fable games?  You were...  so... legends...  I can't really name any of the other characters of any of the fable games.

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SlothnChunk

Lionhead hasn't made a good game for years....so probably closing them was overdue.  Fable Legends was likely not very good and why it was likely shut down (it was in beta so they had player feedback).  Also, Phil Spencer - head of Xbox, is a gamer and not your typical executive. He likely played Fable Legends and realized it wasn't very good.  Last week, when asked about how Fable Legends was going, he stated, "it's been in beta for a while, and we're watching the engagement numbers. The thing around Legends that I'm committed to is I want to make sure its release matches the expectations in terms of quality that our customers deserve. So it's not about releasing something because it's on a poster, because there was a date posted somewhere."

The quality obviously wasn't there in his mind and I think he deserves a lot credit for making tough and unpopular calls like that.

aslan132

Its a complete shock. Been in the beta for quite some time now, and was very much enjoying it. There was even an update just a few days ago. Im sure the studio is just as surprised as I was to learn they were getting shut down. Sure the game needed work, but it was getting worked on, and updated every other week. What a shame.

handheld

I played the Beta and it was okay. I can tell you honestly though it wasn't very popular and no one really wanted it. More people were clamoring for Fable 4 and wanted that much more and they tried to defend themselves multiple times on the forums on this game but it was very clear this game wasn't what the community wanted.

If they had honestly just skipped this and made Fable 4 this may have been avoided.

Razeekster

I loved the first Fable even if it did have it's faults and it felt like it was missing some core element... Not sure how to describe it, it was like it almost was the perfect game but something was missing from it from really making it an awesome game.

I guess the dream of an epic open-world Fable game that takes into account the major criticisms of the past Fable games and creates something that finally satisfies without that feeling of something missing from the game, will never be realized. Quite a shame as I loved the universe, and the sometimes (okay, often) silliness of the IP.

I really hope that this isn't the true death of Fable and that it will be resurrected.

Goldbryan

Probably the best decision they ever made. To be honest this game was not going anywhere it was too pale its literally a weird character with abilities that looked like they could be basic attacks. They should have continued with the original Fable Series maybe then this wouldn't be happening

inmysights

damn, I just literally started the Beta yesterday, and then BAM, I get this news today, what a shame, I was enjoying what I got to play

Solar_Prophet

Sucks for people who liked it, but I can't say I'm surprised. Fable 3 was just... well, I don't have the words to describe how disappointing it was. The first half wasn't bad, typical Fable game really, but the second... I don't know what the hell they were thinking. Probably about rushing it out the door. 

I honestly still don't know exactly what Legends was supposed to be. A top-down ARPG? A MOBA? What?

Nasa

I don't know why anyone compare it to MOBA. To me the gameplay was more like Vindictus, Dragon Nest and Skyforge.
I had to use very low settings to make it playable on my PC. The combat with attacks from all sides was often confusing as you couldn't move the camera further away from your back.
It tried to have the same kind of humor/charm like in Wildstar but also here it soon lost its appeal.
The graphics had good quality and quests was OK.
There are some youtube videos that shows very well what this game is about.

esarphie

Funny. I just got email about updates to it a couple of days ago.  That said, the beta on Xbox One has been lackluster at best. Graphically it has always had problems, effects that obscure the action, lots of hitches and slowdowns (unforgivable when everyone has the exact same hardware), and a third-person camera that rarely lets you see what you need to. Game-wise, the characters are comically unbalanced, with some tromping through maps without breaking a sweat, and others basically spending their time on their backs waiting for respawn. On a humorous note, with months of live testing, they could never seem to fix the bug that caused player voice chat to vanish halfway through a map.


If you don't know what it is/was... It's a Fable-themed attempt to emulate Evolve. Four hero players walking through a map, taking on a villain player who lays down traps for them. Each hero had different abilities, that they pretty much had to relearn every time they played... as if that made sense.


It turns out that the fun in Fable was developing a character, exploring and changing the world... not a simple fight mechanic and funny voice acting. Huh... who knew?