Since the announcement that Fable Legends was scrapped, the future of Lionhead Studios was debatable. Today, the studio has officially closed. http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-04-29-fable-developer-lionhead-closes-down-today RIP Lionhead. Amongst the controversies and some seriously buggy products released when they were known not to be ready, you served some gems.
I read that earlier this day. Always sad when a studio closes, as it means that people loose their job. I don't know if the fable serie was selling great or not. They should have tried something different. The Kinect Fable wasn't their best idea.
Actually, despite the number of UK studios that are no longer with us ever increasing, it's usually the case that someone's hired a nearby venue for a chat with the developers - often recruiter Aardvark Swift. Bizarrely, in this case it was Sony who reached out to Lionhead employees, only a week before they closed their own Evolution Studios. Fable is a strange example for me... I loved the series and it illustrated how a franchise could be used without churning out the same crap, which happens all too often (any sports title, COD etc.) - only three games (plus a couple of revamps and strange spin-offs) within ten years and there were certainly differences, whilst retaining the overall feel. However, many of the games were rushed out when they knew full well there were bugs and they weren't ready - perhaps an illustration of the publisher/owner putting pressure on release dates being met.
The Sony thing is interesting ! As video game isn't going to sell less (at least in the next 5 years), I guess that video game world employees can "easily" find a job ("Easily" because they most of the time have to move to another house with family). I am not sure with that, as I know only independant developpers. About the Fable series, I have only played the Fable game I have received bundled with my Xbox (and I liked it !). Most of people I talk with about Fable haven't heard about the serie. I mean, COD, Fifa, Madden,....are well known because most of the population like fighting and playing sport (I also do haha). To enjoy a game such as Fable, we need to be "sensitive" to enlight the fantastic and poetic side of the game. Most of the studios that don't do mainstream games have to deal with a brutal closure. Not all of them but at least those who are under big publisher pressure (like EA or Activision), as you said.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...promo&utm_campaign=Lionhead:+the+inside+story Lionhead: The inside story
