Fable Legends to have 5- to 10-year life span

Lionhead Studios expects its recently announced online-focused Fable Legends to have a life span of 5 to 10 years on the Xbox One, according to new studio boss John Needham.

"We're playing the long game with this," Needham told GamesIndustry International.

To achieve the life span Needham hopes for Fable Legends, the game will make use of the Xbox One's suite of features and services, including the cloud, he said.

"This is the next big Fable game that is going to be out for five to ten years so it needs to be big, it needs to be interesting," Needham said. "There needs to be a lot of stuff to do, it needs to integrate all the cloud and Xbox One features so we keep our community alive and growing. So yeah, it's big and ambitious, but it needs to be because it's going to be around a long time."

Just because Lionhead Studios will be working on Fable Legends for the next 5 to 10 years does not mean the company won't also spend time on non-Fable projects during that time. Needham said though the company is focused on Fable Anniversary and Fable Legends right now, the studio also has an incubation group to brainstorm new ideas.

In addition, the company's third annual Creative Day will be held next week, where employees can present game ideas, services, features, or art projects they are working on. Needham said this event is "great fun" and has in the past led to ideas that have been used in full products.

Lionhead Studios today delayed Fable Anniversary for the Xbox 360 until February 2014, while Fable Legends does not have a release date. A beta for the game will begin next year. For more on Fable Legends, check out GameSpot's previous coverage.