Xbox Boss Responds to Lionhead Closure News

I guess I could see the writing on the wall when they announced Fable Legends as an asymetrical MP game in the same vein as Evolve and free to play.

Regardless of the fact that I had lost interest in the game, it still sucks to see them go. Microsoft's xbox is hurting for first party support and this doesn't help

I dunno why Phil would feel unloved, the Fable games haven't been the best and never were. It was bound to happen.

It's rough Lionhead WAS a good studio. The emphasis is on was. They haven't produced anything good, for a variety of reasons, since Fable 2. Sometimes organizations have lots of good talent that just can't get out of a rut or funk after a prolonged bad run. Hopefully many of these employees will land on their feet with other studios, maybe even new Microsoft ventures which I'm sure many of them will have priority for. That's a common theme with companies that do have to close a part of themselves, ear marking future jobs for former employees.

Can't help but feel though that people are now exaggerating Lionhead's current "talent" it's been basically 8 years since Fable 2 shipped, their last critically acclaimed title.

I can't lie and say I'm not worried about Xbox's future, because I am pretty worried. I own an Xbox One so I don't want to see the company fail, plus it will mean Sony basically having a monopoly on gaming.

I don't have all of the details but I am sure they did the right thing here. I cant remember the last time Lionhead put together wonderful games on a consistent basis. Wonderful studio but lately not quite as wonderful . Hopefully those who lost their jobs will be happier with another position if they found one within Microsoft. If not I hope they find happiness in employment elsewhere.

The Xbox One is a good system, but I feel Microsoft is only taking this partly seriously. Sony has much stronger convictions to their platforms and the overall game quality. They just seem more solid.

Microsoft for better or for worse with Windows, is kind of dancing all over the place I find when it comes to gaming. The XBOX brand was so much stronger during the 360 era. I mean the Xbox One brand has already taken a major hit, I think it's unnecessary to start trying to reinvent what you do with gaming. That's the reason why X1 has failed in the first place.

@magicalclick: Battletoads please.

Why the hell haven't they made another Battletoads?

@magicalclick: The game has NEVER ever looked this good, especially on the Xbox - that's the thing. In fact, it looked like a straight up 360 game.

Crap. They've could've at least provided SOME explanation. The way they did it is just plain rude and disrespectful.

It really sucks.. Me and my girlfriend really liked Fable legends, enjoyed playing it for a lot of hours, took a break and now it is cancelled?? Wtf the game wasn't even finished and became better and even more fun after each patch. And it felt that it was closing in to be finished, why not let it be released and wait and see? So much work for nothing... Well well I need to calm down and accept it. But will probably take a while before I find a game I enjoy as much as Fable Legends

He didn't respond to anything, all he did was dodge questions.

Twitter is outdated...you cannot explain some stuff coz you ran out of letters

They should have done another single player Fable maybe with some kind of online or MP component I mean did anyone really ask for or expect Fable Online? It seemed like a really stupid idea to me from the outset.

I don't think people are annoyed at Spencer because of Fable it's more because he is destroying almost all exclusivity on Xbox One in favour of PC. Xbox One is on target to be one of the most pointless console releases of all time and he is the one who made that happen.

I don't understand where all the QQing is coming from. Fable was a mediocre game, at best, and a crapfest at worst. No one was actually waiting for Fable Legends and Peter Molyneux hasn't been relevant since Black and White. And B&W wasn't good; in fact B&W stands, to this day, as a prime example of reviewers falling for the hype and not playing a game through so even calling B&W "relevant" might be a stretch.

So, Phil, no need to worry. Outside of a few Twitter/internet warriors who are just confused little boys with no lives no one gives a **** that MS cancelled one of the worst, most overrated, most overhyped, most boring franchises in gaming history.

PS: I also hope you fired Molyneux, we can use a lot less of his BS.

I'm not a Fable person and had no intention of playing it, but even I'm disappointed with the game being canceled and studio being closed, especially when the game looks so advanced in development. They should have let them finish the game at least, and sold the studio to EA or ACtivision.