If you are fond of video games, then you are surely familiar with such series as Black & White and Fable. These games were created in the walls of the British studio Lionhead Studios, founded by the famous game designer Peter Molyneux. The latter, by the way, has created such outstanding works as Syndicate, Populous, Dungeon Keeper and Theme Hospital. In 2006, his studio was acquired by Microsoft, but six years later Molyneux left the walls of the Redmond company to do solo work. Now, Microsoft closes Lionhead Studios and turns off its current projects.
Not that Microsoft's closure of the studios was anything new. Not at all. This practice is found in the activities of any major publisher, which owns numerous studios and IP. For example, Microsoft Corporation at the time closed such acquired studios as ACES (Microsoft Flight Simulator, Combat Flight Simulator), Ensemble Studios (Age of Empires, Halo Wars), FASA Studio (MechWarrior, Shadowrun) and others. Simultaneously with the closure of Lionhead Studios, Microsoft also closed a small Danish studio Press Play, famous for the games Max & the Magic Marker and Kalimba.
In the world of big business there is no time for pity, because if something brings you losses, it is better to get rid of it quickly. The most surprising thing about closing the Lionhead studio is that with it the Fable Legends game has disappeared into oblivion, which was supposed to be released for the Xbox One game console and PC in the current 2016 year. Not so long ago, its network beta was available to players, in which four positive characters had to fight against the villain, who was also one of the players. Apparently, something went wrong, and users did not appreciate the work of the once popular studio. Otherwise, how can you explain such drastic actions on the part of Microsoft?
Well, sooner or later it all ends. Peter Molyneux now works for himself, and his studio, which in recent years had a very hard time, finally went into oblivion. Maybe it's right. After all, Lionhead Studios has not released anything very attractive since 2010 (projects for Kinect and reissue - do not count). Well, let's recall the former merits of this studio and replay it in Black & White and Fable. It is a pity that now we will not see the continuation of these remarkable series.
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