Fable Legends Cancelled Amid Closure of Lionhead Studios

After 30 years in the gaming industry, British software house Lionhead Studios are closing their doors this year. The company, founded by Peter Molyneux have been a staple of gaming since 1996, when they formed as an offshoot of Bullfrog. Things were looking good when the company was bought in 2006 by Microsoft but ten years on, the computing giant have decided that the services of Lionhead are no longer required.

With this, comes the announcement that development on Fable Legends has been formally cancelled. The game, which was set to be the most ambitious in the Fable series to day was highly anticipated by fans so it’s doubtless that this news will come as a huge disappointment to the legions of fans waiting for the game. As the IP is owned by Microsoft, it’s unlikely that the developers will be able to retain any of their work and take it with them after the studio closure so it looks like this is the end of the road for the Fable series, which has been a staple of the Xbox since the original console.

The game is currently in beta and anyone playing it will still be able to do so until the 13th of March when the servers will be shut down for the last time. Anybody who has purchased gold will be getting a full refund so keep an eye on your inbox for details if you did so. Lionhead have also stated that no new players will be admitted to the beta so if you were on the waiting list and were hoping for a quick play before it's gone forever, sadly that won't be possible

Lionhead aren’t the only casualty of Microsoft’s downsizing of development. The Danish studio Press Play are also closing. This means that Project Knoxville, their fan chosen upcoming game will also not see the light of day.

In a statement on their website, Microsoft said:

“I speak for all of Xbox when I say that despite this news, we remain committed to the development communities in the UK and Europe, and Xbox will continue to support new IP and originality in the games we offer on our platforms, whether they’re AAA blockbusters like Quantum Break from Remedy, adventurous new IPs like Sea of Thieves from Rare, or unique new creations from independent developers like Moon Studios with Ori.”