23rd May 2010 - In our 6th developer profile, we look at the Fable series developer Lionhead Studios.
Developer Name: Lionhead Studios
Subsidiary of: Microsoft Games
Founded: 1997
About: Lead man and face of modern gaming, Peter Molyneux is one of the most widely recognized men in the gaming industry. He’s head of Microsoft Games Studios Europe and has designed and developed over 20 high end games for a slew of different platforms, and from 1997 has owned and operated Lionhead Studios, which was then purchased by Microsoft Studios in 2006.
All good games companies start somewhere and with Lionhead, they started with a bang, debuting in 2001 with Black & White, a game which would go on to develop a cult following and warrant a great sequel. Since then, Lionhead has been constantly in the game industry spotlight, most importantly with the release of RPG Spectacular Fable. Considered one of the greatest RPG games in history, Fable was followed by its own expansion, Fable: The Lost Chapters and Black & White 2, not to mention a few other Lionhead originals that while not quite making it as big as the Fable and Black & White series.
While Peter Molyneux and Lionhead are often criticized for their ‘over-hyping’ of their own games and breaking design promises with games, they always manage to stay atop of the pile of copy-cats and hopeful developers with more and more innovation and unique design than most other games can put a name to.
With the release of Fable 3 to look forward to and the Project Natal cover game Milo and Kate, Lionhead look to be leading the interactive industry even further with new innovation and more addictive RPG gameplay.
Previous Games
· Black & White (PC/Mac, 2001)
· Fable (PC/Mac/Xbox, 2004)
· Fable: The Lost Chapters (PC/Mac/Xbox, 2005)
· Black & White 2 (PC/Mac, 2005)
· The Movies (PC/Mac, 2005)
· Fable II (Xbox 360, 2008)
Upcoming Games
· Fable III (Xbox 360, 2010)
. Milo and Kate (Xbox 360, TBA)
Article By John Elliott