As we all now sadly know, beloved developer Lionhead has been shut down. They closed their doors for the last time last month, but apparently that could have been prevented. UK law states that a company must explore multiple options before officially closing down and it seems like Lionhead had many options.
Reports say that there was potential buyers from some of the biggest names in the industry, with offers that ranged in the hundred millions. That seems like a pretty good deal, but Microsoft refused to budge. Why? Because all of the buyers wanted the Fable IP alongside the studio and Microsoft wasn’t allowing that to happen. Thus all of the buyers turned down their deals and Lionhead became lost to us all.
While we don’t know exactly why Microsoft refused to give the IP up there are multiple theories. Maybe they’re already working on another Fable project with another company, maybe they have plans for that in the future or maybe they just didn’t want to see the IP go to PlayStation.
We might not ever know why this all went down, but it is truly a sad time for the gaming industry.
