Slashdot Log In
Microsoft Buys Lionhead Studios
Posted by
Zonk
on Thu Apr 06, 2006 09:16 AM
from the doesn't-matter-if-you're-black-or-white dept.
from the doesn't-matter-if-you're-black-or-white dept.
Grench writes "The BBC has an article on Microsoft's purchase of Lionhead Studios. They focus in particular on Peter Molyneux, and the kind of talents and expertise that he can bring to Microsoft's future gaming efforts. A sequel to Fable was mentioned as a probable endeavor." From the article: "Some of the giants of the games industry, such as Electronic Arts and Ubisoft, were reported to have been interested in acquiring Lionhead. But Microsoft has emerged as the victor, adding the studio to its roster of British gaming talent. In 2002, it acquired developers Rare in a $375m deal."
Related Stories
[+]
Tough Times for Lionhead Studios 43 comments
Alice, over at the Wonderland blog, discusses Lionhead's decision to reduce the size of the company. The maker of The Movies and Black and White 2 has apparently not been doing so well financially this year. From the article: "Over the last few months Lionhead has been working on plans for a new AAA world class game. As work on a number of its titles draws to a close, a pool of 100 super talented developers at Lionhead are available to create a new super team at Lionhead. This will be in addition to an existing team which is working on an amazing next generation title. This strategy was presented to Lionhead this morning in a company meeting but sadly it will mean some redundancies."
[+]
Molyneux Rumour Control 24 comments
Gamespot has an article up looking at some of the current rumours swirling around designer Peter Molyneux. Best known for the Black and White series, Molyneux's Lionhead studio is heavily favoured to be the next acquisition target for Microsoft. He canceled a GDC session with no notice on Friday (one I was hoping to go to, I might add), and there's been much speculation since last week. From the article: "Over the subsequent month, the rumors festered. On March 3, Lionhead laid off between 50 and 100 people, and reduced its number of projects-in-development from three to two--a Black & White 2 expansion and a Fable sequel. Today, the floodgates of speculation re-opened, when Molyneux's session at the 2006 Game Developers Conference in San Jose was summarily canceled."
[+]
Lionhead Studios In Purchase Talks? 20 comments
Lionhead Studios, best known for the Black and White series of games, may be in acquisition talks with Microsoft and Ubisoft From the Eurogamer article: "Of the two, Microsoft has the most history with the studio - the software giant published one of Lionhead's most successful titles to date, Fable, and is believed to be working with the firm on a next-generation sequel to the game for Xbox 360. Credence is also lent to Microsoft's involvement in the deal by the close relationship Lionhead boss Peter Molyneux has enjoyed with the firm and its top executives since the launch of the Xbox, with the well-known designer often appearing to sing the praises of the Xbox platform in public." Gamespot reports further on the subject, stating that while it's certainly plausible, it's not official yet.
[+]
Molyneux Talks Fable 2 44 comments
Eurogamer has some details from a discussion with Peter Molyneux, on the upcoming Fable 2 and the as-yet-unnamed 'Project Dmitri.' The site comments on Molyneux's obvious enthusiasm for his work, and manages to get a few tidbits of information from the designer on these in-production titles. From the article: "I think it's exactly what Lionhead stands for - it's uniqueness, it's originality and it's taking something and doing something with it that no-one's done before. And that's really what the core of what the whole of Fable is. Fable 2 should be everything you expect, then 10 times more that you don't expect — and that doesn't just apply to this one feature ... I almost said it then! — that applies to the whole game."
This discussion has been archived.
No new comments can be posted.
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
Full
Abbreviated
Hidden
Loading... please wait.
EA was never realistic (Score:3, Interesting)
That said, it'll be interesting to see if it's any easier at Microsoft. They make pains to say they won't be excercising creative control, but another 2 failiures like B+W2 and the movies and you wonder how long that will survive.
Re:EA was never realistic (Score:2)
Re:EA was never realistic (Score:2)
Re:EA was never realistic (Score:2, Interesting)
It's really quite an interesting title; I'm yet to play it myself, but it's just the sort of innovative game I'd expect from someone like Peter. Not sure why it hasn't sold all that well. Shame.
Re:EA was never realistic (Score:2)
I like the guy's ide
Re:"/." fans were never realistic (Score:2)
I liked Fable, I love everything he did with Bullfrog.
But I'm talking brutal commercial reality here. \. isn't exactly representative because every topic about Lionhead becomes "cut and paste microsoft gags with lionhead inserted".
Aha! (Score:4, Funny)
Put some of that Black and White experience to use (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Put some of that Black and White experience to (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:Put some of that Black and White experience to (Score:3, Funny)
lionhead (Score:2)
There goes another good game co to hell... (Score:4, Insightful)
Then MS came... well, all I can say is go look for games that have the Bungie Studio's logo somewhere on the game now... They are most definitly NOT the only one this happened to. I firmely believe that MS does not have the corporate presence and structuring that is needed to actually produce good games. I personally believe they shreded the Mechwarrior series. Mechwarrior 2 is still the best in my opinion. But do you want to know why? It is because Activision at least gave a HUGE selection of mechs and weapons. There were more different mechs in Mechwarrior2+GhostBear Expansion then in ALL the later games in the series COMBINED. Part of the whole idea in that game is that you really DON'T know all the different mechs that might be feilded against you. That you don't know the weakness of everybody, or their strengths until you get smacked hard by something that surprised the crap out of you...
Re:There goes another good game co to hell... (Score:2)
Re:There goes another good game co to hell... (Score:4, Funny)
Parent
Re:There goes another good game co to hell... (Score:5, Interesting)
Having lived through the Microsoft buyout of a game studio, perhaps I provide some insight into why acquired studios seem to lose their mojo. Disclaimer: This are my opinions only, and come from the individual contributior perspective, not that of the studio management.
First off, Microsoft corporate culture does not map well to a typical successful game studio, and no matter what assurances are given that the studio's culture and operations are going to be left intact, within a couple years the studio becomes fully integrated into the 'Microsoft Way'.
Probably most destructive are the Microsft one-size fits all HR policies such as stack ranking. Game development is truly a team effort, and successful studios have managed to create teams where most of the performers are above average. Instead of being able to reward people fairly, a pre-determined number of people each year have to be given a "poor" review which includes no compensation increases of any sort, and the warning that if they fail to improve by next year, they will be on the list of people to be 'managed out'. On the other end, a smaller pre-determined number of people will be rewarded handsomly no matter if they have not produced anything to merit such. So a culture of teamwork, focus on the product,and pride in the company will quickly morph into a culture of individual self-promotion, politicts and backstabbing, and a disdain for the company.
Additionally, as part of Microsoft, the studio no longer has the urgency to make the next game great and complete it in a timely manner. With Microsoft's billions insuring financial stability if a game is cancelled, and no direct financial upside to producing a hit game, the pressure of living close to the edge that was present in the old culture that helped the team focus is supplanted by a devil may care attiude that creeps into the 'rank and file'.
As a result, many of the developers tranform from passionate, competitive people who strive for excellence into someone who just 'does their job' and goes home at 6pm sharp. Others just leave for greener pastures. Management gets thier large bonuses in any event.
There are other issues of course, such as loss of control over future projects, headcount restrictions that prevent a studio from hiring desperatly needed people, and so on.
Parent
Not suprized (Score:2, Interesting)
I really wish that MS can give Pete the time to let some of his ideas come to fruition...I really was dissapointed when some of thefeatures i really wanted in Fable got cut. ( i.e. raising a family, multiplayer) I'm hoping we'll get a Fable sequel (mabey prequel?) that delivers all the promises of Fable 1 that didn't happen.
From the article... (Score:3, Insightful)
Isn't Molyneaux's whole problem that he gets all of these wild ideas and then fails to actually execute them? In which case is he really pushing boundaries, or just being mediocre?
Re:From the article... (Score:4, Insightful)
But then maybe he's just the right guy to balance a company who rarely have any wilds ideas, but often suceeed in executing them?
Parent
Bill Gates (Score:3, Interesting)
total creative control (Score:2, Insightful)
RIP Lionhead (Score:3, Insightful)
Of course, what M$ wants - what M$ needs - are a few killer games that are Xbox-exclusive. Probably half of the original xbox sales were thanks to Halo. With the PS3 rapidly approaching, the 360 will lose a lot of market share if there aren't any great exclusive games, and quickly.
so much for Linux (Score:3, Insightful)
RIP blah blah blah. (Score:5, Insightful)
Bungie made Halo by a long long way the most succesful game they ever created.
Digital Anvil made freelancer the most succesful game they ever created.
Ensemble Studios made Age of Empires the most succesful game they ever created. (I hope your noting the pattern here)
FASA made Crimson Skies the most succesful game they ever created.
Rare remain the only studio that hasnt prospered quite as much as theyd hoped though with Perfect Dark and Kameo. Hardly a bad start.
(and lets not have 'Bungie made Halo for PC!' crap. Thats not the point, MS not killing off the studio, is.)
Lionhead was going down. You had either EA, Ubisoft or Microsoft. So which do you want? EA who has bought and dissolved countless companies with no regard for there worth? Ubisoft who have recently taken a liking to absurd protection methods. Or Microsoft who buy up companies to use there names and ideas exclusively? Its not exactly a clear cut 'MS are teh evil' situation.
I know to a lot of people they're the big evil corporation but seriously take a step back and look around for two seconds. You really think the other publishers are better? In fact take a look at the other studios MS owns, you really think Lionhead is gone now?
Im not saying bad things arnt going to happen to molyneux's baby but MS, in this case, is arguably there best option. (With Ubisoft coming a close second. Lets not even suggest the Bullfrog destroying EA.) Heck, Id even go so far as to say they stand a chance of releasing some pretty solid stuff.
A little less of the incessant farewell, RIP, crap and perhaps a little more perspective on what is going on.
Re:Britian's Silicon Valley. (Score:3, Insightful)
The reason if anything is that while America had a tendancy to buy NES in the 1980s, the british were a lot more keen on programmable computers. The NES sold well, the Master system much better, but they were all blown int
Re:Britian's Silicon Valley. (Score:3, Informative)