News travelled fast this morning as the announcement of the closing of two European studios and the cancellation of Fable Legends hit the web. It’s not quite surprising that Fable Legends got the axe as community interest was low for the game but admittedly it is more of a surprise that the whole studio responsible was getting the heave ho.
It didn’t take long for gamers and industry folks alike to take to Twitter to express their condolences. One user of note was Daniel Gray (Producer on Milo&Kate and Fable 3) and he wasted no time dropping the bomb on MS. He went so far as to call them the ‘destroyer of first party studios’ and even posited that MS kept a studio executioner on the ready in Redmond for when they had to trim the fat of an unwanted studio.
Really sad to hear the news about Lionhead. Microsoft really are the destroyer of first party studios. Seven years ago was a different story
— Daniel Gray (@Dan_Gray) March 7, 2016
@Fluttermind@Fireproof_Barry I imagine there’s a “first party studios” executioner that waits in Redmond until the day of reckoning. — Daniel Gray (@Dan_Gray) March 7, 2016
While these claims aren’t completely irrefutable it has been sometime since MS closed up shop anywhere. If anything they’ve spent the past few years building studios up if 343 Industries, The Coalition and the recent purchase of Mojang are any indicators. Regardless of anyone’s thoughts on Microsoft the biggest loss here apart from a great studio is many talented developers losing their livelihood. Luckily the industry community is quick to step up in this situation to go far past condolences and offer up opportunities to apply and work elsewhere. Gray himself offered up the word that he’d hire folks from the defunct studio.
So many superb devs have been born out of LH. It’s a breeding ground for absolute awesomeness. I owe my career to that place T_T — Daniel Gray (@Dan_Gray) March 7, 2016
On the flip side I’d love to hire some of the lovely LH peeps. What’s an appropriate time to leave before scouting? I feel bad.
— Daniel Gray (@Dan_Gray) March 7, 2016
Everyone from The Chinese Room to Square Enix to Ubisoft has tweeted that they’d love if people from Lionhead took the time to send over applications. At the very least we can be glad that such a strong community exists within this industry for when times do get tough.
We here at COGconnected can only offer condolences and hope that all those out of work find something they’re passionate about to move on to in short order.
SOURCE: WCCF Tech