Microsoft Scoffs at Putting a Black Female on the Cover of Fable II
When looking back on games of the last generation many RPG lovers have a huge soft spot for Fable II. It was a leader in character customization and open world style gaming. As part of the character customization you could obviously make any sort of adventurer you liked from gender to race to sexual orientation. Despite this, it seems as if Microsoft put a hard no on allowing a female of color for the cover of Fable II.
Former Art Director for Lionhead, John McCormack was recently interviewed by Eurogamer in a feature covering the rich history of the now defunct studio and he wasted no time putting Micorsoft on the chopping block. Speaking on the character customization angle, he noted how he wanted to put a black female on the cover and how Microsoft marketing unceremoniously nixxed the idea.
“They were going, you can’t have a black person on the cover, and you can’t have a woman. And you want a black woman. And I was like, yes, I do, because it’s about being whatever hero you want. No. It’s a white guy. That’s just the way it is. We know what sells and that’s fucking it. Stop the arguing. I was like, fuck you! That was a huge fight. They said, what’s the most unsuccessful Disney film? I was like, I don’t know. They went, Princess and the Frog. Work it out. I was like fuck you, man. I hated it.”
“I was screaming at them in conference calls. I lost it at that point, because they just weren’t getting the game. Especially because we were the first ever game that had gay marriage, we were about breaking down walls. It was meant to be funny and mature. They just took none of it and just did the usual white guy with a sword on the front. Damn it! You missed the point!”
McCormack also went on to express disappointment at how the Microsoft marketing department insisted on giving Fable II the standard RPG push, rather than put a face on its more comedic side.
“They were going, what are you making? An RPG? Right, dragons and shit. And that was their advert. And we were like, no, ours is a Monty Python-esque comedy. And they went, look, we know how to market RPGs. And they opened the RPG marketing drawer and pulled out a picture of a dragon that wasn’t even in the game and went there you go. That’s your market. The market for that game is your average Dungeons & Dragons fare. And we were like, this game’s totally different.”
The full feature over on Eurogamer is a long, but very interesting read. Head on over to get more info on the shutting down of the studio, the once promising Milo and Kate project and even some info on the ‘dark and gritty’ turn they were looking at for Fable 4.