In a recent documentary, representatives from Microsoft itted that the company made a few mistakes with Forza developer Playground Games.
Lionhead Studios was hot off the success of the first Fable game when it was purchased by Microsoft back in 2006. Two years later, the second Fable was released, earning heaps of praise from both fans of the original and newcomers to the series. 2010's Fable III was somewhat less positively received owing to its more linear structure and for being even more streamlined than the second game when it came to its RPG mechanics. Still, many players enjoyed the third entry in the original trilogy. Issues with the franchise truly came about during the era of the Kinect, Microsoft's motion-tracking AR system; Fable: The Journey leaned heavily into the Kinect functionality, and many fans felt that it strayed from the franchise's DNA. Fable Legends was announced a few years later and subsequently canceled when Microsoft shut down Lionhead Studios in 2016. Now, a new Fable is in the works, although Xbox has been sparse on its details.
Microsoft appears to have reflected on this franchise and studio since it was shut down, according to comments made by Xbox representatives in the six-part docu-series Power On: The Story of Xbox. As highlighted by GameSpot, general manager Shannon Loftis noted that the franchise was going strong after the release of Fable II, but that some mistakes were made with the integration of Kinect to the series, commenting that "The Fable-Kinect marriage never really took off." Loftis went on to state that she believes Fable: The Journey "deviated pretty significantly from the pillars of what made Fable 1 and 2 so popular." Xbox head Phil Spencer echoed Loftis's sentiments, suggesting that Xbox may have overpowered the studio's creative vision: "You acquire a studio for what they’re great at now, and your job is to help them accelerate how they do what they do, not them accelerate what you do."
This is in line with recent introspective comments regarding Bungie's split with Microsoft, also made by Spencer. It is clear that the company is aiming to be far more competitive with exclusive games this generation, so it makes sense that its leadership is reevaluating past decisions. Core gaming also seems to be a bigger focus for the company now, with no indication that Microsoft will be restarting the Kinect any time soon.
These comments from Spencer and Loftis are sure to spark discussion about how the legendary gaming company will tackle the Fable reboot. While it's unfortunate that Lionhead Studios won't be working on any modern Fable games, it seems that Xbox has taken some time to reflect on what made the series so popular in the first place. Hopefully, Microsoft and Playground Games will be able to recapture Lionhead Studios' original vision for the series.
Source: GameSpot
