This lead many at the studio to believe the tech used in the title would be used to develop Fable 4. Sources state Microsoft put $75 million into Fable Legends, and it was only a 'couple of updates away from open beta' before it was canceled. Many other contributing factors - such as it not being 'fun to play' - were involved, each of which are outlined in the Eurogamer feature. There were also issues of balance which the team found a 'real challenge' due to the heroes and the villains having leveling up at the same time. One of the reasons cited was because it was unfamiliar with developing a 4v1 title. And it 'worked.'Īs development progressed on Fable Legends the team struggled. What was corroborated by all, is that Project Opal was an ambitious project which worked as a village builder on PC, a resource gatherer on mobile, and a shooter on the Xbox console. And because it was R-rated it would have the prostitutes and the humor. Over time the team grew especially disheartened with development of Fable Legends, which according to sources started out as Project Opal. Plus, Lionhead knew fans wanted a Fable 4 on Xbox One, not the F2P competitive multiplayer Fable Legends. Fuck off.' That's what I was annoyed about.' 'Nah, you've had three shots and you've only tripled the money. 'Give us that, and we'll give you something that'll get you your players.

They're getting four years and a lot of budget. 'I said, look, just give us four years, proper finance, give us the chance Mass Effect has, Skyrim has, the games at the time.

'It was like, you've reached your cap of players for RPG on Xbox and you need to find a way to double that, and you're not going to do it with RPG,' he said. He said this was one of the reasons he left in 2012 and formed Another Place Productions. McCormack and the rest of the team at Lionhead wasn't pleased with Microsoft's dismissal of the proposal. Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde would have been present in the game with a 'Fable twist,' adding to the 'weird fucked up London environment'. The game would have relied on British mythology. In Fable 4, Bowerstone was London with Jack the Ripper walking the streets as a Balverine in disguise. 'I was like, man, this is going to be fucking brilliant, and everybody was really into it.'īowerstone in the original Fable was a small town, which as the games progressed grew into a large town with the release of Fable 3. And because it was R-rated it would have the prostitutes and the humor,' he said.

'We wanted to hit the late Victorian proper far out Jules Verne shit,' said McCormack, adding the game would have made use of tram cars and flying machines. Lionhead wanted to make a 'darker and grittier' Fable 4 instead of $75M Fable LegendsĪccording to a highly detailed chronicle of Lionhead Studios over on Eurogamer, the studio's former art director John McCormack detailed the Fable 4 pitch - which didn't interest Microsoft. But it was rejected by Microsoft which had switched the IP over to a 'games as a service model.' Lionhead Studios had pitched a mature-rated Fable 4 project set in an industrial-age to be developed using Unreal Engine 4.

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