Microsoft Buys Lionhead

Nathan Weinberg — Thu, 06 Apr 2006 15:17:08 +0000

Microsoft has picked up Lionhead Studios, the game house started by gaming legend Peter Molyneux.

Lionhead made the popular game Fable for Xbox, as well as the not-great-selling but very well received games The Movies and Black & White.

This has been rumored for a little while, and I’m hoping this becomes the perfect mix of developer and publisher. Lionhead is one of the smartest and most talented development houses, but never could get its games to be bestsellers. With Microsoft behind them, they could get the publicity they need to be huge, while hopefully getting a hands-off attitude towards development.

The only key: Lionhead isn’t the same company without Molyneux. If the deal doesn’t force him to stay at Lionhead, then once the games currently in development are released, Microsoft could be left with nothing. I’m hoping they get to keep him for a long time, since the Xbox 360 is in dire need of some real innovative titles.

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Nathan Weinberg writes the popular InsideGoogle blog, offering the latest news and insights about Google and search engines.

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Microsoft Buying Lionhead?

Nathan Weinberg — Mon, 27 Mar 2006 21:19:23 +0000

Rumor is Microsoft is looking to snatch up Lionhead, the game studio started by game design legend Peter Molyneux.

Lionhead has churned out some great, well-regarded games, like Fable, Black & White, and the Movies, and the (big-budgeted) support of Microsoft could be exactly what they need to get the monster hit all that hard work deserves. Without high enough sales, Lionhead has been suffering financially, and Microsoft could be their knight in shining armor.