Lionhead Studios is a United Kingdom-based computer game development company led by industry veteran Peter
Molyneux, and acquired by Microsoft Game Studios in April 2006.
Lionhead started as a breakaway from the developer Bullfrog, which was also
founded by Molyneux. Lionhead's first game was Black &
White, a god game with elements of artificial
life, strategy, and beat 'em up games.
Black & White was published by Electronic Arts in 2001. Lionhead Studios is named after Mark Webley's (now deceased) hamster, which passed away not long after the naming of the studio. [1]
Black and White was followed up with the release of an expansion pack named "Black & White: Creature Isle." Lionhead then released the popular (and
controversial) Fable, from satellite developer Big Blue Box. In 2005, Lionhead
released The Movies and Black & White
2. On 6 April 2006, it was announced that Lionhead Studios was to be purchased by Microsoft to further bolster their range of Xbox 360 games.
Corporate Structure
For a period of three years, Lionhead set up a network of "satellite" developers, including Big Blue Box Studios (developers
of Fable), Intrepid Games (developers of B.C., since suspended due to a massive overrun) and Black & White
Studios (who have taken responsibility for the continuation of the Black & White series). Lionhead proper was working
on three games, Fable, B&W2 and The Movies, potentially including Dimitri.
The "satellite" system has ceased to exist in any meaningful form since mid-2004, however, with Big Blue Box having been more
or less integrated into the main company, and Intrepid essentially having been disbanded.
Lionhead was a privately held company until October 2004 (shortly before the suspension of BC) when a consortium of investors,
including Ingenious Ventures, IDG VE and technology firm Add Partners, made a significant investment into the developer. This at
a time when the company was in severe financial straits, as they had over-run development on two projects, Black & White
2 and Fable, and also canceled B.C. and a project with Jeff Minter named
Unity.
However, since September 2005 Lionhead have successfully released two titles, Black & White 2 and The
Movies, as well as an updated version of Fable (entitled Fable: The Lost Chapters). To date, these titles have not achieved a
massive impact in sales, and this left the company vulnerable to a takeover bid. They have since started developing Fable
2 and an unknown game, for which only subtle hints have been dropped, which may have been a continuation of Dimitri.
[2] [3]
In April 2006 Lionhead Studios was acquired by Microsoft, signalling the end of independent development, and a focus on
Microsoft's proprietary gaming platforms. Lionhead will be a fairly independent part of Microsoft Game Studios, which has also acquired Rare Ltd.
and Bungie Studios (Bungie Studios recently announced it had become an independant
studio)
Delays
Lionhead has received a lot of media attention for their delayed games, in part due to the large amount of publicity and hype
generated for their games. Various reports on this indicate a company tendency to re-design games mid-development and a tendency
toward over-ambition, though few reports are official. The company is always on the cutting edge of developing new technology,
especially in the area of NPC AI, which adds considerably to their development schedules. Peter Molyneux, who often refers to himself as either the lead designer or creative director of Lionhead,
often promises specific release dates early on in the development of his titles. This causes particular problems and
disappointment among fans as many release dates are pushed back, sometimes more than once. Black & White missed several deadlines until it was finally released in
2001. A similar problem occurred with the release of The Movies
which was intended for a 2004 release date but was eventually delayed to 2005.
Games
Released
In development
- Fable 2
- Unknown Project - possibly Dimitri
- Unknown Project - Project X
Cancelled
- B.C.(Xbox)
- Unity
- Black & White: Titan (Xbox, PlayStation 2)
- Black & White (PlayStation, Dreamcast)
- The Movies (Gamecube, Xbox, Playstation 2) (may be released, not by Activision)
External links
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