14 DAY TRIAL // The development team at Lionhead might still be focused on the Fables series at the moment, but the company is also working on its own future and is exploring a number of other intellectual properties that it could try to create in the future.
John Needham, the leader of the entire studio, tells Eurogamer that he currently has a core eight-man team, led by Gary Carr, the creative director, trying to come up with interesting ideas and working on prototypes that are not linked to the fantasy or the role-playing game genres.
Lionhead is not yet willing to offer any details on the potential ideas that might become full-fledged video games in the near future.
Needham states, “They're working on a couple of new prototypes for completely different games - not Fable related. They'll also be working on new games we can put within Fable Legends as well. The primary purpose of the group is to come up with new game IP, and we'll hopefully this next year have something exciting to talk about.”
The fan community has been asking Lionhead to create a sequel or a reboot for the Black & White series for years, but it seems that this is not going to be an option because the game was published by EA and the studio is at the moment working exclusively with Microsoft.
The company leader adds, “We're going to come up with new IP. There is great IP in Lionhead's history, it's just spotty who owns what. Fable, clearly we're going to be investing most of the studio's efforts into that, but we'll have some new IP to share with you soon.”
At the moment, Lionhead is focusing most of its resources on Fable Legends, which is set to be launched exclusively on the Xbox One before the end of the year.
The title is designed to introduce entirely new mechanics to the role-playing series, pitting four gamers who play heroes against one who controls a villain and can call upon the help of a variety of powerful creatures.
The game takes fans back in the history of Albion to a time when heroes were plentiful and they all sought a powerful artefact that could transform the entire world.
Lionhead has promised solid cooperative mechanics, extensive customization options for all included classes and complex battles that involved a variety of creatures and powers.