Molyneux talks Fable MMO

May 3, 2013 4:18AM PDT

By Eddie Makuch, News Editor

Former Microsoft creative director says there's no reason an MMO set in Albion shouldn't do "reasonably well."

Peter Molyneux, outspoken former Lionhead Studios boss, has commented on the possibility of a Fable MMO. Speaking with IGN, he said the idea is nothing new.

 

"When we were brainstorming what to do next in Fable, there was always a, 'Maybe we should go and do the MMO route?'," Molyneux said. "There were theories about how you would level up and class up and what the classes would be and so on, but we never got out of the brainstorming segment of that."

Molyneux explained that a Fable MMO could work "quite well" if the "charm" of the series--that being the world of Albion and its humor--were kept intact.

"I can see that that would work. The thing about Fable is that it was such a rich world. It was, well, what the name says it is. It’s all about Fable and Albion and this idea of legends and humour. RPGs are great for MMO transitions," Molyneux said.

"I can see that that concept works, and works quite well. I think the charm of Fable was in the feeling of the world and definitely the humour," he added. "If they keep that in an MMO, then there’s no reason why it shouldn’t do reasonably well, I don't think."

Lionhead Studios hired MMO veteran John Needham last month to replace Molyneux, who left the company in March 2012 to create independent studio 22 Cans.

Needham was formerly the CEO of Marvel Heroes developer Gazillion Entertainment, and before that City of Heroes maker Cryptic Studios. He's also been chief financial officer at Sony Online Entertainment.

Lionhead Studios' most recent title was the Kinect-exclusive Fable: The Journey. The studio currently has no announced games, though it has been hiring for a next-generation MMO-like game since May 2012.

Late last month, the company posted a job ad for a senior services engineer, who should have a "passion for playing online/multiplayer/MMO games."

Microsoft will announce its next-generation ambitions during a intimate event in Redmond, Washington on May 21.

 

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By Eddie Makuch, News Editor

Eddie Makuch (Mack-ooh) is a News Editor at GameSpot. He works out of the company's Boston office in Somerville, Mass., and loves extra chunky peanut butter.

Nobody cares about fable MMO on VGC? I for one would love to see a Fable MMO but I also am ready for Lion Head to make a new IP

I love fable, I've been wanting a fable mmo since fable 2, I just hope they change the art style a little big and make it much bigger and much more open.

I brought Ever Fable 2, and 3. And I want a fable 4 but I would be mad if they made a MMO.

I was a big fable fan but the interactions with other npc's is stupid(burping and farting wtf) and the story and bosses where always disappointing. Plus This whole MMO thing would kill this series in my opinion

Fable 3 was the best one yet and actually lived up the the expectations. But the NPC interaction does need to be reworked, its a bit silly.

Currently the Fable franchise holds no interest to me personally. If the next one can reignite that then great, but I'm being cautiously optimistic with the next game in the series.

Fable II and III are still in my backlog... It's good to know I'll have something to look forward too in the future if the other 2 games are great.

Fable II is pretty good and Fable III is ok.  Neither one is amazing in my opinion but still good games.  they are pretty simple.  In my opinion they are RPG's that are geared for both casual and hardcore players to like.  Fable III went a little more casual which is what I think the big down fall was. II had a good balance between the two elements where III didnt

I would like a bigger Fable, with more RPG elements (like the first one or Fable 2 or even deeper). Something with an Elder Scrolls type of open world would be pretty cool. They went too far down the casual road in Fable 3, so something more complex would definitely be a welcome addition to the franchise.