Needham: Lionhead Now a "Games-As-Service Studio" with Fable Legends

Lionhead studio head John Needham is moving the Fable series in a different direction with the upcoming Fable Legends. The next game in the popular Microsoft-exclusive RPG series promises to add a more connected world, with Needham leading the charge.

“I think the real magic in the industry now is taking great traditional gameplay and IP, and this new connected world, and mashing them together, Needham told Edge. "I am the person pivoting Lionhead into a games-as-service studio. Legends is quite different from previous Fable games.”

Longtime fans may be worried that the series they know and love will change too much, but Needham says that Lionhead understands what makes a game a Fable game.

"The trick with Legends, and the question we’re constantly asking, is: ‘Is it Fable?’ Even with the connected aspects,” Needham continued. “That’s why Fable Anniversary’s launch in February was perfect, because it grounds us – we want to make sure we’re maintaining what makes Fable great. Now we’re looking at all these great online features we’re building into Legends. We’re bringing both of them together, taking what’s great about Anniversary and [Fable] II and III and bolting on features that make it a great connected experience.

"My plan is that Legends is essentially a platform for almost everything Fable going forward. It’s a long-range plan, of five to ten years, where we’re going to build and keep building onto Fable Legends. That’s the nature of games as a service – you keep adding systems and features and content."

Needham's description sounds akin to MMOs or games such as League of Legends that consistently update for years. Many of those games use the free-to-play pricing model, but Needham was noncomittal about pricing for future Fable titles.

“We haven’t talked about the business model yet,” he said. “We’re just trying to build a great game.”