Lionhead Studios Limited was a British video game developer founded in July 1997 by Peter Molyneux, Mark Webley, Tim Rance, and Steve Jackson. The company is best known for the Black & White and Fable series. Lionhead started as a breakaway from developer Bullfrog Productions, which was also founded by Molyneux. Lionhead's first game was Black & White, a god game with elements of artificial life and strategy games. Black & White was published by Electronic Arts in 2001. Lionhead Studios is named after Webley's hamster, which died not long after the naming of the studio, as a result of which the studio was very briefly renamed to Redeye Studios.
Peter Douglas Molyneux is an English video game designer and programmer. He created the god games Populous, Dungeon Keeper, and Black & White, as well as Theme Park, the Fable series, Curiosity: What's Inside the Cube?, and Godus. He currently works at 22cans.
Xbox Game Studios is an American video game publisher based in Redmond, Washington. It was established in March 2000, spun out from an internal Games Group, for the development and publishing of video games for Microsoft Windows. It has since expanded to include games and other interactive entertainment for the namesake Xbox platforms, other desktop operating systems, Windows Mobile and other mobile platforms, and web-based portals.
Obsidian Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Irvine, California. It was founded in June 2003, shortly before the closure of Black Isle Studios, by ex-Black Isle employees Feargus Urquhart, Chris Avellone, Chris Parker, Darren Monahan, and Chris Jones.
inXile Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer and a studio of Xbox Game Studios based in Tustin, California. Specializing in role-playing video games, inXile was founded in 2002 by Interplay co-founder Brian Fargo. The studio produced the fantasy games The Bard's Tale and Hunted: The Demon's Forge, along with various games for Flash and iOS such as Fantastic Contraption in its first decade of development. In 2014, inXile released the post-apocalyptic game Wasteland 2, following a successful Kickstarter campaign. Following the game's critical success, the studio went on to raise a then-record US$4 million on Kickstarter to develop Torment: Tides of Numenera, a spiritual successor to Interplay's Planescape: Torment. The studio was purchased by Microsoft and became part of Xbox Game Studios in 2018, just as they were developing Wasteland 3, which they released in 2020. The studio is currently developing Clockwork Revolution for Windows and Xbox Series X/S.
Fable II is a 2008 action role-playing open world video game, developed by Lionhead Studios and published by Microsoft Game Studios for Xbox 360. The game is the second installment in the Fable game series, and the sequel to 2004's Fable. The story takes place within the fictional land of Albion, 500 years after the first game. Players assume the role of a young hero who is destined to stop a former ruler turned madman from destroying the world. The game features several prominent actors portraying major characters in the game, including Zoë Wanamaker, Ron Glass and Stephen Fry. The game's setting takes inspiration from the historical late colonial era, in terms of architecture, social quality and basic firearms such as flintlock pistols.
Project Milo was a project in development by Lionhead Studios for the Xbox 360 video game console. Formerly a secretive project under the early codename "Dimitri", Project Milo was unveiled at the 2009 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in a demonstration for Kinect, as a "controller-free" entertainment initiative for the Xbox 360 based on depth-sensing and pattern recognition technologies. The project was a tech demo to showcase the capabilities of Kinect and was not released, despite conflicting reports that the project was an actual game.
Fable is a series of action role-playing video games for Xbox, Microsoft Windows, macOS, Xbox 360 and Xbox One platforms. The series was developed by Lionhead Studios until the studio was closed in 2016, and is published by Xbox Game Studios.
Fable Legends is a cancelled cooperative action role-playing video game developed by Lionhead Studios and projected to be published by Microsoft Studios for Microsoft Windows and Xbox One. Microsoft cancelled the game on 7 March 2016. The servers shut down on 13 April.
Early access, also known as alpha access, alpha founding, paid alpha, or game preview, is a funding model in the video game industry by which consumers can purchase and play a game in the various pre-release development cycles, such as pre-alpha, alpha, and/or beta, while the developer is able to use those funds to continue further development on the game. Those that pay to participate typically help to debug the game, provide feedback and suggestions, may have access to special materials in the game. The early-access approach is a common way to obtain funding for indie games, and may also be used along with other funding mechanisms, including crowdfunding. Many crowdfunding projects promise to offer access to alpha and/or beta versions of the game as development progresses; however, unlike some of these projects which solicit funds but do not yet have a playable game, all early access games offer an immediately playable version of the unfinished game to players.
Hand of Fate is an action role-playing video game developed and published by Australian studio Defiant Development for Linux, macOS, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, released via early access on 7 July 2014, and then in the full release on 17 February 2015. A PlayStation Vita version was announced but ultimately cancelled due to development issues.
Fig was a crowdfunding platform for video games. It launched in August 2015. Unlike traditional crowdfunding approaches like Kickstarter, where individuals can back a project to receive rewards, Fig used a mixed model that includes individual backing and the opportunity for uncredited investors to invest as to obtain a share of future revenues for successful projects. At the end of 2017, four projects had begun generating returns, returning 245% to Fig investors.
Battalion 1944 is a multiplayer first-person shooter video game developed by Bulkhead Interactive and published by Square Enix Collective and released for Windows. The game was announced via a Kickstarter campaign in February 2016, and released on 23 May 2019. The game is set during World War II and runs on Unreal Engine 4. Bulkhead is a collaborative effort between companies Deco Digital and Bevel Studios. Versions for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One were also announced but never released.
Road Redemption is a vehicular combat racing video game developed by New Orleans-based studios EQ-Games and Pixel Dash Studios as a spiritual successor to the Road Rash series. The game on PC was released on October 4, 2017. Console versions of Road Redemption were released on November 6, 2018 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. A mobile version of Road Redemption were released on September 28, 2022 for Android and iOS.
SolForge was a free-to-play digital collectible card game by Stone Blade Entertainment. The design team included Magic: The Gathering designer Richard Garfield and Pro Tour hall of famer Brian Kibler. The game was released in May 2016 following three years in early access. In January 2017, Stone Blade announced that the game would be shutting down that month, however, an agreement was later reached with two executives from Grinding Gear Games, but not the studio directly, keeping the game online.
Faeria is a digital collectible card and turn-based strategy game that takes place on a dynamic playing board set in a fantasy universe. The game was developed by Abrakam, and released for desktop platforms in 2017, for Xbox One and Nintendo Switch in August 2020 and for PlayStation 4 in November 2020. The game was well received by critics, holding a score of 80/100 on reviews aggregation website Metacritic.
Fable is an upcoming action role-playing game developed by Playground Games and published by Xbox Game Studios. The game serves as a reboot for the Fable series and will be released for Xbox Series X/S and Microsoft Windows.
Gloomhaven is a turn-based strategy role-playing video game, developed by Flaming Fowl Studios and published by Asmodee Digital. It is an adaptation of the tabletop game by the same name. Following two years of early access, Gloomhaven was released for Windows on October 20, 2021 and macOS on November 25, 2021. The game was ported to Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S in September 2023.
