Peter Molyneux leaves MS and Lionhead.

Oh wow. That's pretty huge. http://twitter.com/#!/pmolyneux
 

I have left the lovely amazing Microsoft and lionhead. Now for something really amazing, scary and brave a new company called 22 Cans

Peter Molyneux's Balls MMO!

@Tim_the_Corsair said:

Peter Molyneux's Balls MMO!

It's a game about the relationship between you and his balls.

EDIT: On topic, Peter leaving Lionhead and MS is pretty damn huge. Really interested in seeing what he does next.

Fable has been getting worse since the first one, hopefully this will mean he can make games that aren't terrible.

Personally, I'm worried about the child he left behind in the divorce. Poor Milo =(

Wow, what even IS Lionhead without Molyneux? Does he personally own the rights to Black and White and Fable or what? because damn, those be his babies.

Whoa. Did not see this coming.

I always had a respect for Molyneux, he seemed like a really nice guy when I briefly met him.

His departure probably says a lot about the current direction of Fable on the Kinect.

I don't think the fable kinect game was the game he wanted to make. He has been doing almost nothing but fable games for 10 years now, not surprising that he left.

A blow to microsoft? Probably not? Good on him though. Hope he does something new.

This is a move for the better for him I believe, absolutely. I think he actually ended up being rather limited by the fable series and to some extent by his kinect involvement.

You could see it coming through in Fable 2 and a lot in 3 - pre-release everything he talked about was not the actual game, it was his ideas that he found interesting and was playing around with ... what if the pause screen was different, what if weapons changed as you used them, what if you could hold someone's hand and interact with them through touch? The meat of the game, the grand fantasy adventure, rarely actually came up in his talks - it was a vehicle for trying out what he found interesting, not really the focus of his imagination.

I expect this new studio will probably focus on smaller games ... the Double Fine kind of model. Where one idea can be one game & he's less restricted by the weight of franchise and peripheral. Oh, I think he's a complete loon, but I'm glad he'll be able to cut loose and dance his crazy lunatic dance.

@metal_mills probably make drinking games. Seriously he will make the games he wants to make.

@drag: They said the same about Steve Jobs back in the day... God rest that magnificent bastard's soul.

Hope this results in Molyneux making something a little more fresh and interesting (and no doubt flawed).

@Branwulf: I doubt it since he's largely responsible for those games.

I've heard comments about people thinking he left because he was forced to do all this kinect stuff but I got the impression that he was the one who always seemed to be pushing it, maybe it's more likely now that Fable 4 (whenever that comes out) will be a bit more traditional in how it plays without his influence. I'm not saying him leaving the studio is good, I mean he should be applauded for trying to do new things with the medium, but perhaps it'll result in Lionhead playing it a bit more safe in the future, or perhaps they'll go even more heavily down the kinect, more experimental route.

It'll be interesting to see what happens with both teams.

Ah, man, I knew Fable: The Journey was not even possibly his main focus. Glad to see I was proven right. Very interested to see where the fella goes next; even if I've only played Fable II of his work, I always find his speeches and ideas (for games and about games) fascinating.

I really liked Molyneux, but at the same time, I never found his ideas to be good. On concept, they were, but on executions, it always, always fell flat. The whole King-thing in Fable 3 wasn't very good. I LOVE the art style, music, british-fantasy and everything that oils the machine of the Fable Universe. But I also hated that a lot of energy was put into stupid stuff, like the ability to fart and belch on people. I'd rather have a better fighting system, some unlockables and more quests than those weird actions as a mean of interactivity with the NPC's.

"Today is 7th day of 3rd month of 12th year. Add them all up and you get 22. 22cans" - Peter Molyneux

I think Peter is just making up companies as he goes.

Fantastic news. Lionhead can keep flogging Fable to death and Molyneux can stop pissing his reputation away and go make something good.
 
@Klei said:

I really liked Molyneux, but at the same time, I never found his ideas to be good. On concept, they were, but on executions, it always, always fell flat. The whole King-thing in Fable 3 wasn't very good. I LOVE the art style, music, british-fantasy and everything that oils the machine of the Fable Universe. But I also hated that a lot of energy was put into stupid stuff, like the ability to fart and belch on people. I'd rather have a better fighting system, some unlockables and more quests than those weird actions as a mean of interactivity with the NPC's.

That's so cray cray

I've tried to distance myself as much as possible from Fable 3 too. 

The bigger news is that somehow people still give a shit about Peter Molyneux.

• Destroy image of the company you built
• Leave

@Tim_the_Corsair said:

Peter Molyneux's Balls MMO!

Is it weird that I instantly thought the same thing?

So he doesn't have the rights to Fable or Black and White? I wonder what will happen to both series and what he will make next.

I am pleased by this news. I like Molyneax and was worried that his talent and natural enthusiasm were stifled by being the head of Microsoft Studios Europe. Being a "company man" you've got a lot more responsibilities and limitations. I like him best when he's being creative, full of wonder and spewing a great line of bullshit. I think MS reined him in to avoid public embarrassment. Hopefully, now he can get back to making something unconventional that ultimately falls short of genius.

I'm interested to see what he cooks up with the new company, but am a bit disappointed we won't see how he attempts to make up for Fable 3 with it's follow-up.

Edit. Video NSFW.

Let's not forget that Molyneux has been responsible for plenty of other really ground breaking games, besides Fable.

Populous, Syndicate, Theme Park, Magic Carpet, Dungeon Keeper, Black & White..

I'm glad to see him leave, it clearly wasn't his choice to keep churning out Fable games, so I'm not surprised he's sick of it. A lot of his games may be flawed, but he puts a lot of genuine imagination and passion into making them.

I didn't believe the name of his new company was actually called "22 Cans" until I saw the tweet. I mean, I do totally believe it, but in a way that I thought petermolydeux would come up with it first.

Looking forward to whatever he's got for us next. I'm sure we'll hear all about it at E3 2014, unfortunately.

I guess he thought his career at Lionhead was a little too on rails, huh? HUH?

Anyway, I think it's cool. I want to hear Molyneux talk crazy about something other than Fable.

I hope it works out better for him. I felt like Fable 1 was good, but flawed. Also, far too short, but I feel like that was an expectations thing where they over promised and somewhat under delivered. Cool world, interesting interactions with environments.

Fable II was much better than Fable I and just expanded upon the concepts layed out, but also refined what they already had brought to the table. And Fable II semmed like it had a ton of holes were it looked like the developers wanted to add something, but just didn't have the time or means. And Fable III, well I didn't even play due to hearing just how bad it was.

I just hope at this company he is less constrained by maybe not feeling pressured to put out a big-budget AAA game that is gears for the mass market. It is not like he has to go to small bite-sized games, but maybe just be alright with a niche audience.

@WinterSnowblind: I'll be interested to see what his new work will be. Fable never quite reach his lofty promises but he made some amazing games way before then like you listed. Only time will tell.

@RazielCuts said:

Wow, what even IS Lionhead without Molyneux? Does he personally own the rights to Black and White and Fable or what? because damn, those be his babies.

Doubt it. I believe EA owns the rights to B&W and MS owns the rights to Fable.

22 cans of beer on the wall, 22 cans of beer. Take one down pass it around, 21 cans of beer on the wall.

So his new game studio is all about recycling then?

I'll bet he makes social games from here on.

TEH MEGATON!!!!1

Well, good luck to him. Though I don't know if he'll ever escape his penchant for over-promising on his games.

I'm sure his passion/insanity will create another great game.