Lionhead is officially no more

Lionhead, the Peter Molyneux-founded studio that gave us Black & White and Fable, is now officially closed down. News of the looming closure was revealed in early March, when Microsoft announced that it was “in discussions with employees” about closing it down. Those discussions are now over, and the outcome, which was never really in doubt, is final.

“We can confirm that after much consideration over the six week consultation period with Lionhead employees, we have reached the decision to close Lionhead Studios,” a Microsoft rep told Eurogamer. “We have nothing but heart-felt thanks for the team at Lionhead for their significant contributions to Xbox and the games industry."

Former Lionhead employees are tweeting their farewells and memories with the #RIPLionhead, but the saddest and most jarring evidence of Lionhead's shutdown is probably to be found at lionhead.com, the studio's website, which now leads straight into a “server not found” error. 

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We said a few words of our own about the closure of Lionhead shortly after the bad news was delivered, mourning the loss of “what could have been as much as what was,” but there's still a chance—faint, no doubt, but a chance—that Lionhead's legacy will live on: It was reported earlier this month that a survey taken during the consultation process suggested that former employees might be able to continue working on Fable Legends under the banner of a new, independent studio. 

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.