Lionhead Studios officially closed back in April, with rumors circulating that Microsoft decided to shut it down instead of sell Lionhead to interested buyers. Supposedly, Microsoft did not want to give up licensing rights for the popular video game franchise Fable.
While Lionhead is not going to be revived, a group of developers from the fallen studio has teamed up to give rise to another Fable game.
To be named Fable Fortune, the new game will be a Fable-themed digital card game similar to Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft and will also be free to play. The title had been in development for a period of 18 months before Microsoft shut down Lionhead Studios.
The new company made up of ex-Lionhead employees who will be developing Fable Fortune is named Flaming Fowl Studios. The studio was co-founded by Marcus Lynn, Craig Oman and Mike West, and Microsoft said that it will support its continued usage of the Fable license.
While it has secured Microsoft's approval in continuing the Fable franchise, Flaming Fowl will be taking the project to Kickstarter as it has no publisher behind the project. The crowdfunding campaign will launch on May 31 at 10:00 a.m. ET, with the team looking to raise at least £250,000 (about $367,000) over four weeks.
Given the popularity of Fable and the trend of digital card games spawned by Hearthstone, the campaign seems like a sure thing. The question is how much in funding the project will draw, and what stretch goals will be reached during the campaign.
Fable Fortune, as a digital card game, will feature quests more commonly found in role-playing games. Similar to previous Fable games, players will be making decisions that will have them turn to either good or evil, with Flaming Fowl also planning to add an online co-op mode, the ability to level up cards, a campaign mode and additional player vs. player modes.
The game is expected to release in early 2017.
