Molyneux: Fable franchise could die if it doesn’t grow
During GDC, Peter Molyneux gave a very nice power point presentation of the goals behind the ambitious Fable III. He may have provided too much information when he stated that the Fable franchise will die if it does not grow.
Molyneux’s slide he believes that approximately 60 percent of Fable’s audience understood 50 percent of the features in the Fable games. I find that statement odd as I criticized the game for being to dumbed down during my review of Fable II previously.
He also indicated that to rectify this issue Lionhead studios will be converting Fable III into an action-adventure title, as this genre sells better than the RPG genre. This is a surprising move as the Fable series has strong RPG roots.
Image via Joystiq
Molyneux also talked about the sales history of the Fable franchise. The first Fable game sold approximately 3 million units and Fable II sold 3.5 million units. He stated that the studio has been “very happy†with its sales but if the Fable franchise were to survive, Fable III must sell 5 million units. He alluded to the fact that the Fable franchise could die if it does not grow.
It’s an odd thing to reveal to the public as it puts the onus on the consumer to prevent this from happening. It will be interesting to see how Molyneux plans to change Fable III so that it appeals to a wider audience.
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March 12th, 2010
Fable FPS
March 12th, 2010
SOCOM 4
1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3178303&p=37
“We’d imagine that if the Move is required to play SOCOM 4, the gaming community would probably take out pitchforks and fire torches to the castle of Sony. No, it’s only an optional design choice at this point.”
March 12th, 2010
Fable 3: Among Thieves
March 12th, 2010
oldschool1987:
LoL, the subtitle is good bu the title is not. Fable Racing.
March 12th, 2010
…5 million units..seriously?
I don’t know who’s worse. Activision or Microshaft.
What is he trying to do? make people buy two copies.
March 12th, 2010
If fable dies, it deserves to. Thats the great thing about darwinism in the video game industry. Generally speaking, the franchises that deserve to die, do so.
March 12th, 2010
Fable 2 is a game I missed and have always meant to pick up. As I recall it came out amounst a lot of other releases so it kinda got sidelined.
March 12th, 2010
I would have thought that Dante’s Inferno was going to sell more on the 360 since most PS3 user are waiting for GoW3
March 12th, 2010
Sam and Max, Monkey Island and Castle Crasher all coming to the PS3…..seems like the 360 is running out of exclusives
March 12th, 2010
@Roca
I was thinking about something in FFXIII.
I think that Vanille is actually from Pulse and not Cocoon.
Now I don’t really have any proof on that but I just have this suspicion.
March 12th, 2010
No one finds it odd that Fable 3 needs to sell more than Metal Gear Solid 4 to still exist?
This is obviously a MS decision. Any fans just want to join me in saying “Fuck You Microsoft”
March 12th, 2010
@phranc
I don’t really think its MS. I think it is more like Molyneux himself. The sales that 1 and 2 have achieved are not bad at all but he doesn’t seem very happy at all.
Fable 1 released on the original Xbox, which was behind in sales compared to the PS2, despite being the more powerful system. One of the biggest problems the Xbox faced last gen was lack of RPG’s, but Fable distinguished itself as unique. It also had its short ocmmings, primarily shortness. My first time through Fable 1 was 20 hours. I rplayed it again when I got Lost Chapters, which only took me 10 hours. Way too short.
The other main problemw ith Fable 1 was all the shit that Molyneux talked up before the game was released. “You will be able to do this that and the other thing…” When the game was released all of these awsome features he promised had to be compromised because they just couldnt be done on the last gen tech or some other BS tech jargon. IN other words he spoon fed everyone shit and we ate it greedily.
Fable 2 released under slightly better circumstances. Xbox 360 had a nice install base and also RPGs were finally making it to an Xbox system. HOwever I do remember there being a few other games that Fable 2 had to contend with that holiday season. Fable 2 came out the end of October 08
Fable 2 had to deal with another very popular RPG that starts with F. That’s right Fallout 3.
Fable 2 also had to contend with Gears of War 2. We all know how well that game sold.
Anyway Yeah, Fable 2 also had a shit load of glitches when it first came out. Still has quite a few of them I think.
The DLC for it was quite fun too.
Anyway, I think Molyneux is so full of himself. He looks like a pompous ass
March 12th, 2010
I just think 3.5 million is very respectable. I would never said Fable 2 had bad sales.
This guy is going to be disappointed with Milo if 5 million is his measuring stick for sales.
“Anyway, I think Molyneux is so full of himself. He looks like a pompous ass”
I agree but he makes damn good games. I really enjoyed Black and White and its sequel.
March 12th, 2010
“need to sell > 5 million”
wtf does that have to with the game? MS certainly dont have as many first party games coming out, so they are desperately asking for help to capitalize on profit from their own games (and not 3rd party games like ME2 where MS gets almost no profit)
also Fable 3 fanbase is pretty much set, asking for more ppl to buy to their next game is pretty stupid and specially when they are announcing the game where ppl wants to hear about those new features that will make them buy the next fable game.
now I understand why MS is now charging for the transfer kit cable when it was offered for free before.
March 12th, 2010
“I just think 3.5 million is very respectable”
Molyneux is probably mad that two of his former employees went out to form their own studio and created fresh and unique game that sold just as much as Molyneux’s Fable 2.
That game is no other than LittleBigPlanet
March 12th, 2010
I hlpe it dies….and is reborn againas a multiplatform game, fable is one of the few 360 titles I wouldn’t mind crossing over..
Also, doesn’t anyone else think it sad that, lionhead, who got bought out by ms, is a first party studio, pretty much saying fable 3 is their last chance?? No sony first party studio has needed to announce a number of units to sell..just to survive..sounds like ms is doing the EA thing…first bizzarre creations, then bungie, can lionhead be next??
March 12th, 2010
I recall 500K was the threshold for turning a profit. Of course you also have to take it the cost of development for each title.
March 12th, 2010
5 Mill ha.
Maybe if his games were actually as good as they are in his own fucking head.
I prefer the first over the second in some ways, but they were never all they were hyped up to be. There are better RPG’s, and if it goes action adventure, there will be better action adventure games too.
A dog a great game does not make.
March 12th, 2010
“A dog a great game does not make.”
I read that in order for you to have a dog in Fable III then you must scan you own dog through Xbox Natal
March 12th, 2010
Let it rest in peace.
March 12th, 2010
God it is slow on here today.
Did everyone get GOW 3 before me?
March 12th, 2010
you have gow3 already?
yeah it is slow….xbots are afraid to near us, we keep bombarding with FACTS
March 12th, 2010
No
I figured everyone else got it and went home to play.
I’m stuck at work.
March 12th, 2010
I asked and they said try again sunday.
March 12th, 2010
“If a franchise does not grow it dies” applies to any franchise and doesn’t just mean sales.
Ask most people what the lyrics to their latest favorite song are, or exactly why they liked the latest movie (or book) they say they loved and they likely will not be able to give you an accurate answer, let alone one that is in line (over 50%) with the creator’s original vision. Greater than 60 percent of gamers used less than 5 million
“Molyneux did not frame this as a financial goal, but instead a way to measure that far more people were drawn in by Fable III’s big changes.”
So he wants it to appeal to more people, as did James Cameron with Avatar the movie. Do the developers behind games such as Uncharted and God of War want their sequels to appeal to the exactly the same amount of people as the prequels, or more? I’m betting it’s the latter.
Watching Molyneux in his GDC interview, one thing that was a prevailing theme was him criticizing Fable 2 and Fable 1 (map, fighting, etc.) and how they were hoping to improve upon and add to certain aspects, which certainly isn’t a bad thing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CYxoeyhGfk
March 12th, 2010
I was not gonna pick up fable2 but heard they were implementing a splitscreen so me and my friend picked it up opening day only to be disappointed at what a quick crappy gimmick it was, I will not buy another hyped up game of lies from this dev
March 12th, 2010
Fable 2 was definitely geared more towards the single player experience.
March 12th, 2010
Fable Kart LMFAO FABLE 2 would board anyone to death.
March 12th, 2010
@carl
I know man but splitscreen/online coop is a game seller for me, mainly splitscreen. Borderlands,Gears of war2,Re5,armyof2,upcoming lost planet2 are all bought first week release cause of the splitscreen addon. Fable 2 failed me miserably when it came to this “feature” I’d wish they didn’t even implement it and work on the single player story instead.
March 12th, 2010
@Roca
“I read that in order for you to have a dog in Fable III then you must scan you own dog through Xbox Natal”
So what if i were to scan a rooster?
March 13th, 2010
@Roca
FFXIII just keeps throwing more shit out there…
NO gill won from battles lol.
A combat system that heavily relies on you staggering the stronger neemies cause they have thousands of HP lol. Which is kinda cool cause it just adds to the strategy.
Then story progression and character development.
I finally just got Snow back, after going so long without him. Thing is, your constantly getting STUCK with Hope and he is fucking annoying the crap out of me lol. Sometimes I feel like I spend more time protecting him than i do fighting lol.
It was even worse when I had to use him as the leader OMG…
I think i can see whats going on though… You have to follow through the story withwhatever characters they give you but once you make it to Pulse you can pick whomeever you want and it probably becomes less linear then.
March 13th, 2010
Roma,
Loved Borderlands single player, I imagine it has awesome splitscreen multiplayer but never tried it. Have you tried The Secret Armory DLC yet?
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/borderlands-the-secret-armory-of-general-knoxx-review?page=1
March 13th, 2010
@carlB
I regret to say I got the Ps3 version of borderlands and it has issues with mics online. So i refuse to buy any dlc til the game i already bought is fixed to the product that was promised. DLCs look great though
March 14th, 2010
What to you get when you combine Fable III and Project Natal game play: FATAL III
Microsoft the writings’ on the wall everywhere its only a matter of time for your cornered animal.
March 14th, 2010
@Roma
I have Borderlands on the PS3 and I havent experienced any issues while playing online
March 14th, 2010
@roca
how many people you have in party with mics/are you using 1. Only happens when I got 3 or more with mics and usually has broken chatter on load times.
Many people have this Prob,
http://gbxforums.gearboxsoftware.com/showthread.php?t=76879
4months and still no fix, this issue pissed off alot of people including me.
March 15th, 2010
I play with two more people…so 3 ppl in total playing the game at once
March 15th, 2010
Damn, I guess it might be my location. Strange though people from cali are havn probs to according to the complaint forum.
March 15th, 2010
But in the end I blame Shitty GameSpy servers