Microsoft on the hunt for Lionhead
by James Ransom-Wiley 
{ Mar 24th 2006 at 3:25PM }
Rumors rumbling out of GDC
report that Microsoft and Lionhead are in the final stages of negotiating an acquisition deal that would welcome Peter
Molyneux's development studio into the Microsoft gaming family.The future looked bleak for Lionhead earlier this month when the British studio was forced to cut 20% of its workforce, but this recent development suggests that Molyneux and crew will soon be back on track. Then again, look what happened to Rare under Microsoft's arm...
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
slow news day @ Mar 24th 2006 3:37PM
Way cool news. But then again, whatever happened to BC?
And I think Rare is too easily written off. Most of what they had in development was originally for the Gamecube. I think they'll eventually hit their stride.
Daryl @ Mar 24th 2006 3:44PM
What happened to Rare? Why did Nintendo sell them? Rare is almost as old as Microsoft is, I think. Microsoft didn't hurt them, they gave them money, and time. Did Microsoft hurt Bungie?
Paul @ Mar 24th 2006 3:47PM
Look what happened to Bungie under Microsoft's arm...
Daryl @ Mar 24th 2006 3:52PM
What happened to Bungie was a product of Bungie. Regardless of Microsoft's name on it.
Paul @ Mar 24th 2006 4:00PM
Rare was headed downhill even before Microsoft bought them. As for Lionhead, my only question there would be... why? It's one of those studio's that offers up these great overarching ideas for games that are great when you play the demo and utterly dissapointing when you play the actual game.
ymmv @ Mar 24th 2006 4:10PM
MS would do well to buy Lionhead Studios. They really need a few more studios of their own to create Xbox 360 exclusive games to compete with Sony and Nintendo who release far more exclusives for their own systems. But what MS really should do is to buy a couple of big name Japanese studios or even a Japanese publisher. How about a takeover of Konami, Sega, Capcom or Koei? That should do wonders for the success of the Xbox 360 in the Japanese market.
Spencer @ Mar 24th 2006 4:13PM
Yeah, but does anyone actually WANT Koei? "Dynasty Warrios 7! Now with three more people on the screen at the same time! Become lost! Wander aimlessly!"
Pretty Obvious @ Mar 24th 2006 4:42PM
Microsoft should actually be considering a purchase of Rockstar or Take2. Making GTA exclusive is the ultimate nail in the coffin.
jojo @ Mar 24th 2006 4:46PM
"MS would do well to buy Lionhead Studios. They really need a few more studios of their own to create Xbox 360 exclusive games to compete with Sony and Nintendo who release far more exclusives for their own systems. But what MS really should do is to buy a couple of big name Japanese studios or even a Japanese publisher. How about a takeover of Konami, Sega, Capcom or Koei? That should do wonders for the success of the Xbox 360 in the Japanese market."
yeah lets just monopolize the market so that we have ANOTHER videogame crash!!
jc @ Mar 24th 2006 4:47PM
I really hope MS buys them. Hopefully they've started Fable 2... and if not, I'm guessing Microsoft will focus all their resources toward that game. Hopefully they push it towards a 2007 release.
They can go ahead and pull the plug on The Movies and Black and White franchise. I wont be shedding any tears. Didn't really like any of them.
jc @ Mar 24th 2006 4:51PM
Obvious.. good idea. They totally could easily afford Take-Two. A little over a billion in market cap. MS probably has that much in cash.
Their stock price is really low lately too. Good time to buy.
If they could get GTA4 on the Xbox360 exclusively, that would really hurt the PS3 in North America.
LaughingMan @ Mar 24th 2006 4:56PM
I don't get the pot shot at Rare either. Everyone talked themselves into believing PDZ to be the second comming and WHAAAA? It wasn't??? And Kameo was just ok (my opinion) but hardly terrible. For launch games, they were actually pretty good.
Jimmy @ Mar 24th 2006 5:10PM
Well we all know how well Rare purchase worked out and the many many GREAT games they have done for MS haha...
So the strategy is lets now buy a failing company (lionhead) when they are down, and then we can hype them up based on old fame ie: like Rare.
Les Doodis @ Mar 24th 2006 5:42PM
It was rumored in last month's Game Informer that Microsoft was also looking into purchasing Remedy Ent., the developers of Alan Wake. Now that's a game I'd like to see secured for the 360. Fable 2...meh. I've got Oblivion.
Allen R @ Mar 24th 2006 6:36PM
F*** no more Lionhead ps2 games
Debikul @ Mar 24th 2006 7:00PM
You guys sure do complain alot.
First of all, I'd rather see a studio get bought so it can continue operation then to see it go belly up and never see what it's full potential could be.
And what is up with all the negative comments about Rare? How many of you can honestly say that you could put a game out like Kameo or PDZ on a next gen system like they did? Not a single one of you can. All you people do is complain about something that a studio does when if you really gave two shits about it you would get off your ass and do it the way you want it. Until then you have no right to bitch about what a studio produces. You are a consumer. If you don't like it, don't buy it. It's that simple.
And in my opinion Rare hasn't even gotten close to tapping their potential as a developer. Give them some time and I bet they churn out some of your future favorites even though you aren't likely to admit it.
So yay to MS if they buy Lionhead. One more for the MS team.
Luis Zapata @ Mar 24th 2006 7:58PM
As much as I like my 360, I'm hating Microsoft for their attempt on buying Lionhead Studios. I'm going to buy the Revolution, and I was hoping for Peter Molyneux to make a couple of great games for Nintendo and their new controller. He should pull out of Lionhead Studios and start his own independent studio.
Brad @ Mar 24th 2006 9:24PM
You guys(editors) take any chance to flame microsoft, it is getting pathetic and the constant flaming is turning me off your site. I gather you are either Nintendo, Sony, or PC fanboys. Editorials are meant to convey the facts, not constantly show your childish opinionated idea's. As for Rare, well yeah PD0 wasn't all that, but I was very happy with Kameo and their new IP looks interesting as well.
I think the question we should raise is:
WHAT HAPPENED TO JOYSTIQ???
The1 @ Mar 24th 2006 9:44PM
Yes this joystiq hates Microsoft IMO.
MosquitoControl @ Mar 24th 2006 9:53PM
Bungie is a much better example than Rare.
Why? Bungie was an independent, Rare was a 2nd party. You have to think about why Nintendo let Rare go. Easy answer - all the leaders at Rare had left, leaving it a stripped company. It had some veterans, and it had the name, but much of the magic was gone. Much like much of the Diablo magic at Blizzard is gone.
Rare has kicked out a small amount of games since. And yes, I consider PD0 to EASILY be the best co-op FPS on the market, light years more fun than Halo 2 was in co-op. But that doesn't mean Rare has lived up to expectations, or money. Two good games and one not-so-good game? From a company that used to kick out must-have games that defined systems?
Rare deserves the bashing. They went from an extraordinary company to just a good one. And Microsoft deserves none of the blame. If Rare had still been extraordinary then Nintendo would not have let them go.
The U @ Mar 24th 2006 10:05PM
Rare sucks ass. Nintendo dumped them because it takes like 20 years for them to release a game. They took so long on the beautiful Dinosaur Planet for the n64, that it later turned into some lame ass star fox licensed crap on the GC.
They were developing Perfect Dark Zero after all the talent that made the 1st game left to create the studio that made Timesplitters, which is still very much like Goldeneye/Perfect Dark was. Rare truely was a waste of money for MS.
But hey, maybe Molyneux will straight up leave after the buyout, like he did when EA bought his last one.
Jim N @ Mar 24th 2006 11:44PM
While I am excited that Microsoft will get some more exclusive content for the 360 and hopefully make the console that much stronger. I am not excited about the idea of games becoming more and more exclusive to the consoles. I think if we can buy any certain game for any console this will make sure that the console makers stay at the top of their game and keep pushing the envelope. Otherwise they may start getting compliant and say well if you want to play the next version of this game you will buy some crappy console, and that is all there is to it. But that said, if that is what it takes then I would say that Microsoft should buy up some Japanese studios and publishers. Get some exclusive content for the 360 that will appeal to the Japanese market so I can here the end of these Sony & Nintendo fan boys saying that the 360 only has shooters and FPS games and American RPGs.
As for Peter Molyneux leaving LionHead after Microsoft buys it. That very well could happen, he only lasted about two years after EA bought his first company. But then again the shame of being an EA employee would probably take quite a bit of hot water and Lye soap to wash off.
Rare as a company has been a little slow on getting the products out. And there last two games Perfect Dark Zero and Kameo were not crappers by any means. I think Perfect Dark Zero just got released to soon, and Kameo I love that game other then the fact that it is kind of short. Now that Microsoft owns it though I doubt that there will be the problems of which console to support. I thought I hear that Kameo was suppose to come out for N64 then the Game Cube and jumped to the 360. But I am not 100% on that. I only played Perfect Dark Zero for an afternoon, and was not terribly impressed with it well I guess I should say not $59.99 impressed with it.
I think that this will be a trend that will continue and escalate in the years to come. Microsoft will buy Lionhead, Sony will buy some other developer, and so and so on. Then we will all be forced to buy all the major consoles out there if we want to be able to enjoy the wide variety of games. Not that I am a PC Fanboy but I kind of wish someone would write an emulator that could make a PC play any and all the console games out there.
nick @ Mar 25th 2006 12:21AM
Not sure if Kameo was supposed to appear on the N64, but Kameo was originally a GameCube title, that was going to appear on the Xbox, but then was held for the 360.
I've never played PDZ, but it certainly looks like an Xbox game rather than a 360 title. PDZ wasn't really promoted, shown, or adverstised much in advance. It just sorta appeared-- what a week or so before. It's very hard to get excited about a game you know NOTHING about. Zero buzz. And the graphics were just okay to boot. When FPSes are literally a dime-a-dozen on the Xbox, you really have to stand out to be noticed. Call of Duty 2 and GRAW seemed far better in comparison.
Dirk Dorkelson @ Mar 25th 2006 3:26AM
The graphics on PDZ are kind of cartoony, but they're not horrible. The single-player game is terrible, but it's the most fun I've had in a multiplayer shoot-'em up. It supports up to 32 players. The weapons all have multiple fuctions. And you can add bots instead of humans so that you can practice or set up a private online deathmatch with a few friends and not have a sparsely populated map. Not only that, but you can change the difficulty of the AI on individual bots so that you get a good mix of stone-cold killers and pushovers to suit your needs. It was an overhyped game, to be sure. But now it's kind of underrated, a victim of its own hype.
Gareth @ Mar 25th 2006 5:28AM
Hi guys. Just to set the record straight, Kameo was first intended for the N64. It then jumped to GameCube, then when Microsoft bought Rare it switched to Xbox, and then to Xbox 360 as a launch title. The Official Xbox Magazine (UK) even had screens of the Xbox version vs. the Xbox 360 version a few months back.