Following Fable 3 disappointment, Molyneux bounces back with BAFTA award

by Ben Gilbert on Mar 18th 2011 7:00PM

Poor Peter Molyneux was down in the dumps. Following the "justifiably" mixed reception of Fable 3, Molyneux was wondering if his career had already peaked. "We just weren't good enough with the craft of what we did. That always makes you reflect," he recently told The Guardian. Apparently, Molyneux was even doubting his future in game development.

"'Have I already created the greatest game I'm ever going to create? Is the rest just a downhill struggle?'" he asked himself "late one night" a few months back. But then, the very next day he received a letter informing him of a BAFTA Fellowship nomination -- an honor he received in-person this past weekend. "As I walked up on stage I almost fainted. There was this sea of faces, and lots of people I've worked with before, and everyone stood. I was choking up," he admitted. "It was an incredible feeling, and I do immediately want to go home and start proving that I'm really, truly worthy of this."

Molyneux noted during his acceptance speech that his cyclical over-promising isn't a PR tactic as much as it's him "over-believing" in his own products. "I always truly believe that this is going to be the greatest game of all time -- I wouldn't try to do it any other way," he said. And we wouldn't want you to, Molyneux.

Source: The Guardian

Tags: bafta, bafta-fellowship, Fable-3, lionhead, lionhead-studios, microsoft, microsoft-game-studios-europe, peter-molyneux

Reader Comments (45)

Awwwwwwww.... it's hard for me to fault him when he has so much heart!

I appreciate his sincerity, but he really needs to learn a basic stratedgy:

Under-promise, over-deliver.

Sincerity my ass.

@SisypheanLife Who would have thought under that tough, over-hyped exterior, was a good-hearted man.

@SisypheanLife

Meh.. Fable III wasn't that bad. I enjoyed it much more than Fable II.

@Grubasaurus Rex Idk I enjoyed Fable 3 also. I knew what I was getting when I bought it and it was fun and took up some time. The only reason its a disappointment is Molyneux over hypes it and the fans believe it all. I always take his over the top claims with a grain of salt and know if i buy his game i will get a solid game and a decent amount of fun.

@Grubasaurus Rex

agreed

@SisypheanLife

As much as I get annoyed with his over promising. I appreciate how much legitimate enthusiasm he has for what he does.

Is have been happier if the QA wasn't so shoddy out the door.

@LaughingTarget

Is also me too have happy been if that had open door

C'mon Molyneux...give us Black & White 3 for Kinect...we're dying for it.

@Captain Planet Planeteer Power

Hell Cap I just want B.C,

That was the one game for the original Xbox that I wanted so bad, only to see it vanish in the darkness of never really being released.

@Stevetrop Man of Mystery

B.C. looked amazing!

@Captain Planet Planeteer Power

That it did Cap. I thought the game had so much potential. And would give me a legitimate reason to yell out "Wilma" while holding a club.

So many promises, so many times you pulled me and my wallet in. I can't see it ever changing Peter. I know the next Fable you release, your going to state that aliens will want to play it.

Ah well that that many we know and love. Fully promising, half way delivering.

dude is a charlatan.

i've never had a job where it was acceptable to consistently not deliver on my promises.

@Hawaii Jeff

You've never been a politician.

Peter Molyneux always comes off like a little kid. It's endearing and all, but maybe he could just try a little harder to tone it down?

I don't mind developers wanting to always make the best game ever, I just don't like when they brag about it. You should never call your product the best ever because that is something that is supposed to speak for itself.

In Fable II, one can read any gravestone in the game. One reads "PDM, This is the best grave in history and will change the way people look at final resting places forever." Of course, it's a perfectly normal grave. As a note, Peter Molyneux's middle name is Douglas.

It's strange, he has a lot of genuine enthusiasm and passion which is good, but it often gets in his way, he's not a bad guy or anything he just needs to start listening to his fans and customers and not just his ego or the image of the game he has in his mind

@Dusk Till Dawn

Isn't the whole point of game design about creating games based on your ideas? Consumers don't know what they want until it's handed to them.

snake oil salesman

@PedoJokerBear Nigel West Dickens

Despite the shortcomings of his games, I've gotta give the guy credit for trying to push the medium forward. That's something this industry really needs right now. I really liked The Movies and still play it. There's nothing else like it. I hope Lionhead sticks around, along with Molyneux. He has his flaws, but he's still one of the few visionaries in this biz.

@Mabooza Did he really push the medium forward? Fable1 deep story was good rpg fantasy, but 2 and 3 were far from amazing script and battle wise (hack n slash)

@(Unverified)
Yeah, I do think he's pushed the medium forward. Games like Populous, Dungeon Keeper, Black & White, and the first Fable immediately come to mind. Regardless of how you feel about the last two Fable games, the man has made his mark.

I love this guy, he's so honest. I hope he keeps it up!

I like his open honesty. I met him once at a conference. Seemed really nice and he signed my copy of fable 2 with a smile and even chatted for a moment.

After playing Fable 3, I can only say that BAFTA's credibility is now shot in my eyes.

@Punkrawk Bbob

How bad was it? A lot of people said it was better than Fable 2. I've been thinking about picking it up if the price goes down soon.

@philmcfail I didn't think it was bad at all, though the changes to the game, like the way you added to your abilities/skills seemed a bit like a contrived idea to try and add to how long it would take to get through the game. I was hoping for more flesh to the actual game but I think I blew through the game in like 2 days.
I also thought that the story line in Fable 2 had more heart to it, but that's more a matter of personal taste.

@Punkrawk Bbob

Sorry, second half of that game's story was complete BS. They really should have just made the game the fight for the crown and ended it there. Then you mention stuff like the tutorials in the begining that show puzzle elements (hit this with melee, this with magic, this with range) that never appeared in the game, the lack of any real mini games like the pub games (they said it was in there, then kinect exclusive, then not at all).

Gameplay was fine, same ol' same ol'. My complaint with the game was it felt entirely unfinished. I mean really, where did this big scary black mass that is as simple as killing a human being is going to kill your kingdom that your brother knew about but never mentioned? Stupid stupid BS plot with no build, incredibly generic, and wrapped up really poorly I thought. Not to mention the jump from like 142 days to 0 was complete poppycock move. No "this is a point of no return" message, so all the time I spent grinding to get money via real estate went to waste as it was in my personal account and got no chance to transfer it.

Fable 2 was a lot more complete experience. Granted Fable 3 had an awesome voice cast, but that's the only advantage it had to Fable 2 I think.

Molyneux is a man of ideas... Perhaps he and his team should take a page out of Double Fine's book and make a few smaller titles which are conceptually unique, without having to spend years or AAA budgets per game (and, er, without neglecting the PC like DF are). With less pressure for each game to be a commercial best selling AAA-budget-recouper, there is more room to explore the wilder ideas, and if they are PC\downloadable\steam releases there is not even the need to work with other publishers. Oh and.. procedural content!

We need Molyneux's creative ambition and imagination in the gaming world, but the graphical "keeping up with current gen detail and looking expensive" thing doesn't seem essential. A unique art style is generally more evocative than high-poly realism anyway. I wouldn't want to see Molyneyx never do another large game (or DF) but I'd be all over smaller downloadable ones and it would give him a chance to explore a wider spectrum of ideas faster. I'd love to see more visionary stuff like B&W rather than commercially focused RPGs or anything that occupies established genre conventions.

Lionhead is owned by Microsoft right? I hope MS doesn't shut them down like they did to Ensemble and FASA.

Microsoft really needs to he to work on more first-party games. Halo is really the only major franchise Microsoft has. Yes there's Forza and Fable, but that only adds up to 3 big games.

Come on MS, look at Sony. Sony comes out with a bunch of new franchises on a regular basis. Look at this list of new games they've made just for the PS3:

Resistance
Uncharted
LittleBigPlanet
inFamous
and a bunch more that I forgot

Compare that to Gears, which isn't even made or owned by Microsoft.

Come on Microsoft, step your game up!

@sdfkjsdfh

Go away you bitch.

I just started playing Fable 3.. and it's hard to say.. but I'm maybe liking it more than Fable 2, gone are the wacky menus and old UI decisions and in place there for is a simple and deep system which allows me to customize my character how I want it. The story is loads better and I really feel a connection with the majority of the cast this time, side quests are still a plenty. Holding hands is annoying though and interaction with NPCs is more fun but very simplistic. And bloody love the new continent it has so much character.. Oh well I guess the hive mind doesn't agree :)

I guess I'm alone in saying that I enjoyed Fable 3?

@Uncle Jesse

You are not the only one Uncle Jesse, Though I only played a tad bit of it. So far what I did play I enjoyed. When I get done fiddling with Dragon Age: Origins I'm going to head back to Albion.

@Uncle Jesse No you are not alone. While as a whole it wasn"t perfect, I had a blast playing it all the way through with my girlfriend. It was my game of the year in terms of sheer fun factor.

I have faith in Molyneux. The fact of the matter is, when you're working with AAA-funded games at this day and age you got a crapton of pressure from all sides. From Microsoft because Blah blah blah, this game needs to be out by Christmas, from marketing because Blah blah blah this feature won't appeal to everyone, from the art guys because Blah blah blah this art style isn't cutting it for them.

He has a ton of really good ideas but when you're working in the mainstream gaming industry you don't really have a chance to try anything different at all. I think he really oughta go the way Tim Schafer is doing. Smaller titles that really lets his creative mind go to town. Through those smaller titles we've already seen Schafer make quite a few quirky and interesting games that honestly probably wouldn't work for all the big-heads from the big publishing companies because they want high-appeal titles that are crapped out for the holidays. I think Molyneux should seek elsewhere away from Microsoft if he wants to make anything remotely interesting and quirky.

Populous was his gratest game so yes. By 30 years.

I've followed Peter Molyneux since the days of Populous and loved both Black & White and the Fable series. He has always tried to create the perfect game and tries to please everyone who plays his games. The guy just listens too much to the fans but it can be said he's always willing to try something new. Congrats Peter on the award! You've earned it!

Honestly, I'm tired of his constant BS and under-delivering; it gets old. Downvote me if you must.

He totally deserves the award. I can't blame his passion for game making, even when he over promises and under-delivers. I know he'll learn from Fable 3's poor performance and make something killer next time.

Fable 3

Following Fable 3 disappointment, Molyneux bounces back with BAFTA award

Reader Comments (45)

Posted: Mar 18th 2011 7:09PM Aussiemon said

Posted: Mar 18th 2011 7:09PM SisypheanLife said

Posted: Mar 18th 2011 8:05PM jsx said

Posted: Mar 18th 2011 8:36PM FinalOutrage said

Posted: Mar 18th 2011 9:06PM Grubasaurus Rex said

Posted: Mar 19th 2011 2:21AM Xero Theory said

Posted: Mar 20th 2011 1:28AM lessthankris said

Posted: Mar 21st 2011 1:26PM Integral said

Posted: Mar 18th 2011 7:11PM LaughingTarget said

Posted: Mar 18th 2011 9:15PM Enosoma said

Posted: Mar 18th 2011 7:11PM Captain Planet Planeteer Power said

Posted: Mar 18th 2011 7:16PM Stevetrop Man of Mystery said

Posted: Mar 18th 2011 7:25PM Captain Planet Planeteer Power said

Posted: Mar 18th 2011 8:00PM Stevetrop Man of Mystery said

Posted: Mar 18th 2011 7:15PM Stevetrop Man of Mystery said

Posted: Mar 18th 2011 7:22PM Hawaii Jeff said

Posted: Mar 18th 2011 8:30PM katssun said

Posted: Mar 18th 2011 7:27PM Mach2 said

Posted: Mar 18th 2011 7:27PM Lerkero said

Posted: Mar 18th 2011 7:34PM Unvrfd said

Posted: Mar 18th 2011 7:43PM Dusk Till Dawn said

Posted: Mar 18th 2011 9:27PM tendoboy1984 said

Posted: Mar 18th 2011 7:48PM PedoJokerBear said

Posted: Mar 18th 2011 8:37PM Metalfacedoom said

Posted: Mar 18th 2011 7:57PM Mabooza said

Posted: Mar 18th 2011 8:00PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Mar 18th 2011 8:09PM Mabooza said

Posted: Mar 18th 2011 8:00PM Playace said

Posted: Mar 18th 2011 8:30PM Maximo said

Posted: Mar 18th 2011 8:39PM Punkrawk Bbob said

Posted: Mar 19th 2011 12:46AM philmcfail said

Posted: Mar 19th 2011 6:31AM technomania said

Posted: Mar 21st 2011 9:08AM Punkrawk Bbob said

Posted: Mar 18th 2011 8:46PM edit said

Posted: Mar 18th 2011 8:59PM tendoboy1984 said

Posted: Mar 18th 2011 9:25PM tendoboy1984 said

Posted: Mar 18th 2011 9:56PM jameskond said

Posted: Mar 18th 2011 11:13PM Uncle Jesse said

Posted: Mar 18th 2011 11:21PM Stevetrop Man of Mystery said

Posted: Mar 19th 2011 12:07AM TylerDurden102680 said

Posted: Mar 18th 2011 11:33PM PointlessPuppies said

Posted: Mar 18th 2011 11:47PM Jack Kevorkian said

Posted: Mar 19th 2011 12:19AM Akunin said

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Posted: Mar 19th 2011 5:55AM Poifection said

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