One of the most surprising moments during Gamescom Opening Night Live this week was when the Fable creator and former Lionhead founder, Peter Molyneux, walked out on stage and introduced his new PC title Masters of Albion.
He's apparently got together some of the old Lionhead crew (rebranded as '22cans' and mixed with ex-Fable & Media Molecule developers) to work on this God-like game, which welcomes players to "the familiar, vast world of Albion". If the name does ring a bell, it's because Albion is obviously the same setting as the one in Fable.
Molyneux was also happy to confirm these games take place within the same world during a chat with IGN:
“Fable was set in Albion, Masters of Albion is set in Albion”
So, how is this possible? Well, it's quite easy to "get away with it" according to Molyneux - explaining how Albion "can't be copyrighted":
“[It’s] like saying if you set a game in America, you can't set any other game in America...So Albion can't be copyrighted. It's the name for England and Wales and that's how we get away with it.”
He further notes how Masters of Albion will extend and expand on the "interesting universe that Fable touched on" but insists "it's not actually Fable 5 or anything like that". There's also been a strong focus on nailing the humour in this new game, by allowing the player to do "ridiculous and funny things".
It seems there's a fair bit of inspiration from Molyneux's past hits as well such as Populous, Dungeon Keeper and Black & White. If any legal complications do come up, the team is willing to explore and resolve these issues.
Xbox is obviously working on a brand new Fable game right now which is being led by the team behind the Forza Horizon series, Playground Games - with some other teams providing support (and a new studio even being set up). It's now expected to arrive on Xbox Game Pass at some point in 2025, but there's still no release window for it.
Are you looking forward to Masters of Albion? Let us know down in the comments below.
[source ign.com, via videogameschronicle.com]
Comments 19
It's set in Albion, definitely. I mean, sure, we can't use any of the existing geography, the characters, the organisational structure, half of the bestiary, the iconography or anything trademarked, but it's definitely the same place! And if you say it isn't, I'll get a bunch a games journalists to sign a whiteboard saying it is!
It is a surprise that Albion as a name predates Fable by a couple of thousand years? To whom? Surely not to any Brit?
As someone who worked for Bullfrog, I was very impressed by what I saw of this game.
If peter can deliver a couple of great games without over promised features, maybe he can regain some of the respect his earlier visonary games deserve. Hes a nice guy, he just gets very excited 😂
@Titntin as a fan, I felt some of his great works really were pushing ahead of tech at the time - Black and White would have been a killer game for the Kinect gen, but came too early. Populous was begging for more computing power at the time of release. I think on balance people should look wider than a few sales pushes - he really has influenced a lot of other games.
@Titntin Honestly, as much as I joke about the man, I very much miss having the old Molyneux around, outlandish claims and all.
@Titntin I agree his earlier games (Bullfrog era) were amazing. In my memory, that used to be the golden years of gaming (and I started my gaming adventure much earlier).
However, these days he can't make it through an interview without overpromising, compromising himself and the team, and downright making them eligible for a lawsuit.
Couple of kickstarter/mobile scams in between doesn't help. It's sad for sure, but I feel like for a while now he is not looking to revolutionize as much as just scam and quickly profit.
Can't wait for this I loved the old fable games this one sounds amazing!! Don't get the controversy over the location name?
I'm making a game called "Halo" set on a space planet called "Halo". Since it's a word that already exists Microsoft can't sue me, and I can use all the other characters too because the concept of characters predates video games.
@PhileasFragg Halo Jones should sue, had a video game with Halo first. 😉
Molymeme strikes again lol. Honestly, i'm happy he's still around, the gaming industry is more interesting (and funny) with him in it
That's... a weird claim. I get he's poking a bit of fun at it too, but this just seems to open up potential for all kinds of confusion, explicitly mentioning Fable like that. I guess we'll see. Hope it's fun though.
Can we honestly take anything seriously that comes out of this guys mouth?
The new Fable game never struck me as much of a Fable game without Peter at the helm, anyway.
Ah yes, good to see the old windbag is stick kicking and just spewing BS like he always does. I've never fully understood why press seems to hang on to anything Molyneux says.
@Secryt I completely agree. The amount of times this guy has massively underdelivered is astonishing. Why do people keep listening???
__jamiie wrote:
Millenial and younger narratives sure do take on a life of their own, don't they. "This guy" is one of the most prolific all time great game designers.
If you think Syndicate is an Xbox 360 game then you're too young to understand.
@avoidercat black and white 2 was awesome. Nothing really like it at the time if I recall.
the goat is back it was trully an moment i cherish the creator of Fable right on stage was memorable.
peter molyneux has a magic name and is strongly attached to Fable.
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