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Lionhead Studios embracing games-as-service model with Fable Legends
Fable Legends, the upcoming multiplayer-centric spin on the Fable universe, may end up being quite a different beast than its predecessors. Although new Lionhead CEO John Needham hasn't announced any business model for the game, he describes his job as one based around the "games-as-a-service" model: "I think the real magic in the industry now is taking great traditional gameplay and IP, and this new connected world, and mashing them together," Needham recently told Edge Magazine. "I am the person pivoting Lionhead into a games-as-service studio." Needham also said that Legends can act as a platform for additional Fable-related projects. "It's a long-range plan, of five to ten years, where we're going to build and keep building onto Fable Legends. That's the nature of games as a service – you keep adding systems and features and content." [Image: Microsoft Studios]
Ex-Cryptic, Gazillion CEO John Needham is new Lionhead boss
John Needham is now the new boss of Lionhead Studios. Needham's previous posts include CEO of Cryptic Studios (Star Trek Online) for nearly three years and CEO at Gazillion Entertainment (Marvel Universe Online) for almost two years. "Our vision is focused on building innovative gaming services and triple-A experiences at Lionhead, and the rest of Microsoft Studios, which take advantage of Microsoft's incredible hardware and software platforms," Needham says in the MCV report. A glance at Needham's LinkedIn profile shows a legacy well-versed in MMOs, subscription-based services and free-to-play games. Lionhead was in the headlines last year when longtime boss Peter Molyneux left to start 22 Cans and put out his first experiment, Curiosity. Lionhead Studios was purchased by Microsoft in 2006. The studio's last game was the Kinect action-adventure game, Fable: The Journey.
Peter Molyneux speaks on the Fable MMO
Even though Fable creator Peter Molyneux left Lionhead Studios last March, he still has a lot to say about the gaming industry and genre he helped revolutionize. In an interview with IGN, Molyneux talks candidly about the upcoming new Xbox and the possibility of a Fable MMO. "I can see that that would work. The thing about Fable is that it was such a rich world. It was, well, what the name says it is. It's all about Fable and Albion and this idea of legends and humour. RPGs are great for MMO transitions. I can see that that concept works, and works quite well. I think the charm of Fable was in the feeling of the world and definitely the humour. If they keep that in an MMO, then there's no reason why it shouldn't do reasonably well, I don't think." Of course, Molyneux's successor at Lionhead is an MMO vet himself, so let's all hope that the MMO pieces come together.
Former SOE, Cryptic exec to lead Lionhead Studios
Lionhead Studios has a new head honcho. The Microsoft-owned firm known for its Fable franchise has appointed John Needham to be its Studio Head. Needham boasts plenty of MMO industry experience from prominent positions at SOE, Cryptic Studios, and Gazillion Entertainment (from CEO to CFO to Senior VP of Business Development and Operations). Microsoft's official announcement states that Needham's "deep understanding of all aspects of the gaming industry, from subscription-based massively multiplayer to client-based console and free-to-play online PC and mobile experiences will be a huge benefit to Lionhead."
Gazillion signs European Marvel Super Hero Squad Online deal
It looks like Marvel Super Hero Squad is coming to Europe, according to a news blurb at GamaSutra. Gazillion Entertainment has inked a deal with the German media conglomerate known as ProSiebenSat.1 Digital, and the resulting agreement will bring "cross-media promotional support" to both SHSO and Fortune Online. SHSO is a kid-friendly romp through the Marvel mythos with locations that include Asgard, the Daily Bugle, and the Baxter Building. Gameplay revolves around collecting various heroes to form one of the titular squads, as well as choosing a particular individual to play and level up. "Gazillion's goal is to deliver entertaining console-quality games through the browser around the world," said CEO John Needham via press release.
Cryptic boss leaves for Gazillion
First at Sony Online Entertainment, then at Cryptic Studios, and now at Gazillion Entertainment, John Needham has seen a lot of massively multiplayer worlds in his time. The much experienced exec is now at the helm of Gazillion Entertainment in order to work on "converting all of its major games to the free-to-play business model." The plan, Needham says, "is where the secret sauce is for the industry." Gazillion most recently launched Lego Universe, which was then immediately sold to the Lego Group (along with the dev team at NetDevil). The publisher's next game is Fortune Online, which is currently in closed beta.
Former Cryptic boss named CEO of Gazillion Entertainment
Gaming executive John Needham wasn't out of work for very long, and in fact has traded one CEO position for another. Gazillion Entertainment has announced that the former Cryptic bossman will head up the studio as it looks to expand on its free-to-play browser-based MMO offerings. Needham, who has also held down a high-level position at Sony Online Entertainment, joins former Blizzard executive David Brevik at Gazillion, while company founder Rob Hutter steps into the chairman position. "I believe that in the near future, rich console-quality games will be delivered through the browser," Needham said via press release. "We're going to create browser-centric, free-to-play games that set a new standard for quality and deliver a deep, compelling experience."
Jack Emmert appointed CEO of Cryptic
What's Jack Emmert been up to since surfacing briefly to talk about Neverwinter a few months ago? Apparently climbing the corporate ladder, as Cryptic has just announced via press release that the game design veteran has been tapped to serve as CEO of the company that brought us Star Trek Online, Champions Online, and way back when, City of Heroes. Emmert is replacing John Needham and says that, while the latter will be missed, Cryptic remains committed to developing AAA gaming experiences. "I co-founded this company and am extremely proud of everything our teams have achieved. We will continue to set high goals for ourselves and under my leadership we will continue to meet them," Emmert says.
Champions Online gains profits and players as a free-to-play [Updated]
Since Champions Online's relaunch as a free-to-play title a little less than a month ago, any player who has logged into the game has undoubtedly noticed the sheer number of folks running around Millennium City and environs. There are spandex-clad super-people everywhere you look, and groups are significantly easier to get. These are all good things for MMO players! Today we're also treated to the first official word on the success of the relaunch from Cryptic Studios and Atari, which both declare that the move to free-to-play has been -- as we suspected -- a huge success. To celebrate, they're offering all players, both subscribed and free-to-play, a thank-you gift for helping to make the game's reboot so great! The present offered is a free experience-boosting item that can be picked up from the Champions Online C-Store for at least the next little while. While the companies have not released any specific subscriber or traffic numbers, they have noted that unique logins, concurrent users, and revenue totals have increased by "over 1,000 percent" since Champions Online went free-to-play. As John Needham, CEO of Cryptic Studios, stated in the release: "We're extremely proud of what the Champions team has accomplished with the Free for All launch. It's a pleasure to thank our fans and welcome new ones with this gift." As for how long the gift will be around and whether it is one per account or one per character is currently anyone's guess as the item does not appear to be in the C-Store as of this writing. The gift appears to be a one-hour, 20% experience boost that you can acquire once per account. They also appear to be tradable! [Update: We've updated this post as the gift is now available in the C-Store, and we've also added the most recent trailer behind the cut. Enjoy! And guys... remember to keep the comments clean and on track with our CoC!]
Cryptic Studios developing user-generated content tools
There's a lot of Champions Online information swirling about the internet right now, if you hadn't noticed. So it can be easy to miss some of the better articles on the game, unless you look very carefully. Not only does Rock, Paper Shotgun have a great article about Champions Online up but they also plan to release more throughout the week. As if that weren't enough they managed to pull an interesting piece of information out of Cryptic CEO John Needham, too. According to Needham, Cryptic has a dynamic content system in the works that will allow the developer to spawn unique zones on the fly. While this is all very interesting, you're probably wondering how this factors into Champions Online. Well, it doesn't. At least not right now it doesn't.This dynamic content system is actually for other upcoming MMOs being developed by Cryptic. Oh, how we wonder what sort of MMO would benefit from such a system. However, removing our tinfoil hats reveals that there's something else even cooler about all of this. These tools are being polished up so that they can be given to future players who will then be able to create their own content within Cryptic games. Unfortunately, Needham didn't go into exactly what kind of content players will be creating but the fact that such a thing is even being worked on is entirely cool beans.
Cryptic Studios appoints former SOE exec as CEO
There's a new set of massively multiplayer hands on the wheel at Cryptic Studios, as the developer has announced the appointment of MMORPG industry vet John Needham as the company's new CEO. For those playing catch up, Cryptic, which is known for its infatuation with superheroes, developed the popular City of Heroes and City of Villains MMOs, properties it sold off to publisher NCSoft late last year before moving on to develop the decidedly not-Marvel MMO Champions Online. Needham is not completely out of his element at Cryptic, having worked as a senior exec at Sony Online Entertainment since 2001. However, while he handled a wide range of duties at SOE, from business development to QA testing, it remains to be seen if this prepared him to don spandex and wield executive powers at the Los Gatos, CA based MMO dev. [Via Big Download]
Cryptic appoints former SOE exec as new CEO
We all know that Cryptic Studios is working on another MMORPG aside from Champions Online. So it stands to reason that they're going to beef up the company roster in the coming years. More MMOs mean more people to make, manage and market them. It looks like John Needham -- former senior president of business development and operations at Sony Online Entertainment -- is one of the first additions being made at Cryptic in its transformation into a self-publishing developer.Expect to see a whole new side to Cryptic as it slowly transforms itself into a bigger company. Needham will probably be one of the few public additions to the company, but you can be sure new artists, programmers, writers, etc are putting butts into seats as the company prepares to work on it's next MMO project.
