Lionhead's best is yet to come - Molyneux

By GamesIndustry International Published 8 August, 2007

No excuses.

Peter Molyneux has admitted to GamesIndustry.biz that he feels there are "no excuses" for Lionhead not to make a "great game" any more, and that while they've come close in the past, they've never quite managed it - yet.

Speaking candidly on Lionhead's tenth birthday, alongside co-founders Mark Webley and Tim Rance, he also spoke of some of the issues with the company's landmark titles to date, Black & White and Fable.

"I still think that Black & White had a huge amount of flaws in it, I still think that Fable had a huge amount of flaws in it. And there are excuses for that. There's time, there's pressure, the small group, there's being distracted..."

But he's confident that now, with the backing of owner Microsoft, "the best is definitely yet to come," and that "the next projects that we do are a true measure of our ability, our ambition, our passion."

In the two-part interview, the team also talk about the company's beginnings, how the stock market crash cost them millions, and where the future of the games industry lies.

Part one is published today, with part two to follow next week.

Picture of GamesIndustry.

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Comments (35) Latest comment 5 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • professor_mamet #1 5 years ago

    I'll believe it when I see it Peter.

  • spongebob #2 5 years ago

    Shouldn't all developers, and any creative spirit or collective at that, always think that they can improve? There's no such thing as personal best. If you start to think you made your best work, you will stop working or at the very least coming up with new ideas.

  • Gl3n #3 5 years ago

    I logged in from budapest just to say: Shut up Peter.

  • Tonka #4 5 years ago

    Thus spoke the hypemuffet

  • Xerx3s #5 5 years ago

    Tjesus, has it already been 10 years?

    /feels old

  • woodnotes #6 5 years ago

    I should bloody hope so Peter. MS didn't procure you to make shit games for them.

  • The_Inquisitor #7 5 years ago

    Right, just like the backing Microsoft have given Rare has done them a world of good.
    Edited by The_Inquisitor at 08/08/07 @ 13:46

  • Iora #8 5 years ago

    These games all had flaws in it.
    Yes Pete 'You worked on them!'

    pompous self-inflating asshat

    I think he has A.D.D. Think about it, It explains so much!

  • smoothn00dle #9 5 years ago

    Peter, look at Rare *v* I think he riding on tiger's back and not know it.

  • Wash #10 5 years ago

    Lol alot of ppl are quick to critisize but kudos to peter he makes good games on a whole, i dont think the word shit would sit well with anything lionhead has put out...

    At least theres some creative thought left there, this aint no lionhead appreciation society, but ya can do a lot worse.

    Guess ppl were still pissed aboot fable, which in itself was very positive 7+/10 game. Not the OMGWTFBBQ worst game of ever living memory created.

    I say we all go out there and make games ourselves, we'd all obviously do alot better.

  • ScoutTech #11 5 years ago

    Well finishing BC would be a good start. (not grumpy at all that it was canned)

  • the_sas_man #12 5 years ago

    In other news, foot & mouth turned out to be one big hoax leaving many poor cows dead.

  • Iora #13 5 years ago

    @Wash

    Its not the games mate. Its Peter's constant self hype before every one of his games have launched.

    He has used just about every hyperbole to help promote his games and himself. The end product however always falls short.

    He's a talking ringpiece and i give the man little credence.

    Make good games dont talk them! (He has it the wrong way round)

  • crazyhorse174 #14 5 years ago

    Fuck off Molyneux.

    I think I'll get that printed on a t-shirt actually.

  • Tonka #15 5 years ago

    Now don't get me wrong. I love the fact that someone tries to puysh the envelope/sticks his neck out/ yadda yadda yadda.

    It's just a bit too much talk with him

  • Inquisitor #16 5 years ago

    I like Molyneux, so enthusiastic.

    If you just take everything he says to be him getting over excited and blabbing before the feature is implemented you can understand why he does it. Hes like how I'd probably be of I was as talented, I'd never be able to keep the new and untested features secret :)

  • kangarootoo #17 5 years ago

    @crazyhorse174

    "Fuck off Molyneux.
    I think I'll get that printed on a t-shirt actually."

    Yeah, that wouldn't make you look like a geek at all ;)


    I think there are two things that can be said about PMs recent games.

    1. They were actually pretty good games all said and done. Plenty of people had a great time playing them and they stood above a lot of the dross that comes out.

    2. They were nowhere near as good as the hype suggested, and certainly not all of the the things that PM said they would be.

    So, the lesson we can learn here is...

    PM, stop talking.... Thats it. In a nuthshell. Fait compli.

    If he didn't try and sell us a golden moon a stick, people would probably view Lionhead games in a much more positive light.

    Games ALWAYS have flaws, perfection is a myth. Acting like they can be perfect, and more importantly getting gamers to buy into that, is just asking for people to be dissapointed.

    So, for once, after you have promised to do so so many times, just keep it zipped and make your games. k?

  • mr_ruberfon #18 5 years ago

    "Well finishing BC would be a good start. (not grumpy at all that it was canned)"
    a grumpy +1

  • andromeda #19 5 years ago

    If Warren spector was to say that , i'd get excited.

  • andromeda #20 5 years ago

    [link url=http://kotaku.com/gaming/peter-molyneux-says/most-role+playing-games-are-shit-287119.php
    ]http://kotaku.com/gaming/peter-molyneux-...[/link]

  • Steroyd #21 5 years ago

    So what excuse will he make if his game is okay and not great.

    Wouldn't brag about the MS backing either it's a bit hit and miss.

  • sniglet #22 5 years ago

    I think Molyneux tries hard to make new and interesting games with fresh ideas, it's just they never end up being quite what he said they'd be. Big imagination and not quite the ability.

    Know your limits and work within them!

  • UncleLou #23 5 years ago

    I like Molyneux, so enthusiastic.

    If you just take everything he says to be him getting over excited and blabbing before the feature is implemented you can understand why he does it. Hes like how I'd probably be of I was as talented, I'd never be able to keep the new and untested features secret :)

    That's what I was always saying in the past, but he's starting to annoy me a little now, too.

  • evild_edd #24 5 years ago

    I, for one, still rate both Lionhead and Molyneux. Yes they've over-hyped in the past, but I think that's born of passion for gaming... and it seems there's too little of that around the industry these days.

    I also really enjoyed Fable. Yes, again, it was over-hyped, but the whole package was great and had a real tongue-in-cheek British humour that you rarely see in gaming. I also liked the fact that it gave me an RPG element action game that wasn't so ridiculously padded out as to make it a chore - an RPG I actually played beginning-to-end. Bring on Fable 2 \o/

  • kangarootoo #25 5 years ago

    "Yes they've over-hyped in the past, but I think that's born of passion for gaming"

    I actually think overhyping the way that PM does is simply a professional failing. It may be born out of passion, but as adults we should have learned to control our emotions and our mouths to some degree.

    Being passionate about your product is one thing, making wild claims about features that are still just in your head is another completely. I know poeple who have worked at Lionhead who wince whenever PM says something bonkers, because they know there are late nights ahead trying to shoehorn it into place.

    Its called feature creep; its a bad thing and a sign of a badly managed project. Being a "legend" doesn't change that.

  • Lacero #26 5 years ago

    I'm still bitter about The Movies. A great idea, and almost great implementation let down by some terrible, terrible gameplay and UI design.

  • Azazel #27 5 years ago

    OFFICIAL! HYPE! FACT! EXCLAMATION!

  • Daikon #28 5 years ago

    Molyneux is can create great games, he's done so in the past.
    The following ingredients are needed though:

    - The dev team can't consist of more than five people.
    - The game has to be isometric 2D.
    - Less is more.
    - Flamethrowers.

  • dadrester #29 5 years ago

    Games ALWAYS have flaws, perfection is a myth.

    Resident Evil 4?! ;)

    but as most people here are saying... shut it pete! let your imagination run wild on paper and keep designing good games, just employ someone else to do realistic scheduling and stop people being disappointed by over hyping stuff and making promises you can't keep.

  • mcmonkeyplc #30 5 years ago

    Fable 2 in 6/10 shocker.


  • gaijin #31 5 years ago

    i don't doubt that it'll be a good game and I'll enjoy playing it... mostly. Will undoubtedly have some interesting ideas in it that aren't quite implemented right and so burst the bubble. Same as the problems with waymarkers in Overlord, or the creeping-sense-of-doom as my tentacle goes awry (oo-er missus!) in the darkness stop me from forgetting that I'm playing a game... as I reload again.

    The difference being, as so oft pointed out here, that nobody told me those games were going to be the beagle's knackers in the first place, so one feels let down but not positively misled...

  • slithy_toves #32 5 years ago

    "Well finishing BC would be a good start. (not grumpy at all that it was canned)"
    a grumpy +2

  • Turambar #33 5 years ago

    Bullfrog made great games, I wonder why Lionhead haven't managed it yet?

  • SBfistfun #34 5 years ago

    Hush Peter Cabbagehead.

  • NegativeZero #35 5 years ago

    People in the media: PLEASE stop talking to Peter Molyneux. Just ignore him.