Microsoft (MSFT) said at the start of this week that it was in discussions over the closure of its U.K.-based Lionhead game studio, the team behind the hit Fable series.
Being owned by Microsoft, Lionhead’s games were exclusive to Microsoft platforms such as the Xbox console and PCs. Now that their developers are back on the job market, it seems the PlayStation team at arch-rival Sony (SNE) isn’t going to pass up this chance.
Https://twitter.com/PlayStationJobs/status/707969152737214464
Microsoft bought Lionhead Studios, which was founded by prominent game creator Peter Molyneux, in 2006.
When Microsoft proposed the closure (along with that of Press Play Studios in Denmark), the tech giant said the decision was not a reflection on the affected development teams. Furthermore, the Redmond, Wash.-based corporation said it would try to help them find new jobs elsewhere in the Xbox division or in the wider industry.
As some of the comments on the PlayStation recruitment team’s tweets suggested, it seems quite a few PlayStation users will be keenly awaiting something similar to the Fable games they’ve previously missed. Indeed, the Lionhead team was working on the now-cancelled Fable Legends when the ax fell.
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There’s no guarantee that this will be the outcome. But at the very least, Sony has potentially nabbed itself some positive publicity out of the gesture.