Fable Legends News: Xbox One Exclusive Is a 'Game as a Service,' Says Lionhead Studios

Fable: Legends is considered a "game as a service," according to the head of Lionhead Studios, the developer of the Xbox One exclusive.

Instead of a traditional development cycle, Lionhead Studios is making Fable: Legends in the mold of World of Warcraft, a game that can enjoy a long life as a service-based game rather than a self-contained game with no room for expansion.

"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," Lionhead Studios executive John Needham told Edge. "I am the person pivoting Lionhead into a games-as-service studio. Legends is quite different from previous Fable games."

Under this system, Fable: Legends will serve as a hub for all things Fable on the Xbox One, so users can expect regular updates to the game rather than annual releases in the series. Needham stated that "almost everything" relating to future Fable content will be delivered through Fable: Legends, so fans will be able to keep playing for years to come.

"We can do other styles of Fable games, and keep them within Fable Legends," Needham added, "My plan is that Legends is essentially a platform for almost everything Fable going forward. It's a long-range plan, of five to 10 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."

What remains to be seen, however, is if Fable fans take to the new gameplay style of Fable: Legends. Unlike classic Fable games, which emphasized a single-player campaign that allowed players to choose their own path through an open world, Fable: Legends will focus on co-op multiplayer. Specifically, four players will be able to play through a level created by a fifth player who serves as a dungeon master style entity. This is similar Evolve, the Turtle Rock Studios game in which four players try and take down the fifth player who serves as a boss to a level.

In any case, Fable: Legends is set to be one of the biggest Xbox One titles coming out in the near future. While the beta for the game is set to be released before the end of 2014, it is widely believed that the game will not be available until 2015.