Lionhead Studios is a United Kingdom-based video game developer led by industry veteran Peter Molyneux.

Started as a break away from the developer Bullfrog Productions, which was also founded by Molyneux, Lionhead s first game was Black & White (game) , a god game with elements of artificial life, strategy game, and beat em up games. Black and White was published by Electronic Arts in 2001. Lionhead Studios is named after a dead hamster of one of the original members. As they were discussing a name a few minutes before a rep from Electronic Arts arrived, the member went to check on his hamster, Lionhead, who was found dead. [G4 Interview with Molyneux]

Black and White was followed up with the release of an expansion pack named .

=Corporate Structure=

Lionhead has set up a network of satellite developers, including Big Blue Box Studios (developers of Fable) , Intrepid Games (developers of B.C. , since cancelled due to a massive overrun) and Black & White Studios (who have taken responsibility for the continuation of the Black & White series). Lionhead proper is working on two games, The Movies (a sims-like game based upon the premise of running your own Movie Studio) and Dimitri , a simulation game of some sort (about which Lionhead is being unusually tight-lipped). However, during an interview with Computer_And_Video_Games, on April 6th, 2005, Peter Molyneux revealed that [Dimitri is] a game about (pause for dramatic drum roll) ...you. It allows anyone who plays the game to relive their life, their entire individual life. That s a pretty ambitious concept. While our [C&VG s] jaw dropped to the floor, Lionhead PR hastily intervened with the effect of a virtual gagging order.

The degree of control that Lionhead has over its satellites is not clear, but Lionhead programmers were seconded to work on Fable after it became apparent that Big Blue Box had been making little progress. It would also seem that it was the hand of Molyneux behind the supposed cancellation of BC in October 2004 - although there are suggestions that it is still in development in some form.

Lionhead was a privately held company until October 2004 (shortly before the cancellation of BC) when a consortium of investors, including Ingenious Ventures, IDG VE and technology firm Add Partners, made a significant investment into the developer.

=Overpromising Controversy=

Lionhead, and Molyneux in particular, is notorious for hyping their games to an uncommon degree, often resulting in disappointment from those who have followed the game s development. This was very much the case after the release of Black and White , but even more so after the launch of Fable . After the official forums were flooded with complaints, Molyneux made a rare appearance on the forums, where he made a Mea_Culpa speech of dubious sincerity. In this post he claimed to have had no idea that claims about the content of Fable early in the development cycle were unrealistic, and committed himself to revealing games only much later in the development cycle. Such a commitment missed the point with stunning grace, but the acknowledgement of mistakes was nevertheless appreciated by those who had raised an eyebrow at the gulf between what had been claimed and that which had been delivered.

=Games=

==Released==

==In development==

==Cancelled==

=External links=