10 Times Video Game Developers Totally Destroyed Their Own Creations

6. Microsoft Studios' Treatment Of Fable Legends' Free To Play Status

It may seem a little harsh to poke holes in the work of a studio that sadly fell foul of the industry earlier in 2016, but the fate of Fable Legends simply has to stand as a cautionary tale to developers in the future. Fable Legends was a game that excited many a player when it was first announced, but one that quickly became very contentious.

Initially advertised as the first multiplayer game in the Fable franchise, and promised to be a "reimagining" of the series. In 2015 it was announced that the game would be a 'free-to-play' title in the purest sense, with game director David Eckelberry telling PC Gamer he didn't want the game to rely on micro-transactions, as "the better ones for the customers are the ones where you get to enjoy all of the content without paying money [...] then you pay if you want to."

Details of heavy in-game transactions eventually leaked, however, but Eckelberry continued to insist that their free-to-play model was not "evil."

Microsoft Studios continued to maintain that the game was available as a totally free experience... despite confirmation that paid Xbox Live subscriptions would be required for console players. Microsoft Studios were never willing to admit that their initial promotion of the game may have been too vague, and they stuck to their guns with remarkable stubbornness.

These insistences forged an air of dishonesty around what the game would prove to be upon completion, and in truth, the unceremonious death that it suffered was probably a well-timed necessity.