While Fable Legends wasn't exactly well-regarded by the gaming community as a whole--its substantial deviation from the norm didn't sit well with some--some were looking forward to seeing how well it all worked out. Sadly, they'll never find out--nor will any of us--as Microsoft has not only canceled Fable Legends, but also Project Knoxville.

The cancellations aren't good news by themselves--Fable Legends was said to be only a couple months off from release--but it gets worse. There's also discussion afoot about shutting down Lionhead Studios. Meanwhile, Press Play Studios is likewise shut, taking Project Knoxville with it.

Microsoft, for its part, attempted to be upbeat, thanking the newly fired for their service and noting attempts to transfer the employees elsewhere, or at least get them jobs in other companies.

Cancelled games and closed studios are, sadly, nothing new. But a game that's cancelled at this stage of the game is nothing short of bizarre. Why shut down a game that should have been launching, losing all that development money that went into it? Perhaps it was farther behind than anyone realized--it made an appearance back at E3 2014--and had been in development for quite some time already.  Even stranger that it might well take a studio down with it. That's bizarre by any stretch of the imagination, and suggests bigger problems Microsoft may not even want to discuss to begin with.

It'll be interesting to see how this all boils down in the end, but it's certainly been quite the trip so far. Can Microsoft pull this one back together? Are we done with Fable for good? Lots of unanswered questions remain on this point, and only time will give us answers.