Molyneux: Microsoft was a 'creative padded cell;' 22 Cans will see his 'best' game ever

Peter Molyneux, creator of Fable and famously parodied developer, left Microsoft and Lionhead Studios last month to establish 22 Cans, a brand new development house. 22 Cans marks Molyneux's fifth studio founding, but there's something different about this one, he told Develop:

"I believe it has all led me to this point. I believe the greatest game I've ever made is still ahead of me."

Molyneux is adamant that he is building something special with 22 Cans, in both the structure of the company and the games it will produce. So far he has co-founder and former Lionhead programmer Dimitri Mavrikakis, data miner Paul Knight and IT director Tim Rance on board, but Molyneux is looking to have 22 people total from various industries, including architects, veterans, fresh faces and people who know nothing about the video game world.

These people will help Molyneux make his "best" game ever; a game he couldn't create while at Microsoft. "I was in a creative padded cell," Molyneux said. "Microsoft was so safe. Microsoft was so nice. You're so supported. Everything I did couldn't hurt me, both creatively and physically. The danger was long gone. I had this huge desire to make something truly special, and I felt like I was being suffocated creatively a little bit."

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Molyneux: Microsoft was a 'creative padded cell;' 22 Cans will see his 'best' game ever originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 11 Apr 2012 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft Q3 results: 1.4 million 360s sold, Entertainment division revenue down year-over-year

Despite being the number one best-selling console in America for fifteen months running, the 360's success wasn't enough to prevent Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices Division from being the only section of the company to post a year-over-year decline in revenue during the third quarter of fiscal 2012.

The Entertainment and Devices Division, which includes Microsoft's gaming businesses and the Windows Phone platform, finished the period ending on March 31, 2012 with $1.62 billion in revenue - a 16 percent drop over the same period in fiscal 2011. During Q3 2012, Microsoft sold 1.4 million 360s, a 48 percent drop year-over-year.

When the entirety of fiscal 2012 is taken into account, however, the Entertainment and Devices Division is actually up as far as revenue is concerned: $7.84 billion so far in fiscal 2012 as compared to $7.42 billion by this time in fiscal 2011. The devision's operation income, on the other hand, is down year-over-year, posting at $627 million for the first nine months of fiscal 2012, compared to $1.24 billion for this time last year.

Otherwise, Microsoft's Q3 performance was strong across all fronts: Overall quarterly revenue rang up at $17.41 billion, a six percent increase over Q3 2011, with a business-wide operating income of $6.37 billion, a 12 percent year-over-year increase.Microsoft Q3 results: 1.4 million 360s sold, Entertainment division revenue down year-over-year originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 19 Apr 2012 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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