Fable III Weapon Auction System Scrapped

OXM UK brings word from GamesCom that Lionhead Studios has decided to scrap their previously announced plans to include a weapon auction/trading system in Fable III. A better cooperative component and gameplay balancing were prioritized instead:

When the game was first announced, it was to include an advanced form of weapon trading: weapons would evolve depending on how you use them and the size of your Gamerscore, and you would then be able to trade the custom weapons online.

No longer, we were told at Gamescom. The weapon customisation and evolution is all present, but the auction system proved too much. “The burden of running this online auction server became a burden too many,” said Molyneux.

“It was on our list of features to do, but we had the choice of doing the main co-op right, and balancing the game, or we could do the trading house. And we decided to do the co-op.”