Lionhead Studios

Lionhead Studios was a UK-based game development company led by industry veteran Peter Molyneux. It was founded on August 1, 1996 and acquired by Microsoft Game Studios in April 2006. Lionhead began as an offshoot of the Bullfrog company, which was also founded by Molyneux. The idea for the company name came from the name of Mark Healy's hamster, who died not long after it was founded. Lionhead's first game was Black & White, a god simulation game with components of artificial intelligence, strategy, and beat 'em up games that was distributed by Electronic Arts in 2001. Black & White was followed by an expansion called Black & White: Creature. Isle. Around this time, Lionhead released the popular game Fable, from its satellite company Big Blue Box. In 2005, Lionhead released The Movies and Black & White 2. On April 6, 2006, it was announced that Lionhead Studios would be acquired by Microsoft to expand its catalog of Xbox 360 games.

Source: Wikipedia