Sony wanted to buy Bullfrog, the legendary UK studio founded by Peter Molyneux.
As part of a 30th anniversary piece published by The Game Business, veteran PlayStation producer Martin Alltimes revealed that the platform holder came incredibly close to adding the Theme Park maker to its stable of studios.
He revealed:
“One of the best kept secrets is we almost bought Bullfrog, Peter Molyneux’s company. Peter pitched Dungeon Keeper, a game that never came out called The Indestructibles, and another thing. At the end of it, we decided that it was easier and cheaper to buy them.”
It’s believed that, on the back of Sony’s offer, Bullfrog’s managing director Les Edgar immediately contacted EA to see if they’d make a counter-bid. Molyneux was on fire at the time, so the publisher simply couldn’t say no.
Bullfrog would go on to release a string of other hits, including Magic Carpet 2, before Molyneux eventually departed. He would later create Lionhead Studios, which was eventually purchased by Microsoft.
Molyneux is obviously known for his “pie in the sky” game concepts, but it’s not hard to imagine what Sony saw in him – especially during the 90s, when everything he touched turned to gold.
We suppose history would have been very different had he and his team been added to Sony’s stable of first-party developers.
Perhaps he would have taken a great interest in the EyeToy, and pitched a project named – oh, we don’t know – Project Milo?