According to multiple anonymous sources on Eurogamer, Microsoft may or may not have a new Fable title in the works. Playground Games, the developer behind the Forza Horizon series, will be working on the “character-focused, open-world, action RPG,” and they have a pretty big budget.
Despite Microsoft pumping money into the Fable revival, the game isn’t set to release anytime soon. Development is still in its “early days” as Playground Games is still working on hiring the development team. They are planning to hire over 200 people to work on the new project and have already hired talent from Rockstar North, Ninja Theory, and DICE.
Rumors started to surface about a Fable reboot over two years ago despite its developer, Lionhead Studios, closing in April 2016. The rumor mill began to churn out rumors that Playground Games was beginning work on a non-racing game last year. After that, it was rumored that the game would be an action RPG. According to Microsoft, the recent revival was inspired by the massive success of Guerrilla Games’ Horizon Zero Dawn.
In a comment to Eurogamer, Fable co-creator Simon Carter said:
On the one hand it’s great for the UK games industry, and very pleasing that Fable isn’t dead; indeed, it will be lovely to play one as a punter, without coming out in hives….On the other hand it is a little curious to get rid of the team that is uniquely expert in making Fable, and then try and make Fable. Fable is a weird game, and a tough one to deconstruct for a new team. That said, the team in question is very talented, and I’m sure they’ll do a fantastic job.
Lionhead Studios, the original studio behind the Fable series, shut down in 2016 despite working on Fable Legends. Their final, unreleased project was a free-to-play multiplayer experience that suffered from numerous setbacks during its development. Despite this, Microsoft seems confident about the future of the Fable franchise.
Are you looking forward to this reboot? Let us know in the comments below!
