After months and months of rumors, Microsoft has finally announced Fable, a “new beginning” for the Fable franchise, developed by a new team at Forza Horizon studio Playground games.
The trailer begins with a fairy as they fly through a fantastical forest, before getting eaten by a frog. How very Fable. And that’s it! That’s the long-awaited reveal. Fable is back and is being developed by the Forza Horizon studio.
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Fable has been mostly dormant since the release of Fable 3 back in 2010, though there have been a variety of spinoffs. There was also Fable Legends, a co-op action-RPG that was canceled on 2016.
Back in early 2018, reports began that Playground Games, the studio behind the acclaimed Forza Horizon series, was working on a new Fable. Later that year, Microsoft acquired Playground, investing in the studio as a first-party developer.
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Since then, rumors have continued to persist that a second team at the studio was working on continuing the Fable franchise, which was originally developed by the now-shuttered studio Lionhead. Ex-Lionhead art director John McCormack even described a Fable 4 pitch Lionhead had that Microsoft rejected.
Playground Games is best known for its work on Forza Horizon, a more open-world and carefree take on Turn 10’s Forza Motorsport racing sims. The studio has been seen hiring developers with experience in RPG development, which prompted rumors that Playground Games’ next project would be a departure from the racing genre.
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Matt T.M Kim is a reporter for IGN.
Source: IGN.com Fable Revealed for Xbox Series X