With the change in teams from Lionhead Studios to Playground Games, some fans have been a bit sceptical about the upcoming Fable - especially when the new developer is primarily known for the Forza Horizon series. But Xbox boss Phil Spencer has said fans should "take confidence" in the developer.
Speaking to the Dropped Frames podcast (and transcribed thanks to VGC), Spencer dropped a few comments about the upcoming Fable reboot, attempting to reassure any fans who are sceptical that the "team is just amazing".
“The only thing I can really say about Fable is, seeing the pedigree of the team and Playground, and where they set the bar for themselves in building a game – I think that showed with the Forza Horizon 5 preview that they had – I think people should just take confidence in that [studio director] Gavin [Raeburn] and the team there has that same level of focus on doing something amazing with an IP that we know is really important to a lot of Xbox fans, so we can’t wait to get to show more, but the team is just amazing.”
Judging by the gameplay we saw for Forza Horizon 5, Fable is going to look stunning. It's said to be running on the ForzaTech engine, but the game is rumoured to be still quite far away. According to one industry insider, 2023 is when we should begin seeing Fable and other games of a similar ilk. Fingers crossed we see the game in action next E3!
Are you excited for Fable? Let us know in the comments below.
[source youtube.com]
Comments 16
This is the one game im waiting on more than anything.
I recall playing the original a bit but I've never finished any of the Fables... clearly I'll have to play them at some point. My brother was big on it and had an evil looking dude. Clearly kicked a few too many chickens
Take your time. Special series for me, 2 is my favourite so hopefully they can top that. Flawed games for sure but lots of personality and fun systems.
Probably their best developer Playground games.
Consistency throughout with FH with each release improved upon in every way. Even in sales and reviews. Only the coalition come close.
This will be their biggest test, they will either become the very very best Xbox developer they have or and I hope not, prove they should stick to FH.
I mean, they had to have a British developer make Fable and it certainly wasn't gonna be Rare. I still think it's odd to imagine a studio going from Forza to Fable, but everyone seems to love the Forza Horizon games, and that's enough for me to give them a chance.
Still sucks they shut down Lionhead just to give Fable to someone else though
I'm fairly confident that it will turn out well, even if it's different from the older games.
I agree with Phil because Playground is a brilliant developer but the game needs a good writer! Also, I think Phil or somebody else at Microsoft should supervise big projects like this, just in case. I don't mean controlling the studios but just external QA.
@Jaxx420
Me too. Genuinely excited for whenever it releases
@BlueOcean
I totally agree and I would go even further than you with regular milestone and developer meetings and game progress shown on a regular basis.
This is how you should manage big studios and big AAA games.
The time and the millions of dollars they cost management should be super tight.
@Dezzy70 Yes, after 4-5 years investing in each AAA game, you want to make sure that the product is what Microsoft and the players deserve.
Super excited for this Playground Games have proven their technical chops and attention to detail.
BUT they've basically perfected Forza Horizon over 4 games and a dozen or so expansions (plus ongoing live service elements)
This is a brand new and very different genre for them, will be interesting to see how they get on first time round. I'm optimistic.
@LX_FENIX Playground has 2 studios now, the other one being the development team of Fable.
Don't tell me, show me.
I really don't understand Xbox sometimes. Sure, announce your game years early but actually communicate with fans and potential customers along the way. They did it right with Sea of Thieves but now they're back to making us wait likely another year before we even see a game they announced a year ago...
Waiting years after you announce something is actually counter-productive in this day and age. Look at Nintendo with Metroid Prime 4. We have no reason to believe it isn't in development hell, regardless what they say because they've never shown it, in like over 4 years.
The worlds of Forza Horizon are incredible and they are a British developer to boot so should get the humour right. And surely they hired some old Lionhead talent when they shuttered?
I loved the Fable games and looking forward to seeing a new one. It's been too long.
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