Xbox has announced a delay for Fable from the previously announced launch window this autumn to February 2027, explaining that they want to try and give the role-playing series revival “the dedicated moment it deserves.”
Getting the news out just ahead of Summer Game Fest, where it will still be a part of the Xbox Games Showcase on 7th June, their statement on social media reads:
This is year is packed with incredible games for XBOX players to enjoy, from Halo: Campaign Evolved, Gears of War: E-Day and Call of Duty Modern Warfare 4 to Control Resonant, Star Wars: Galactic Racer and Grand Theft Auto VI. In order to plan our game launches through the holidays, in a way that works best for players, we’re moving Fable to February 2027 so it can have the dedicated moment it deserves. We’re excited to be giving players a major new look at Fable, as well as our broader lineup, at XBOX Games Showcase on June 7.
In other words, Grand Theft Auto 6 is still set to launch on 19th November and Take Two aren’t backing away from that date, so they’re trying to avoid that. What it does mean, however, is that the tail end of 2026 for Xbox’s games is all shooters all of the time, with Halo: Campaign Evolved, Gears of War: E-Day and Modern Warfare 4 coming from Microsoft’s teams.
Fable’s new launch target does now mean that it will be arriving with some proximity to two other anticipated RPGs, with Exodus from the ex-BioWare team at Archetype, and The Expanse: Osiris Rising from Owlcat Games both aiming for the first half of next year. Then again, they’re both sci-fi adventures, so Fable will certainly stand apart from them.
Fable was featured during the Developer Direct stream back in January, giving the first good long look that we’ve had at Fable, after years of build up and teasers.
You begin the game as a child, growing up in Briar Hill, which is when your heroic powers first emerge, marking you as Albion’s first hero in a generation. But then your town and all its people are suddenly turned to stone by a stranger. You have to venture out to figure out what’s going on.
It’s a huge open world, from Bowerstone and Fairfax Castle to the windswept city of Bloodstone. You can take the game at your own pace, becoming a property mogul, a blacksmith, having children, and all the other things people loved about the original. Playground has created more than a thousand people to populate this this world, getting up, going to work, have hobbies, go to bed, and start it all again. How you treat them and the decisions you make through the story will also feed into a morality system.
Originally announced way back at the start of the generation in 2020, it was three long years before we saw the game next, and then another year after that when the release was set for 2025. But then in February of last year it was delayed to 2026 with Head of Xbox Game Studios Craig Duncan saying “While I know that’s not maybe the news people want to hear, what I want to assure people of is that it’s definitely worth the wait, and I have unequivocal confidence in the Playground team.” Now it’s 2027.
Fable is coming to Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5 and PC all at the same time. Oh, and the top tiers of Game Pass, of course.
Source: Xbox