Fans haven’t heard anything about the Fable reboot in years, but the Head of Microsoft Studios has seen the game and says the progress is impressive.
The long-in-production Fable reboot is coming along very well, according to the head of Microsoft Studios. The latest entry in Xbox’s beloved fantasy RPG franchise is being developed at Playground Games, but the studio has not shared much of anything about the project in the years since its announcement.
The modern Fable reboot was originally revealed at the Xbox Games Showcase in July 2020, much to the excitement of fans. However, there was virtually no information given on the game outside of a brief teaser – the only substantial information given was that it was being developed by Playground Games for Xbox Series X and PC. Some commentators expressed confusion and even worry about Microsoft’s chosen developer, considering that Playground had only developed the Forza Horizon games up until that point. The apprehension hasn’t been helped by the years of radio silence on the game – with Xbox having once apologized for not showing Fable – but according to one of Xbox’s top executives, there’s a good reason for that.
As reported by IGN, during a keynote at PAX West 2022, Head of Microsoft Studios Matt Booty discussed Playground Games and its progress on the Fable reboot. Booty said he has gone to see the game in production on multiple occasions, and each time he does, there’s something new that makes him want to show it to the rest of the world. “If there’s one game… where every time I see something I say, ‘We should show this’, it’s Fable,” Booty said. “Because there’s a lot of cool stuff.” However, he also stated that Playground has refused to let him do so until it feels that Fable is fully ready to be shown. There’s still no indication as to when that might be, but Booty went on to say that Playground has proven itself worthy to develop the long-awaited Fable reboot.
Fable Reboot – Why It’s Taken Xbox A Long Time To Show It
Microsoft previously confirmed that Fable is being developed using the Forza engine, which has only ever been used for the Forza series itself. In fact, an earlier interview with a former Playground Games developer cast some doubt on how the studio was adapting the engine for an action-RPG. Although the developer stated that Playground knew what it was doing in terms of direction, it ostensibly lacked people with experience in creating RPG systems and applying them. This is most likely why the studio has been on a hiring spree in recent times, and why the development on Fable seems to be taking so long.
In spite of the concerns that fans have had since Fable‘s 2020 Xbox Games Showcase reveal, it sounds like the game is now firmly on track. The pandemic, the hiring spree, and the transition to a new console generation had obviously slowed production on Fable, but Matt Booty’s testimony on the current state of the game is encouraging. Still, one can only hope that it will be shown sooner rather than later.
Sources: IGN, PAX West 2022/Twitch
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