Fable 4 is the next major installment in the fantasy RPG series. Since it was revealed in 2020, we haven’t heard much about it. We know which studio is in charge of its development and not much else.
Playground Games, the team behind the Forza Horizon series, is working on the next entry in the beloved fantasy series. Although it may seem strange at first glance, Playground Games is a great studio with a real knack for creating realistic and dynamic environments. This is definitely something the Fable series could greatly benefit from.
As we get closer to the potential release date of Fable 4, Microsoft is hoping to reveal more information about the game. As new information becomes available, this page will be updated.
For now, here’s what we know about Fable 4, including all the latest news and rumors. You’ll also find a reveal trailer below, which helps give you a glimpse of what the tone of the game might be when it finally launches.
Story 4: get to the point
- What is this? The fourth installment of the main Fable series
- When can I play it? There’s no release date yet, but don’t expect it soon
- What can I play it on? TBC, but it’s an Xbox exclusive
Fable 4 release date and platforms
No release date or release window for Fable 4 has yet been set. The earliest you can expect it is late 2023, although 2024 is more likely.
At least Phil Spencer suggested during IGN podcast (opens in a new tab) that we’ll get it before The Elder Scrolls 6, although that game also doesn’t have a release date yet and isn’t expected to land until some time after Starfield’s release (which has since been delayed to 2023). This is confirmed by the June 2022 Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase, focusing on games that will launch “in the next twelve months”, and Fable was not present.
However, we do know the platforms we can expect Fable 4 to land on. As an Xbox exclusive, Fable 4 will launch on Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and PC, where it will be available on Xbox Game Pass from day one. It is not known if it will appear on Xbox One consoles, but we do not lose hope because Microsoft has not confirmed anything.
Fable 4 trailer
World Premiere Trailer
At the moment, only one Fable trailer has been released: the trailer announcing the worldwide release.
The trailer doesn’t reveal much, but it does suggest that the game could be set well before the later installments of the series, as we don’t get as much of a Victorian industrial revolution feel as we have in Fable 3’s setting. Instead, it seems like Fable 4 will have medieval fantasy setting, perhaps more similar to the original game, with a trailer showing a sword, fairies, overgrown toadstools and greedy toads.
Check it out below:
Fable 4 news and rumors
The head of Xbox explains the lack of news
Fable 4 is still in the works, but after the game didn’t show up at the Xbox showcase at both Summer Game Fest and Gamescom 2022, fans have been wondering when they’ll hear more.
The head of Xbox Game Studios, Matt Booty, admitted to the lack of news during an interview at PAX West 2022 (opens in a new tab) but clarified that the game would only be shown if developer Playground Games was ready to show it.
“Every time I see something I say ‘We should show this’ … because there’s a lot of cool stuff out there,” said Booty. “The team made it clear to me that I wouldn’t be able to show anything until it was ready.”
Booty then expressed his support for Playground Games, saying that choosing a studio mostly known for Forza Horizon to work on Fable 4 may seem “a bit of a headache”, they “understand” and he is “excited when the time comes to be able to show more.
In development for at least 4 years
Production on Fable 4 is taking longer than expected. In a November 2021 tweet, developer Playground Games, who is working on the game, celebrated “four years of working on Fable.”
This means the game has been in development for at least four years, and likely launched just a year after series developer Lionhead Studios shut down. While we don’t know much about Fable at the moment, the idea that it’s been in development for many years gives us hope that we’ll be able to learn more in the near future.
4 years of working on Fable at @WeArePlayground. So excited about this game. pic.twitter.com/KO099HnYSdNovember 5, 2021
Fable 4’s combat may resemble The Witcher
A developer from CD Projekt RED (The Witcher series, Cyberpunk 2077) will be working on the game’s combat system. As reported by computer gamesN (opens in a new tab)gameplay designer Paweł Kapała leads combat at Fable developer Playground Games, and his LinkedIn page confirms that the role includes “designing and implementing combat in Fable.”
In our opinion, the sword and spell combat in The Witcher 3, one of the best-selling video games of all time, would be the perfect template for Fable, especially considering how similar some of the game’s spells are.
Trust Playground Games, says Phil Spencer
Fable 4 is being developed by Playground Games, the studio perhaps best known for its work on the Forza Horizon series, but Phil Spencer wants fans to have confidence in the studio. Speaking on the Dropped Frames podcast in June 2021 (via VGC (opens in a new tab)), Spencer said:
“The only thing I can really say about Fable is to see the pedigree of the team and Playground and where they set the bar in making the game – I think it showed in the Forza Horizon 5 preview they had – I think people should just trust it [studio director] Gavin [Raeburn] and the team there is just as focused on doing something amazing with IP, which we know is really important to a lot of Xbox fans, so we can’t wait to show more, but the team is just amazing.
Forza Horizon 5’s weather system bodes well for Fable 4
Forza Horizon 5 has the most dynamic and impressive weather system in the series to date, and with developer Playground Games also working on Fable 4, we’re very excited to see how this technology could translate to Albion’s open world. We believe that by bringing these dynamic weather systems to the new Fable, Playground Games has an opportunity to give the new Fable its own stamp, which neither previous developer Lionhead nor many other RPG developers have been able to do before. The idea of Albion having each region have its own seasonal weather is exciting – it could better reflect the passage of time and genuinely enhance the immersion and uniqueness of every part of the game map.
It could be years
As far as we know, Fable 4 is still in early development and it may be a while before we get a chance to play it. In fact, talking about VGC Off the Record podcast (opens in a new tab) in April 2021, industry reporter and head of GamesIndustry.biz Chris Dring said that (at the time) the game, along with other announced Xbox exclusives, could take many years to release.
Based on conversations he had with Xbox Game Studios staff, Dring said: “These games they announced – Everwild, Perfect Dark, Fable – are so far away. As is the case, there may even be a new Xbox (mid-tier upgrade) by the time these games come out.
They’re so far away, and it’s no surprise that Xbox is looking to invest and sign some products at the moment, as they don’t have a big exclusive offering at all.
Fable is to use the ForzaTech engine
According to the previous job advertisement (opens in a new tab), which was intended for a software engineer at Turn10 Studios, Fable will be built using the ForzaTech engine that powers Forza Motorsport and Forza Horizon. The letter states that the team is looking for a candidate who can enhance “the Fable open world action RPG toolkit” as well as add new features such as “ray tracing to support the next generation of console.”
Head writer confirmed
Anna Megill, senior writer and narrator at Remedy Entertainment during the development of Control, joins Playground Games as lead writer for Fable.
Megill announced on Twitter (opens in a new tab) in December 2020, he is leaving his current role at Ubisoft’s Massive Entertainment to join Playground Games.
The team behind the game
Shortly after the reveal of Fable itself, which gave us an insight into the impressive team that is working on the game VGC (opens in a new tab). Now we know that a number of experienced game designers are working on the reboot of Fable, including the lead quest designer for the Borderlands series, the level designer for GTA V and GTA Online, and a whole host of writers who worked on Batman: Arkham Knight.
There were rumors that Fable would go the MMO route, but the experience of those working on the project certainly suggests it will take a more open-ended RPG approach, perhaps with an online multiplayer component. That said, we can’t really make sure until Playground Games and Microsoft reveal more official details.
This wild pre-announcement rumor
Even before Fable 4 was announced to the world, there was a video leak in 2019 that claimed to give insights into the game’s settings and history. The video has disappeared from the internet, but the Reddit thread with what it described remains, and some of the details sound pretty crazy. We say “Albion and Aurora destroyed by asteroid, new continent with time and interplanetary travel” wild.
While that sounds pretty good, it would create an opportunity to reset the Fable series, making it easier for the series to return to its medieval fantasy roots with some extremely different elements to keep it feeling fresh. In the game reveal trailer, while it was brief, we didn’t have any obvious sense that the new game would be any more time-advanced than Fable 3’s industrial revolution setting.
Of course, this is a leak from an unverified source, so until Playground Games or Microsoft start divulging solid details about Fable 4, we’d say we’re taking it with a big grain of salt. You can read the full leak in the tweet below.
Rumor: First details of Fable IV leaked (including story details) pic.twitter.com/V6W74TDLV9June 4, 2019
Fable 4 is probably an open world game
In January 2018, Eurogamer he said that according to sources close to the project, a completely new, high-budget Fable game is in the works. Now we know that’s true.
This news comes less than two years after Lionhead Studios shut down, and the report correctly stated that Playground Games, best known for their work on the Forza Horizon series, will be the new developers of the series.
Eurogamer sources reported that a team of over 200 people would be working on Fable from the team’s new offices in Leamington Spa, although work on the game was still in its very early stages.
What kind of Fable can Playground work on? Well, the report says the game is going to be an open-world action RPG with an emphasis on character and story. That certainly lines up with everything we’ve seen in the leaked trailer, with the final shot showing a large world that looks ready to be explored.
It would also make sense for Playground to bring its Forza Horizon open-world expertise to a game like this. Either way, we can’t wait to see what he comes up with. Fable has been dormant for too long.