As someone who played the original Xbox from the age of 9, I played games such as Halo and Fable at a young age. Even as I entered the Xbox 360 era during its later years, I found respect and honor given to the game series I grew up with. Backwards compatibility, which allowed me to revisit old memories of the originals and afterwards experience what I missed, made the Xbox 360 special. Today, the current generation Xbox, the Series X|S, still offers the same love and care for those original games. However, throughout the Xbox One and even this generation, that love and care were not given to their newest entries, whether or not they were released.
After the release of Halo 4, 343 Industries, now rebranded as Halo Studios, slowly dissipated the goodwill it had accumulated over the last decade after the releases of Halo 5 and now Halo Infinite. Both games suffered from the ever-lucrative live service model that either made them casinos for power or mobile game cash shops with an incomplete game stitched into them. While these games exist and are fun to play, the same cannot be said about my beloved Fable, which I resonated with more as I grew up.
The only 2 games in the Fable series that were released following Fable 3 were Fable Heroes and Fable: The Journey, the latter of which was a Kinect title. Both of these games were released in 2012, but were not direct continuations or a meaningful sequel to Fable 3. Leaving the series in the dust following the cancellation of Fable Legends in 2016 and Lionhead Studios’ closure in that same year.
With Fable 3 launching in 2010, October would mark a 15-year wait for the next entry, which should have launched this year, and may have been pushed out even further than someone like me wanted it to, according to a rumor from the Xbox Era podcast. Something that not only worries me as a fan, but has finally broken me in regards to Xbox as a developer, publisher, and a company within Microsoft.
A Glimmer of Hope Snuffed Out
In 2019, a rumor of a new Fable was circling around. It was everywhere in Xbox-centric spaces; you could not escape it. When it was not shown in E3 during that year, I of course felt a bit of sorrow. But that hope was renewed with cheer as I saw the guild seal on the hilt of the sword in that breathtaking reveal trailer. Sure, there was no real gameplay or anything tangible. But it was still enough to make me pick the Series X console over the PlayStation 5.
Fast forward over the next 4 years, and I was given some snippets of gameplay and location reveals after a brief yet painful 2-year wait after the reveal. Jack and the giant beanstalk, freaking Bowerstone, Hobbes, Trolls, Balverines in stunning detail? All of it seemed like a reward for my patience and love as a Fable fan. I even took up the Forza Horizon series to whet my appetite and see how talented Playground Games was. Of course, I was not disappointed; in fact, my hype only grew. But then an absence began again.
The new Fable did not have a showing this year. “What gives?” I asked, even when I was impressed by a lot of the Microsoft Gaming showcase. Yes, the delay to 2026 was announced officially, with some actual moment-to-moment gameplay. However, if the project is coming along well, shouldn’t there still be something to show to keep the momentum going? It is the only game I truly yearn for from Xbox in general. The silence was deafening, and soon a tumorous fear began to grow in me, following Microsoft’s recent brutal layoffs.
Game Cancelations, Jobs Butchered, and an Elusive Fable(?)
Recently, Microsoft chopped out 9,000 people’s jobs despite making record profits again. One would think that if no money was lost, no people’s jobs should be. But here we are in 2025, where it feels like we are entering the endgame stage of capitalism. Both Microsoft and Nvidia are racing to the top with an evil focus on AI in favor of normal people running the show. During this wave of devastating news, it was announced that both Rare’s Everwild and the Initiative’s Perfect Dark were canceled.
While Everwild did not have anything tangible to show in 6 years, outside of its setting and art style. Perfect Dark had an incredible showing just last year, with gameplay and jaw-dropping graphics. This was a cancellation that took everyone by surprise, even though Everwild could have been a great surprise itself. But to see a project that was coming along just fine get erased before our very eyes? That is disheartening, especially when we look at Fable.
Will Fable Even Come Out?
Fable had 2 really good showings following its initial reveal. No HUD, no annoying UI clutter, the standard affair for those games. We obviously did not see anything in regards to the game’s story. But we did see plenty of characters, the townsfolk’s interactions, and ominous teases. It felt like the concepts from the original series were honored with love and care. The faith I placed in Playground and Xbox felt kindred. Then, the silence started last year.
No new trailers, teasers, or any real words were given on the state of the game. What little gameplay was released online earlier this year felt like a pacifier for a crying baby. Something to hopefully silence any disbelief. However, when the layoffs happened and the game cancellations were reported. Deep inside me, I started to worry about Fable. It was shown alongside Perfect Dark, and that got canceled. So it felt like anything could be on the chopping block behind the scenes. This feeling, however, got much worse over the last few days.
Seeing as the rumor circulated that it got pushed out to 2027 from 2025, there is reason to be concerned. Even though The Initiative had no revenue streams, Rare has Sea of Thieves, and Everwild was canceled. This means that even when a studio is making loads of money, and in the case of Playground, with Forza Horizon, the powers that be are analyzing how much money and time are being spent. If the development costs and development times are too great? The plug could always be pulled. No matter how shocking that revelation would be.
Looking for a Fantasy Elsewhere
Obviously, it is still just a rumor that has not been dispelled yet about Fable being pushed into 2027. It could release a few months after the all-but-confirmed Developer_Direct next year. No harm, no foul, but why should I have to feel like this? I was looking forward to Everwild, despite not even knowing what it was after all this time. My friend was looking forward to Perfect Dark after all the years Rare spent not utilizing any of their old IP, especially Banjo Kazooie.
After 343 Industries has beaten the goodwill out of Halo, and Gears of War is still slowly losing its relevance, there is not a lot that my friends and I can even look forward to with the Xbox brand. I feel like the last man standing that isn’t just playing online games to fill the void our once-beloved game series left within us. Fable is now a white whale of a game, not a sure thing. Will I get to play it or not? Is it going to launch in 2026 or 2027? I do not know, and I’m starting to not care anymore after 15 years of waiting.
Fable is one of the few games I grew up playing and lost track of how many times I beat. It was with me for many years, with love and care given to its preservation (outside of PC, of course). The only fantasy game I have been able to play that holds some semblance of that mystical heaviness the series has is Soulframe, despite being in its earliest stages as an online game. As I await the day more layoffs hit Microsoft, considering it feels routine at this point. I will be on the lookout for the report that Fable was canceled too, and I can finally know my childish feeling of wanting to believe in the game industry again after 2020 was spat on by people who no longer care for video games as an art form.
