The Fable fandom has been waiting for news, and a bittersweet announcement has finally dropped. Fable’s reboot, which was announced to be made by the former Forza Horizon developer Playground Games back in 2020, has been slowly cooking in the background ever since. It occasionally shows up at Microsoft conferences, but the last news of substance was its 2025 release window, and that just slipped further out. Now, Fable is due for 2026 instead, though a minute of pre-alpha gameplay footage was released to tide fans over as the wait for the franchise’s return continues.
Despite these conditions, the Fable series has kept loyal fans thanks to its strong start back on the original Xbox under the original developer Lionhead Studios. The original Fable trilogy on the Xbox and Xbox 360 are the highlights of the series in many players’ eyes, and there are hopes that the new Fable will help return the series to its former glory, even with all the development troubles that seem to be getting in its way. There is an upside to Fable’s current situation, however, and that is the potentially thinner herd of fantasy RPGs in 2026.
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Why Fable is More Important Than Elder Scrolls 6 or Avowed
Amidst a sea of projects picked up through acquisitions, the Fable reboot could prove that the Xbox’s old franchises aren’t tapped yet.
There Are Too Many 2025 Fantasy RPGs For Fable To Thrive
Xbox Alone Has Too Many RPGs For Fable To Compete
Even just a couple of months into 2025, the year is already looking as stacked with fantasy RPGs as 2024 did with big-name turn-based ones. Avowed has already hit store shelves from Obsidian, and rumor has it that Bethesda will be following it up with a remake of The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion sometime later in the year. That is already a crazy lineup if it’s true, and more than checks the boxes for 2025’s AAA fantasy RPGs out of Microsoft and the industry in general. If Fable was given a holiday release, it still might have competed with its cousins.
Competing with The Elder Scrolls and a direct Elder Scrolls imitator is a bad idea in a light gaming year, and 2025 may go on to host the Nintendo Switch 2’s launch and the release of Grand Theft Auto 6. Fable might be part of Xbox’s star stable, but just because it joined the Xbox umbrella before The Elder Scrolls doesn’t mean it can compete in such an unpredictable environment. The Fable series’ signature subversive humor and large emphasis on player choice is better appreciated with room to soak it all in, which no part of 2025’s fantasy RPG space seems keen on providing.
Fable Would Have Had Challengers On All Sides In 2025
AAA is one thing, but fantasy RPGs have even more coming this year than the biggest names. The medieval life sim RPG Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is already making waves, and there’s plenty more coming down the pipeline. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is an approaching fantasy RPG that’s seen a strong Microsoft push, and other third-party multiplatform games like Suikoden 1 & 2 HD Remaster, Dragon Quest 1 & 2 HD-2D Remake, and Crimson Desert will dot the rest of the year. Throw in Nintendo and the Summer Game Fest’s mystery announcements, and Fable might not have a minute to breathe.
2026 Is An Ideal Time For Fable To Launch
Getting delayed for another year hurts, especially after spending years in limbo already, but this may be the best move for Fable to get a fair shot. There’s probably not going to be any Witcher titles ready for 2026, so with the PlayStation and Xbox first-party slates looking thin for the rest of the year, Fable can lead the charge once it’s good and in the clear. Between Playground Games, its support studios on the project, and the wishes of fans, something good may yet emerge from this Fable project.
- Released
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2025
- ESRB
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t
- Publisher(s)
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Xbox Game Studios
