Phil Spencer Hints at Fable 4's Release Date
Phil Spencer hinted at the release date for Fable 4. The chief of the Xbox brand has also assured that he thinks Playground Games will succeed in maintaining the series' light-hearted, fairytale vibe.
Xbox brand chief Phil Spencer was a guest on the Unlocked 500 podcast hosted by IGN a few days ago (see video below). The American dev said a lot about the launch of 9th-gen consoles, and also referred to the projects on which Xbox Game Studios' devteams are currently working. One such creation is Fable 4 (or simply Fable), which is a reboot of the RPG series from Lionhead Studios, developed under the supervision of the people from Playground Games. Spencer admitted that the game's release is still a long way ahead, but also provided a small hint about its date.
From his words (rewind the video to 37:37), it seems that Fable 4 will be released earlier than The Elder Scrolls VI, which is still being developed. This does not tell us too much, because the release date of the "successor to Skyrim" is also unknown, but it's worth bearing in mind that both games were announced - in 2018 and 2020 respectively - in the form of short CGI trailers. Both games were also mentioned at the very end of the Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase, held as part of this year's E3, where we also learned that Bethesda's next game, Starfield, will debut on November 22, 2022. In turn, it has long been known that TES VI will come out after the space RPG, which leads us a conclusion that Fable 4 will be released between these two games, for example, at the turn of 2023 and 2024.
We do not know much about the upcoming game from Playground Games. The above trailer suggests a vision similar to the one we know from the predecessors. Phil Spencer confirmed that we shouldn't expect dark fantasy vibes, which will be prominent in, e.g. Avowed, created by Obsidian Entertainment (also belonging to Xbox Game Studios).
"Fable's never been that [dark - ed.] The series has always been associated with a certain lightness and cheerfulness; you could call it "British". I won't give too much away by saying that Playground Games will retain that vision."
If you can't wait for the release of Fable 4, there's a thing you can to to make the waiting for it more pleasant - previous installments of the series, which recently can be found on PC, iOS and Android devices. All you need is an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription and a compatible controller, and you can launch Fable Anniversary, Fable II, and Fable III - as well as many other titles - from your browser via the Xbox Cloud Gaming open beta test.
