Forza Horizon Dev Tapped For New Fable Game Says Report

Up until now, it seemed like the mainline Fable series had been put to bed for good. Microsoft shut down Lionhead Studios in 2016, and ever since Fable 3's release way back in 2010, we've only received spin off titles that don't really do much to capture the original trilogy's feel. That may all change shortly, as new rumors claim that Microsoft is looking to revisit the Fable series and has a new game in development.

With Lionhead now a thing of the past and series creator Peter Molyneux off on other (just as controversial) endeavors, who's going to make the game? As it turns out, Microsoft has apparently tapped Playground Games, the team behind the Forza Horizon series, to make this new Fable game. So say anonymous sources speaking to Eurogamer, at any rate.

Playground certainly has its work cut out for it if it wants to pick up the Fable series. Microsoft doesn't have access to most of the original Fable assets after it shut down Lionhead, which means that this new Fable game will be something of a reboot for the series. Playground is said to be in the process of expanding to handle the title, suggesting that we're still in the very early stages of development and probably shouldn't expect to see anything official any time soon.

Interestingly enough, we have a PlayStation-exclusive title to thank for this rumored Fable revival. Those anonymous sources claim that Microsoft was inspired to revisit the Fable franchise after the launch of Horizon Zero Dawn, which makes sense because that ended up being one of the best PS4 games of 2017. The prospect of a Fable game that takes inspiration from Horizon Zero Dawn is certainly an exciting one, especially for longtime Fable fans who thought that the series lost its way with Fable III.

Obviously, nothing in this report has been confirmed, and when asked for more information, Microsoft fell back on its usual line about how it doesn't comment on rumors or speculation. As I said, if such a game exists, we're probably not going to hear anything about it for quite some time, so now we play the waiting game. In the meantime, head down to the comments section and let us know if you'd be interested in playing a new Fable title.