It was back in 2020 when Playground Games, the developer known for its Forza Horizon racing series, surprise-announced that it would be in charge of bringing back the Fable franchise for Xbox fans. News about this reboot has been sparse, with a few trailers landing over the years during Xbox games showcases. While the latest trailer revealed a 2025 launch window for the title, the fantasy RPG has now been officially delayed to 2026.
The announcement arrived via the official Xbox Podcast that had Head of Xbox Game Studios Craig Duncan attending.
"We previously announced the date for Fable as 2025, we are actually going to give Fable more time and it's going to ship in 2026 now," says Duncan regarding the sudden delay announcement. "While I know that's not maybe the news people want to hear, what I want to assure people of is that it's definitely worth the wait."
While it's bad news for Xbox fans, some new gameplay footage of Fable was also shown off during the podcast. Embedded below at the time they begin, around the 16-minute mark in the podcast, the pre-alpha footage has shots of cities, horse riding, open environments, combat with humans and fantastical creatures, and more. Most importantly, there's even a chicken-kicking scene included here:
Duncan also went on to describe what he's played of the game during his visits to Playground Games:
Yeah, and I've played some aspects of it that are in the city based, and again, I'm trying to be very careful that I don't spoil anything. Ralph and the team won't forgive me if I spoil something. But I played some of the city elements, I played some of the quests, I played some of the combat, I played a boss battle, I've used magic. Like it felt amazing, and I had a great time, and again, I remember the originals and the scene, I've played that in game play. I'm not going to spoil the backstory of what's going on, but as you can see, genuinely beautiful. Plays great.
Playground Games' Fable is releasing sometime in 2026 for Xbox Series X|S, PC, as well as on Xbox Game Pass subscriptions. With the delay, and considering Microsoft's latest multi-platform ventures, the title may become another day-one PlayStation 5 launch, too.
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