Fable 4 might be announced at this year’s E3.
It’s no secret that Microsoft is up to something, and that something probably involves the Fable IP. We know that Microsoft is reeling to catch up with Nintendo and Sony in creating some memorable franchises of their own, and Fable seems to be one of the likeliest sources. To that end, Eurogamer reported that Microsoft is making a fourth Fable game with the help of Playground Games, the studio that gave us the Forza Horizon franchise.
It’s a bit of a switch to go from intensely realistic racing games to quirky and not-at-all realistic fantasy RPGs, but it wouldn’t be the first time a studio has done a complete about-face.
At 2018’s E3 conference, Xbox head Phil Spencer confirmed that Playground was working on an open-world RPG, but never uttered the name Fable. But now we’ve got some juicy new sources that say a Fable 4 is in the works, and it might be announced at this years E3.
Our first source comes from Reddit user snow9876 who posted to let us know that Fable 4 shows up in Microsoft’s Mixer streaming service as an available option during a game search for streamers. That could be a bug, or it could be a major leak.
The second source is from an industry insider calling themselves Braldryr over on NeoGAF. They somehow got a hold of Microsoft’s entire E3 media briefing and posted it there for the entire world to see.
There are lots of delightful names that appear on this list, but the one that caught our eye was Fable. But instead of calling it Fable 4, Braldryr says this new Fable will actually be a series reboot.
"I can now confirm that it is indeed a Fable game,” wrote Braldryr. “Some speculate it's actually Fable IV, but the reality is that it's a new beginning for the Fable franchise. This game started development in late 2017 and has been in development now for little over 2 years now. It is a next-gen game ONLY and you will most likely NOT see it until 2021 at retail at the earliest. You will see a glimpse of a small teaser trailer most likely at this year's E3 and in 2020 you will see much more of the game."
That’s a long wait for a new Fable game, but it makes sense that Microsoft would want to have some exclusive games to announce when launching a new game console.
We’ll find out for sure during Microsoft’s E3 press conference on June 9 at 1:00 pm PST.