Xbox's Phil Spencer knows fans are very anxious to learn more about Fable 4 and, while there isn't much to say right now, thinks fans should feel confident. In a new interview Spencer spoke highly of the team working on Fable 4, noting that Playground Games' work virtually speaks for itself, especially after its recent reveal of Forza Horizon 5.
Xbox had a major E3 conference with games like Halo Infinite, Starfield, and many others, but Fable 4 was notably absent. Given the show focused on 2021/2022 games, it seems likely it's going to be a few years before the new game in the beloved RPG series makes a return, but fans are eager to see how it turns out. It's the first entry in the Fable series to be made by a studio other than Lionhead, so there's a lot of pressure on Playground Games to get it right.
Xbox head Phil Spencer attempted to ease some anxiety in a new interview on the Dropped Frames podcast. Spencer was keen on noting that although he can't say much about the game right now, likely because Fable 4 is still a ways off, the talent of the team behind the game should speak volumes about the game.
“The only thing I can really say about Fable is, seeing the pedigree of the team and Playground, and where they set the bar for themselves in building a game—I think that showed with the Forza Horizon 5 preview that they had—I think people should just take confidence in that [studio director] Gavin [Raeburn] and the team there have that same level of focus on doing something amazing with an IP that we know is really important to a lot of Xbox fans, so we can’t wait to get to show more, but the team is just amazing.”
Of course, Xbox's E3 conference should also indicate to fans that there's plenty of quality games on the way from the first-party teams. Forza Horizon 5 won most anticipated game of the show, so clearly Playground Games is already operating at an incredibly high level. Given that the team can steal the show with its newest racing game, it's likely that Spencer wants to infer it can do the exact same thing with Fable 4, a full-blown RPG in an iconic, established franchise.
As of right now, there's no release window for Fable 4. It can probably be expected for a 2023/2024 release, but the team has been working on it for years already. Playground Games has put together an impressive group of former Rockstar, BioWare, and Gearbox developers, so clearly it has a lot of noteworthy people - including Xbox's Phil Spencer - backing the project.
Source: Dropped Frames/YouTube