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Fable IV: What we know about the potential new episode of the series – News

It is well known: those who scrutinize JV news like to get lost in business and hunt down any information. The case of the Fable series is no exception to the rule. The license, a figurehead of Microsoft in the mid-2000s, has not given any sign of life since the late Fable Legends, canceled in 2016 and causing in its wake the closure of Lionhead, historic studio behind the license. And it’s not the Fable Fortune card game that will keep fans happy. But for some time now, several indications have suggested that a new canonical episode is under way. So that it could be announced in July, during the presentation of the first party games of the Series X. So, well-founded argument or vain hope? Here’s what we know.

The first Fable

The indications concerning a new Fable have been particularly insistent in recent days. Microsoft recently renewed the trademark from the Serie. A practice of a confusing banality in the industry in order to be able to exploit an IP on the long term. But which is accompanied for this case, as noted IGN, of a positive response to the mention “intention of use”.

Shortly before, on Twitter, it’s a placeholder de Fable who is discovered (place kept on social networks to ensure a precise account identifier) ​​by Tom Warren, of the media The Verge. To give you something to grind, the page in question is followed by a Microsoft employee. But to believe Aaron Greenberg, marketing manager at Xbox, there would be nothing to be excited about:

I know that everyone would love to have information (especially on Fable, editor’s note), but sorry to give you false hopes. These accounts have been inactive for years, this is the usual procedure to secure the social identifiers of our IPs – Aaron Greenberg, marketing manager at Xbox, on the Fable placeholder

An answer which will not be enough to invalidate the hypothesis of a new Fable. Because beyond the registered trademarks and placeholders, it is above all certain hirings and surveys that suggest a new episode of the series. A bundle of clues that converges on Playground Games, studio bought by Microsoft in 2018 and known for the Forza Horizon series. But who has been working for some time on an RPG still secret.

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Playground in control?

Two years ago, Eurogamer who drops the bomb. According to their information, a new “big budget” Fable is in development at Playground, in their second British studio in Warwickshire. The media talks about an “open world RPG, focused on storytelling” with 200 employees on board. A project therefore very different from Fable Legends, asymmetrical multiplayer game, game as a service and all the fuss. Also according to Eurogamer, Microsoft would have been inspired by big solo games like Horizon : Zero Dawn.

If Xbox has really bet on Playground, it’s a rather daring choice. Since its creation in 2010, the British studio has exclusively worked on Forza Horizon, even if the team has demonstrated its mastery of the open world over the episodes. But going from a racing game to an RPG cannot be improvised. And that’s exactly what it said Ralph Fulton, creative director at Playground. He expressed himself in the columns of GamesIndustry, when Playground formalized its second studio:

We feel that we have gotten pretty good at racing games over the years. We can always improve (…) but we would like to prove ourselves in a different genre. This is another goal of Project 2 (the unannounced RPG, editor’s note). To enable us to do this, we will have to hire very talented people with experience that we do not have – Ralph Fulton, creative director chez Playground Games, pour GamesIndustry

Fable IV: What we know about the potential new episode of the series

Logo de Playground Games

That to hire, Playground will hire. And not just anyone. In 2018, we learned that the studio was recruiting Martin Lancaster, narrative director at Rocksteady (the three Batman : Arkham) or chief animator Chris Goodall from Ninja Theory (Lightblade, DMC : Devil May Cry). Last year, other names of big studios came to complete the list, with in particular the arrival of Michael Leone of Rockstar San Diego and Neil Davis of Rockstar North. One will be the main technical designer and the other will take care of the lighting on the famous mystery project.

Announced this year and released in 2021?

Other clues suggest that it is Fable behind the “Project 2”: of lionhead alumni arriving at Playground and insistent hall noises about Will stay especially. Rumors that often speak of a “Fable IV”, as briefly listed last year on Mixer, Microsoft’s streaming platform – including the closing has recently been announced. Other hypotheses and alleged leaks also circulate on the canvas. But none has yet been proven.

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Microsoft has in any case several times asserted its love for the series as well as his will to bring her back. But when ? The presentation of the Series X first party games, planned for this month of July, seems to be the ideal timing. Especially since last year, Matt Booty, head of the Xbox studios, had clearly indicated to Eurogamer that 2020 would be the good time for Fable:

Eurogamer : I know a lot of Fable fans today (at the Xbox conference of E3 2019, note) who were hoping for a little something. Matt Booty : Like I said … a lot of good things are going on behind the scenes for next year. I hope to see you again in a year.

As for the game’s release date, this year seems a bit premature. If we trust when the second Playground studio (in charge of RPG) launched, the British team has been working on the game for at least three years – pre-production could have started earlier. In addition, in his article, Eurogamer claims that the new Fable is being viewed as a “break” from the old episodes, and that it is therefore unlikely that Playground will reuse Lionhead’s assets on Fable Legends. An exit in 2021 minimum therefore seems plausible. Answer (we hope) during the speech of Xbox this month, whose date is long overdue.

Profile of Indee, Jeuxvideo.com

By Indee, Journalist jeuxvideo.com

MP

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