Fable 3 had a lot of cuts, meaning a lot of content was removed in order to release the game on time. There was also talk of a sequel at the time, but nothing came of it. Peter Molyneux, one of the founders of Lionhead studio and the game’s lead designer, spoke about this in an interview with The Gamer magazine.
Peter Molyneux noted that the first two Fable games sold very well, but talk of Fable 3 makes his heart ache because after Lionhead was acquired by Microsoft, despite support, the developers were put under tight deadlines and were forced to cut much of the game to release it on time.
The problem was that we became completely owned by Microsoft. After the success of Fable 2, Microsoft told us: “Great job, guys. But next time, do it on time.” That’s not how we worked. We weren’t working on super-detailed design documents. We would create a game, play it, go back to work on it, play it, go back to work on it, and so on. And this makes it very difficult to plan time.
In fact, the development process for Fable 3 went more smoothly than other titles, thanks to a larger budget, which also allowed for the hiring of several real craftsmen. The problem was the deadlines, which were considered impossible. In the end, the game launched on time, but Lionhead did not allow it to reach its full potential. Molyneux:
We met the deadline and Microsoft patted us on the back. But the game turned out to be a third less than it could have been.
But what was cut? According to Molyneux, the final part was particularly reworked, with some important events reduced to simple choices or reduced to mini-games. In addition, most of the plot was removed:
The first third of the game was intended to represent the player’s rise to power, with the next two thirds focusing on the responsibilities that power brings. We had to cut so much that we turned everything into ten mini-games.
During the development of Fable 3, there was talk of a Fable 4, but the development team was undecided on the setting, given that the third episode already featured modern elements. As a result, the idea was shelved to avoid complications.
