One of the most anticipated (and perhaps secretive) Xbox releases is the next Fable game. All we really know at the moment is that it's been in development for at least four years now.
Although it seems the project could be well underway, the recruitment drive continues - with Playground Games apparently kicking off the New Year by hiring Toby Hynes as the game's lead character artist.
Interestingly, he's come across from Rare (another Xbox studio based in the UK) - where he was the lead character artist for Sea of Thieves and Rare's upcoming project Everwild. The previous Everwild update in December last year suggested the team was still figuring things out.
According to LinkedIn, before joining team Xbox - Hynes worked as a lead character artist at PlayStation's London Studio, Codemasters, and has had a career as an artist that stretches all the way back to Games Workshop (the creator of the tabletop RPG Warhammer) in 1996. He definitely seems like a fitting recruitment for Playground's Fable project.
When do you think we'll see Fable? Take a guess down in the comments below.
Comments 14
I'd assume that Xbox Studio's will offer a lot of opportunity to move around the 'different' studio's as and when projects and/or skills require it. For all we know, the majority of lead character work on Everwild may well be finished and now the rest of the 'work' is turning those into a cohesive and playable game. Its possible that the 'years' Everwild has been in development, that they have no 'need' right now for a Character Lead Artist as they have created all the Characters and other Character artists remaining can tweak or add a 'few' more as required.
Therefore, he could 'leave' to join Playground to take on the Lead Character artist there to help create and fill the Fable world with interesting characters. We just don't know where Everwild is at and whether or not his 'primary' role on that game was essentially finished before leaving.
Like I said, the issues with Everwild seems to be more about the direction and game-play. They seem to have created the world and artstyle, but not really established what the point of it is, what the objective or Game-play loop is, what is going to make the player 'play' in that world. Therefore, the Character and design work from a Character designer could well be 'finished' and therefore 'free' to move on to Playground.
@Medic_Alert
Totally agree Microsoft need to manage some of their studios better.
You need different management approaches and styles for different studios and projects.
Well I really like the character design and art style of Sea of Thieves so seems like a gain for Fable.
For the people doom and glooming:
You need to remember, artist positions are generally contract work to begin. That is to say, typically after preproduction has ended, the majority of artists are let go unless they're a staffer proper.
Just give us a fable release year already !!!!
Every bit of news just gets me drooling more
I have this funny image in my head of him walking across the street to join his new studio.
Rare has been somewhat slow to put out games for a while, so I don't think this changes anything. In any case, it should be interesting to see the new Fable. I really hope it turns out well.
@BAMozzy There's usually quite a cost in relocating staff to new places and getting them settled into a new office and team, so they won't want to do it to much.
However in this specific case Twyford and Leamington Spa, where Rare and Playground are located, are only about an hour away from each other.
But if working from home stays the norm some of this hassle is removed too and could happen a bit more freely.
I would expect less permanent support from other studios when teams have quieter spells assisting on other projects. We've already seen a bit of that.
@Medic_Alert 100% agree.
Also don't think we'll ever see Everwild. I'd love to be wrong if they come up with a decent gameplay concept for it's lovely visuals and thematic ideas. But it seemed doomed from the start with the approach they took, leaving gameplay till last.
@Medic_Alert Rare’s not the only offender. I hope with the Activision acquisition, Xbox will hire some or more staff to manage these studios and help keep them on track, or at least prevent announcing games potentially a full generation early.
So the hidden news in this article is basically Fable isn't anywhere close to being done.
@themightyant Of course its not 'easy' to relocate if the studio's are continents apart if that also means having to travel to that studio every day etc.
The point I was making is that no doubt MS will have these 'vacancies' listed internally so if 'devs' are looking for 'new' projects or looking to 'relocate' to a 'new' area, those 'internal' vacancies to 'move' within the MS ecosystem, rather than lose talent to other publishers. For the 'staff', it maybe 'better' than leaving MS to go work for a 'new' employer - especially if they feel 'happy' with MS but 'need' to relocate or a new challenge, maybe even feel 'wanted' if MS/Playground head hunted him to take on that Challenge of a beloved Franchise.
It helps having multiple studio's in a relatively 'small' area as the UK is to enable staff to move more easily, and with WFH now an option too, they may not have to 'physically' relocate either.
All I was trying to say though was that his 'role' at Rare on Everwild may well of 'finished' and whilst they 'work' on those Characters he created into a 'finished' game, it gave him an opportunity to move to Playground to work on Fable. Maybe when his work on Fable finishes, he could move back to Rare to help them create new characters etc for their 'next' game.
It doesn't necessarily mean Rare are 'crashing and burning' - even if they maybe 'struggling' with direction and focus of what Everwild actually 'is' but all the Characters, art and basic design could well be done so have little need of a Lead Character artist on Everwild right now. Those Characters go to Animators and level/world designers so generally are 'finished' on a game before it releases.
@BAMozzy I think you hit the nail on the head that his work at Rare on Everwild could very well be done. Creating characters is only a part each game. There is so much that goes into creating a game, that no two parts are going to finish at the same time or take as long as the next. For all we know, he had nothing left to do on Everwild. Now it’s up to everybody else to figure out the direction the game will go and complete their parts of the game as well. When that will be or if it will ever be? Only time will tell.
Q) When do you think we'll see Fable?
A) I'm hoping we'll see some of it this year but I certainly don't expect a release until 2023. It would be nice for a this year release though; the announcement of the Fable series revival is what ultimately convinced me to purchase an Xbox Series X (amongst other reasons of course).
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