Fable has been deep in development by Forza Horizon dev Playground Games for some time now, and it seems Xbox has decided to draft in some extra help. According to a new report from Bloomberg, Deus Ex developer Eidos Montreal is assisting on Fable's development.
Reporter Jason Schreier then followed up on Twitter, adding a bit more context to proceedings. Schreier says that while the Montreal-based Onoma studio is closing down within Embracer Group, Eidos is intact and has started work on a new IP and a new Deus Ex title, alongside its partnership with Playground Games.
We've seen very little on Fable since the game's announcement way back in 2020. In fact, we've not seen any real gameplay on Playground's reboot thus far, but we're hopeful that this news may move things on a little quicker.
Xbox seems to be working quite closely with Embracer's new Western studios, then. Another of the Swedish company's recently acquired teams, Crystal Dynamics, is helping The Initiative bring Perfect Dark to life at Xbox.
What do you make of this news? Excited to see Fable in action? Let us know your thoughts.
[source bloomberg.com, via windowscentral.com]
Comments 19
Quite alarming honestly that another Microsoft led studio has to draft in outside help once again. Then again, I'd love a new Fable but were Playground Games really the best fit in the first place? Microsoft should never have closed Lionhead Studios either.
@pip_muzz TBH... I wouldn't consider it alarming. It just how modern game development is. It took 9 studios to develop God of War Ragnarok.
@AverageGamer Having seen what's happened with Rare and 343i under MS' banner, as much as I love my Xbox, there's a genuine question mark over their ability to manage studios.
This game is so far away…
I feel like I've already read somewhere that Eidos Montreal was used as helping talent. I guess it's honest work.
Having PGG work on Fable was and still is a weird choice. Wouldn't be surprised if the game development is progressing alarmingly slow.
@pip_muzz I'm happy to wait and see the fruits of these partnerships then judge - my hope is when they realised the management issues, those in senior positions who have a track record of delivery came up with ideas like this to improve output...
@pip_muzz The only questionable developer has been 343. Rare has done well... You may not like what they did with nut or bolts, or that they decided to make kinect games. But I have enjoyed stuff like Grabbed by the Ghoulies, Kameo, Viva Piñata and Sea of thieves.
I doubt this is cause for concern. They could simply be cranking out some art assets to speed up production.
Im a little skeptical that this will capture the spirit of the originals, but ill give it a chance to be its own thing.
Ok seriously, I'll be the one to ask I guess....
What have they actually gotten done with this game?
I'm starting to question whether ANY of the 700 games Microsoft announced in 2019 are actually being worked on, or if this is all just them trying to maximize game pass subscriptions (look at all these games we SWEAR we're working on!!) This game should be nearly done and they're still bringing in support studios? Why are they SO bad at delivering games? It legitimately doesn't make sense at this point. Sony and Nintendo manage to get games out all the time comparatively. 2023 better be STUFFED with games or something is seriously wrong...
@armondo36 @AverageGamer In my opinion, Rare has lost a lot of the charm and magic their games had in the SNES and N64 days. I can’t honestly say I’d give any of their games since being on the Microsoft banner an 8/10 or better. I’ll admit that I can admire Sea of Thieves for what it is, even if I don’t find it enjoyable in the slightest.
And armondo, I agree 100%. I’ve been saying it on the site all year. There seems to be issues with management. Xbox shouldn’t be making excuses for their production unless they’ve got a really robust lineup incoming. It does indeed feel that all the announcements were made to increase Gamepass subs rather than announcing anything that was coming in the near future. I just don’t appreciate the stretched truth we get from Xbox as a brand these days. At least Gamepass is finally starting to pick up in the quality of their content…
The only cause for concern is the fact that Embracer is downsizing them. They appear to be turning into a support studio and that’s more concerning on that end.
That said plenty of studios are support studios for other ones. I’m not sure why people think this is weird. What do you Splash Damage does usually? Hmm? What do you think Certain Infinity is doing?
@pip_muzz in truth this is the most studios and projects going at one time in the History of Xbox. They used to have around 5 studios that only worked on Gears, Halo and Forza. With the exception to Halo and 343, the other two studios were very in tune with how and what they made. Now Xbox is trying it’s hand in different genres and 3X the amount of studios and that’s without ABK. So there could and looks to be some growing pains there. But nothing that the company won’t and can’t get a better grasp on. It’s nothing but exciting to see Xbox have all these studios and what they can accomplish when they settle into their new roles.
I'm going to buy 17 copies of the new Deus Ex
Honestly if you haven't played the fable trilogy i really recommend it. They are old school but ever so addictive. I loved them!
All those studios Microsoft has & they need help from 3rd party developers management should really be fired by now lol
Microsoft NEEDS to nail this Fable game.
It's one of the best and most unique IPs they have that they need to nurture right now.
@Would_you_kindly support studios is a normal practice, it took 9 studios to make the new god of war for example. Should management be fired there aswell? Obviously not.
I can't wait for this new Fable racing game. The Ray Tracing on the new Forza looks amazing so I hope they use the same engine.
@BrilliantBill this year has been incredibly poor from xbox 1st party, everyone would admit that, but last year they released a bunch of games and even won metacritic publisher of the year I believe
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