Xbox Has Officially Delayed Fable Into 2026

I wonder if the results of delaying Avowed has played into this? Extra time for extra polish.

Not a problem. Make it great.

Disappointing but it's better for a game to be released when it's ready

Not surprising news, honestly. I feel like they've shown way too little of it, considering that it was supposedly coming out this year and how far back they announced it. More time in development hopefully means a better game though.

For anyone disappointed in the delay: at least you know it'll come out sooner than The Elder Scrolls VI 🤷

Edit: also, Fable fans, be thankful it's only been delayed. Wonder Woman fans reportedly haven't been so lucky, although not as unlucky as Monolith.

Do they get me wrong, games should be released when they are ready, but I do think it's funny we've been talking about how Xbox seems to have gotten its pipeline sorted and now their biggest (known) game of the year isn't coming the year.

This is my surprised face. I'm really surprised, everyone.

Not surprising considering GTA6 is still scheduled for Fall 2025.

@abe_hikura With Avowed, Doom, and Call Of Duty, I'm not sure Fable was their biggest known game coming this year.

Shame, but it'l be worth the wait 110%. Not only that but this year is absolutely stacked for Xbox as is. Looking forward to the summer showcase.

Need a great game to launch the new console with.....

Overall thought it wasn't realistically going to release this year. It's also not a big deal because there are already loads of big games coming out this year.

Noooooooooo

That was expected and understandable, game lineup is still quite solid for this year but being revealed in 2020 and launch in 2026 is just wild lol

Not too surprising considering we haven't seen gameplay yet.

Amazing news! Since Xbox already has game of the year rpg this year (Avowed), it makes total sense to push Fable to next year, so they dont cannibalize awards from each other.

I knew this would be the one to get bumped out of the year. Sad but not unexpected. Very excited for it though.

Also I think 2026 and onwards games will launch day one on PS. So expect that now…

Ah that stinks. Is what it is though. I'll keep myself busy with switch 2 in 2025 hopefully...

If you take a look back at some of the recent articles, I have said time and again that Fable would not be out this year. No gameplay at all as of yet, very little shown beyond some cgi trailers. Anyone that honestly believed the game would be out this year was a little misguided, perhaps having inhaled some hopeium. Tis a shame though as I am actually quite looking forward to this game.

Question is, will this now be a launch title for the Prime in Fall 2026...

Yeah I’d keep that clear away from GTA 6 window too

I knew something was up when it wasn't in the Dev_Direct. Maybe that's why they showed off Expedition 33 instead.

Give Playground the time they need to make Fable amazing...
This year was already stacked with games from XGS, Avowed just launched then there's Doom, Outer Worlds 2, South of Midnight, possibly another COD, it will be a fantastic year for Xbox and gamers in general 😀.

Edit: All of the above plus the myriad of great third-party games.

Again......it's ANOTHER example of publisher NOT FOLLOWING the 6 Month Rule.

I can not stress this enough. If every publisher followed that rule. It be such a better experience for EVERY ONE involved.

That's just fine. Make this game the best it can be! There is lots coming from Xbox and third parties this year to keep me busy!

Unsurprising. A shame but it is what it is

Was always pretty obvious this was unlikely to land in 2025. Its never felt like it was close to being ready which is why we only saw cinematics and looks at this celeb we have in the game. 2026 is fine, there are loads of game this year anyway across the various platforms, more than most could play.

@Fiendish-Beaver I still doubt the Next / Prime will be a 2026 lauch, 2027 at the earliest would be my guess and I would bet the PS6 won't be to far behind it.

Awww I’m sad now. Always better to delay than rush out a buggy mess though, of course.

Hopefully Gears of War can fill in the empty void this leaves behind?

More time is always good so no issues with that but I'm wondering if this is more to get as far away from GTA6 than anything else. They keep claiming GTA is coming in 2025, no one believes it....but maybe it's actually a thing. Either way, not like Xbox has a shortage of games and this actually hurts their lineup.

Wonder what will be the fall game now? Guess Outer Worlds 2. 🤷‍♂️

That's a good sign, it's an ambitious game. They're taking the time to release a good game and not rushing it. We'll wait.

If I were Xbox, I would wait to release the new console alongside games like Fable, gears e-day, forza horizon 6, etc... . They absolutely need a strong line-up for the next-gen launch, which is what they lacked for the Xbox Series.

From the information available at this point, it didn't look that interesting, so the postponement seems like good news.

Please change the main protagonist who is not so quick.

@GuyinPA75 if you mean aim to publicly announce within 6 months of being ready to ship, I absolutely agree. Fable is following the 6 year rule and it sucks. Over half a decade. Microsoft announces games waaaaayyy too early.

Now it’s a race between this game and Metroid Prime 4 as to which will release first.

It's nice that xbox is finally in a position where a delay doesnt really matter anymore. They are already an earlier favorite for publisher of the year without Fable. They have a ridiculous release schedule for the rest of the year and 2026.

Remember the halo infinite or starfield delay when nothing else was remotely close to coming out.

@Ken_Kaniff forgot about that one. Yeah that’s probably going to be it. I was thinking Gears of War maybe, but that one seems like a 2026 release too as we only have a pre-rendered trailer - even less than we’ve seen for Fable.

Have to say I'm disappointed it's been delayed but at least hopefully it will be working perfectly when it does get released!!

@dskatter you had me terrified for a moment there that Metroid Prime 4 had also been delayed, but it’s still on course for 2025 AFAWK - phew 😮‍💨

@andrewsqual Series s troubled development strikes yet again.

Eh? Speculation at its finest, no?

But but but the Xbox roadmap

Except, the Xbox roadmap is stacked, absolutely stacked...

and PS has no games

Not sure how that ties into Fable, at all lol.

CALLED IT. Ghost of Yotei, the SEQUEL to Ghost of Tsushima that of which released the SAME WEEK that Fable was announced, will be out before Fable even gets a confirmed release month.

Two completely different types of games with two completely different types of gameplay systems and tiers of depth. That comparison makes no sense whatsoever.

@Cakefish I mean, it COULD happen, but I’m absolutely assuming 2026 unless it ends up being a Switch 2 launch title somehow!

GTA 6 is the only proper answer to this

Overall delays are bad news but honestly with their current line up thats fine. Avowed was pushed to feb so it allowed us to enjoy indy, bo6 and stalker last year.
Maybe they push for early 2026 or smth.

I really hope they have something for second half of the year except OW2

@abe_hikura the biggest game this year aside cod will be Doom. Without a doubt.

@Fiendish-Beaver i wanna see your reaction if xbox prime is not releases in 2026 lol. You seem like a 1000% sure it does.

Also both e-day and fable will be on SX and likely ps5. So I am not even sure there will be any proper launch titles available only on next gen. Especially if they launch earlier than ps6.

I could see this coming a mile away. The Outer World 2 will be the winter game for Xbox. They will give it a date when GTA 6 gets it's date. Either September if GTA 6 in November, or November if GTA 6 gets pushed into 2026 (likely).

@andrewsqual yet I suppose the infamous PS roadmap of games with exact dates and release windows: wolverine, intergalactic, marathon and such look way better?

@andrewsqual Quit trolling.

I doubt it but I hope this means Forza Horizon 6 is coming this year.

I am surprised PX didn't link the video since it shows actual [HUDless] gameplay snippets (for those complaining there hasn't been any gameplay footage).

@andrewsqual Pointless post, wouldn't you be better off on a PlayStation site.?

Guessing they had this announcement pinned to their calendar since the beginning: "Q1 2025: Announce move to 2026."

@dskatter I’m expecting Prime 4 to be cross-gen most likely, it’s already been confirmed for original Switch for years so definitely not a Switch 2 exclusive.

@andrewsqual Series s was a mistake, there is nothing to speculate.

Except that's exactly what you're doing. Speculating...

Xbox roadmap is stacked. Don't we know. Everwild, State of Decay 3, Perfect Dark, more vaporware basically.......... STACKED.

Avowed. DOOM. SoM. And that's just up to Q2 assuming Tony Hawks 3/4 don't drop too. We don't even know what's coming past that until the Summer Showcase. Xbox are in a place where they're having to delay their own games to make space for others. Their lineup is insanely packed.

They are two triple AAA games that would take multiple years to make. One's development cycle is a complete mess by one of the worst mismanaging game makers out there, the other isn't. Don't over analyze it.

Lol c'mon man. What the heck. That is the most nonsensical statement I've read all month. Comparing two games and putting them in the same proverbial basket just because they're AAA is bonkers. They're two completely different experiences with radically different systems, worlds, depths, and functionalities. Playground are an amazing dev. You seem to be confusing them with Turn10, maybe?.. That's not overanalyzing anything, that's simplifying your outlandish remark.

This is the game I'm most hyped for. Loved the fable series when growing up. I'd rather a delay, than a broken game.

Clever to announce the delay whilst most of the target audience is enjoying Avowed!
Nobody likes delays, but I'm assuming it's to allow the game to reach its full potential, so I'm glad they are not rushing it...

Not surprised. Because these days, it takes 5, 10, 15, maybe even 20 years to make a game.

At this point, the xbox roadmap looks like the roadrunner cartoon where it looks like a road………… but it’s just painted on a screen……….. with a massive cliftop fall waiting🤣🤣🤣

Edit out the trash and add a character creator please. I'm out if I'm forced to play as that shown default "character".

@Kaloudz
And what was we saying at the weekend about Fable and probably a delay to 2026 and we didn’t mind for more polish.

@OldGamer999 Did we jinx it? 😦

@Kaloudz
No we just visionaries 🤣

I was kind of expecting it to be a 2026 game with Avowed, Doom, South of Midnight and no doubt a 'new' Call of Duty coming this year - that's 4 games or the '1 a quarter' that MS want at a 'minimum'.

Of course they may have other games - not necessarily all 1st Party and with GTA6 coming out too, the opportunity to dedicate more time to Fable may prove beneficial in the long term. Of course some will be disappointed its delayed, but at least its not Cancelled and the Studio closed down - like Wonder Woman and Monolith Studio's!!

I'm actually fine with this. For one thing, i expected it (what's a big xbox release without at least ONE delay?), and Secondly, for once there seems to be a lot of games releasing this year. Finally, I'm fairly certain this delay is more about GTA 6 than anything, so I get it. I wouldn't release my game anywhere NEAR that game.

@OldGamer999 🤣🤣 Gunna be using that one on the wife every time she blames me for jinxing something.

Argh man. Another studio gets the axe - Monolith games shut by Warner Bros and Wonder Woman cancelled - plus two more Warner Bros studios shuttered. The industry is volatile these last few years 😔

Yeah I had zero expectation it was gonna keep that 2025 launch date. It also just didn't need to with Xbox now having such a good lineup and no longer being reliant on any big single game launching. 2026 is also just a really good year for Fable as it's one of the staple OG Xbox titles. A new Fable game after all these years during Xbox's 25th anniversary is just perfect. If Xbox is also releasing Gears E-Day as rumored then that'd also be huge. There's also the less likely rumors of the nextBox dropping in 2026. Whatever reality is Xbox has the tools to make their quarter of a century anniversary massive.

to the surprise of absolutely nobody haha! I don't care though, as long as it's good!

@Kaloudz Is this real? Monolith was my favorite WB Games studio and the last one I had faith in. The Wonder Woman Game was literally my last hope in WB Games after Gotham Knights, Suicide Squad Kill the Justice League, and Mortal Kombat 1 all disappointed me. And Multiversus just embarrassed me. How does a game CHOOSE to fumble that hard when it already found success in the cutthroat live service games market?

I'm really scared for WB every since they merged with Discovery (though AT&T had been floating getting rid of WB Games back when they purchased WB). I still can't believe this nonsense. AT&T bought WB for some reason (I remember when the news was talking about that massive purchase), but they went into stupid amounts of debt to do so. Then they remembered they were a communications company and didn't really know what to do with them AND COVID happened ruining WB's biggest money maker. Now they've spun them off with Discovery and idk if the CEO changed but originally discovery for some reason was put in charge. Oh and they also gave the new WBDiscovery all their debt. Like WTF is this ****show? WB's fumbles are their own, but they also have the sword of Damocles hanging over them as last I checked the only real goal the company has is getting rid of its debt.

Well, @Millionski, if it doesn't happen in 2026, I shall just quote Phil Spencer, and say plans change! 😉

I agree that E-Day will go to the PlayStation. I actually think it might be a launch title for both the Prime in 2026, and then the PS6 in 2027, though I do also agree that it will be available on the previous generations too...

@WildConcept6 1000% my man. They axed Wonder Woman and shut three studios (including Monolith) stating that they need to focus on experiences from their flagship IP (Harry Potter, MK, Game of Thrones, and one other title I can't recall). Was just announced an hour or so ago 😭

It's the market, it's just so expensive to maintain a studio. One team takes too long to make a game or makes a flop and it's game over. Look at Crytek closing a studio and halting Crysis 4. It's horrendously expensive to game dev these days, even for the bigger companies (case in point - WB). Such a shame.

@FatGuyInLilCoat I mean if we're including things like CoD, no Microsoft original ever will be their top game for a year ever again.

@abe_hikura Was fable their biggest game this year? In terms of AAA we have confirmed (and one released) Avowed, Doom Dark Ages, Outer Wilds 2, and Ninja Gaiden 2. 2 in the first half and 2 in the second half. At the end of the day all of those are the same price to gamers and different gamers will have a different answer for which IP they care about the most. Realistically, I'd say that Doom is a far bigger IP and will have a bigger impact on release within the gaming culture compared to Fable. Fable is maybe still the only Xbox and PC exclusive (using the word exclusive loosely cuz Xbox hasn't really had exclusives since like what 2015? Whenever they started same day PC releases and especially when they included Steam and not just their Xbox PC App). But like Microsoft themselves have said they don't care much about that anymore. Plus as a publisher that's just another reason why Doom would be a bigger release.

Honestly I was curious where they'd even put Fable especially with the monster GTA VI coming. The Outer Worlds 2 is probably fall (though I'd be glad for a summer release) and Ninja Gaiden 4 was already confirmed for fall. There will also be a COD release in fall (which let's be real that'll be their biggest first party release 😂).

@andrewsqual
You even played Avowed? This game is special…..haven’t been into a game like this for very long time. I don’t care about reviews or Game of the Year. To be able to play this game on game pass with my subscription 🤯

@Kaloudz That is awful. Also to focus on big franchises? Monolith had previously made the most critically successful and beloved Middle Earth/Lord of the Rings games. They were building a Wonder Woman game. If they're including Game of Thrones as a flagship IP (which I don't even remember a game from), then both of those are bigger IP than Mortal Kombat. Also Monolith is the only studio to have proven to be able to handle the dark fantasy action RPG. They'd be insanely good at doing Game of Thrones games or tackling more DC Properties.

I know the industry itself is volatile. I'm just also saying that WBDiscovery is in of itself incredibly volatile. We've already seen them cancel so many movie projects and just erase shows from existence to save whatever pennies they could. They've also just been making really dumb decisions. In general for the company now they're narrow mindedly focused on getting rid of the debt they've been stuck with, but doing so at the cost of long term success and growth. Like I said I'm really worried about WB's future. WB Games in my eyes can't really afford to lose a studio like Monolith and cancel something as exciting as a Wonder Woman game developed by them after literally every single game they've released has flopped for I don't even know how long now. Maybe MK1 pleased them, but that game has utterly failed to make a splash and is getting beat by player count by far older fighting games. The only real success I can think of in recent years for them is Hogwarts Legacy. I don't know how WBDiscovery can look at their current state of game launches and say "Yeah, let's cancel the studio that made those great Lord of the Rings games and throw away their work on this Action RPG Wonder Woman game." other than because they themselves have volatile money issues. Like the industry has a problem and WBDiscovery has additional financial issues specifically on top of that.

That said, you know with all the chatter over AI taking everyone's job, I kinda feel people have forgot the gaming industry is nuking jobs and we're seeing more studio closures and layoffs right now regardless. AI isn't coming in to finish that game instead of humans. It's just getting canceled. As has been the case for quite a while now (going on 2-3 years; covid was the storm (that was really good for some studios and parts of the industry and really bad for others (there were a lot of closures then and that really forced the shift away from brick and mortar game stores)) before the storm).

@Onlyboxmatters 😂😂😂

@Rog-X Ask yourself why you troll on pushsquare and you have your answer as to why andrewsqual is on here trolling.

It's gonna be for the Nex-box. Honestly would make a great cross gen game if it means we get more powerful hardware to give us 4k 120-240fps across all new games. As much as I wanna move to PC I still have hope for Xbox

@Fiendish-Beaver nah man. You dont lie like Spencer. You are better. A man of the word

Take your time. Make it great!

@Kilamanjaro 4K and 120-240fps on the next Xbox? Don't get your hopes up.

@Cakefish Agreed. No way E-Day makes it this year. Imo

This game is 6 years in the making. And Microsoft said Scalebound took too long. 😑

Too bad. Fable is one of the Xbox titles i was excited to see more of. But i understand their decision. Let them cook! 👨🏻‍🍳

Ok…so AC Shadows, south of midnight and Ghost of Yotei are my tentpole 4K Twins games. Well, means I can focus on smaller games and try to take a weedwhacker to my Switch backlog. Delays can mean better product.

With so many games coming out this year, its saver. And i rather have a delayed game, than a buggy game.

@WildConcept6 Totally agree with the vast majority of what you put bud. They just threw out an article on the matter today here. I'm confused about Game of Thrones too. Far as I can remember, there was only Game of Thrones (Telltale) and a random Game of Thrones game that came out before (I believe) season 1 or 2, neither of which did well.

The nemesis system would have been fantastic in a game like Game of Thrones though, so shuttering Monolith makes zero sense to me.

XBOX has already a great line up for 2025 with many day one releases on Game Pass, which are either first party or third party game. I prefer Fable not to be released in 2025 if they want more time to polish and optimize the game for a good release in 2026.

We should give developers more time to create good games with no technical problems that will require huge update-hot fixes after the release. We have already seen many AAA game released with a lot of bugs which is the reason for many negative reviews and bad first impression that ruins the whole reputation - even if the game was good in terms of gameplay and writing.

Redfall, Starfield, Star Wars Outlaws are a few examples of AAA games which have received negative reviews because of a bad release with many bugs/bad optimization.

@husker42c I will begin crying immediately.
I do currently get 4k 120fps on Halo Infinite and Hunt 1896 pretty consistently so hoping it's easier for devs to enable this but let's see where the future takes us

I think Avowed flopping has a lot to do with this. Probably changing the direction a bit.

@Skedaddle Sure dude whatever you want to think lol