After the initial announcement of Playground Games' Fable RPG, which came as a bit of a surprise due to the studio being primarily known for its work on Forza Horizon games, the project's development seemingly fell by the wayside due to there being no concrete news about it afterward. A few days back, however, sources began to claim that the game may be in trouble.According to a leaker featured on the colteastwood YouTube channel, the new Fable game had to be scaled down due to ForzaTech engine troubles and Playground Games' lack of expertise when it comes to developing RPGs. These unverified claims have now been brought into question and clarified by the game's Senior Producer, Amie Loake. While the leaker didn't go so far as to suggest that Microsoft's most important RPG in production is now in development hell, the rumor mill quickly picked up and spread so quickly that Loake felt like she needed to step in. On Twitter, she explained that Fable is now in its scoping stage, with the team deciding on its vision for the project, and that this is a normal part of AAA game development. Loake also said that failing to scope projects ahead of time may lead to delays and crunch, which Playground wishes to avoid.
Playground Games' portfolio consists mainly of the admittedly wildly successful Forza Horizon games, and there's an argument to be made that the studio's racing game expertise could be handy for Fable in some way. It is, however, worth pointing out that Loake didn't comment on the claims that Playground's new RPG development team is having trouble adapting the studio's ForzaTech engine for an entirely new genre.
At this time, Playground Game's long-awaited RPG has no official release window, though a 2024 launch would make sense for Fable as the year will mark the 20th anniversary of the franchise. Regardless of whether the leaks are correct about the potentially troubled development of the game, it's feasible that Playground could have the project wrapped up by then.
One of the more popular ongoing theories is that Fable might get featured on Xbox Games Showcase alongside Bethesda's own Starfield, though there's no telling yet whether that's going to be the case. If the game is now being scoped and streamlined, though, it's not very likely that Playground Games has much to show for it just yet.
Fable is in development for PC and Xbox Series X/S.