The Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase, 2022's Xbox E3 event equivalent, is planned to go live on June 12 at 10:00 AM PT. This year's show remains a mystery, with Xbox's lineup for late 2022 and 2023 still largely up in the air. There's a line-up of notable games in development, including Indiana Jones, Redfall, The Outer Wilds 2, Hellblade 2, and more, but release dates are hard to come by. Unfortunately, it's now being reported that two of Xbox's biggest upcoming games, Fable and Perfect Dark, won't be at the show.
The report comes from Giant Bomb's Jeff Grubb who shared the news during his latest GrubbSnax show. Grubb says that while Xbox has been cautious not to leak any information about what will be included in the Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase 2022, he's been able to confirm that Fable and Perfect Dark will not be at the show. No further information was provided by Grubb, but the indication is that there are no issues. Fable and Perfect Dark simply remain in development.
Fable is currently in development at Playground Games, the developer of the Forza Horizon series. A new studio at Playground Games was opened in 2017 to focus on open-world projects, though when that studio's focus shifted to Fable is unclear. Regardless, Fable was announced in 2020 with a cinematic trailer and hasn't been publicly shown since. Fable's announcement was likely made to build up excitement for the Xbox Series X/S, but remains far off from release.
Perfect Dark is similarly positioned to Fable. It was announced in 2020 as the first project from the young Xbox first-party studio The Initiative. The only major update since was confirmation that The Initiative has partnered with Crystal Dynamics for the project, though the extent of that partnership isn't clear. It too, remains quietly in development.
There are two simple answers to the question of why neither Fable nor Perfect Dark would be at Microsoft's Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase this year. The first is that they're simply not ready and weren't able to put together a demo or trailer for the event. The second is that Microsoft has plenty of other games to show instead. Both could be true.
What is true is that late 2022 and 2023 remain mysteries in terms of what Xbox is planning to put out and when. In that regard, the Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase 2022 should prove revelatory, with Fable and Perfect Dark or without.
Fable and Perfect Dark both remain in development.