Last year, it was leaked that a newFablegame was in active development at a UK studio. Not long after that, another leak revealed that theUK studio in question was apparently Playground Games, the developer behind Xbox’s hitForza Horizonseries. It was later confirmed that Playground Games was in fact developing a large-scale RPG of some kind, though we still haven’t had official confirmation that it’sFable. Regardless, Playground Games looks to be putting in significant effort with its RPG project, having just added former developers from Massive Entertainment, Rockstar Games, and even the defunct Lionhead Studios.
This news comes courtesy of Nick Duncombe, the Resource Manager at Playground Games, who announced the new hires on LinkedIn. The new recruits for Playground Games include Michael Leone, who worked onRed Dead Redemption 2at Rockstar Games; Neil Davies, who also worked onRed Dead Redemption 2at Rockstar Games where he was the senior lighting artist; and Tom Maddocks, who worked on the audio atThe Division 2studio Massive Entertainment, but cut his teeth at Lionhead Studios.
Lionhead Studios, for the uninitiated, was the studio that originally created theFablefranchise. Prior toMicrosoft closing down Lionheadin 2016, the studio had produced three main seriesFablegames, as well as two spinoffs. The studio was also working on an asymmetric multiplayer game calledFable Legendsbefore that it was canceled, which is theFabletitle Maddocks worked on.
WhileFable Legendswas experimental in nature and never properly launched, the game was still firmly rooted inFablelore and style. This means that Maddocks should already have a decent grasp on how aFablegame should sound, which should make him an invaluable member of the team.
Of course, that’s assuming Playground Games is making the newFable. While it’s been leaked multiple times and heavily rumored, the newFablehasn’t been officially announced. Many were expecting tosee the newFableat E3 2019, but that didn’t come to pass, and with the game likely aiming for Project Scarlett, it’s a long shot that we’ll see it anytime soon.
If Playground Games isn’t making a newFable, then it is likely making a brand new IP. All we know about the game is that it’s an RPG, though, so we’ll have to wait to find out more.
