New 'Fable' Might Not Be The 'Fable 4' We Were Expecting, Report Claims

A new report has suggested that the recently announced Fable could be an MMO, and not the traditional single-player open-world RPG a lot of fans were expecting and hoping for.

The long-rumoured title was finally revealed during last night's Xbox Series X event, where fans were treated to the briefest of CG trailers. Very little was given away about the upcoming game, which is being developed by Playground Games, but fans were quick to note that the trailer referred to the title as Fable, not Fable 4.

The last full-blooded Fable game came out back in 2010

This could mean many things, of course. Former Fable developer Lionhead Studios is no more, so it'd make sense if Playground Games had opted for a clean break. Perhaps it's dropped 4 from the title because it aims to deliver a soft reboot of the franchise, rather than continue the story Lionhead was telling? But it could also be indicative of a more drastic change to the formula.

These newly surfaced MMO rumours come via ResetEra, where a user shared a handful of tweets from a French journalist who accurately predicted everything that Microsoft showed during the Xbox Series X reveal event before it aired. The journalist claims he got this information from multiple sources, but was unsure of how reliable it all was right up until the showcase proved it all right.

You'll notice that everything listed did get shown last night. The only difference is that Fable is listed as an MMO, which was absolutely not confirmed by anyone at Microsoft or Playground Games during - or after - the event. There's a chance this could have been speculation, or a simple mistake... but the idea that this was the one incorrect piece of information in a list that predicted the entire event accurately? I'm not so sure.

Sure enough, the journalist swiftly followed up with a tweet that roughly translates to: ""A game in the world of Fable. But in MMO (sorry, not Fable 4)." With larger, live-service games that can generate revenue for longer periods of time becoming a much more popular and prevalent practice in the industry, it's not the most bananas idea that Microsoft could have asked Playground Games to turn Fable into an MMO.

As a huge fan of the Fable franchise, I'm not entirely sure how I feel this potential transition just yet. I've always seen Fable as a strictly single-player experience, and I'd kind of like to keep it that way... but we'll have to wait and see what Playground Games has planned before we can really judge.

Topics: Xbox Series X, PC, Fable