Considering the start to 2025 that Xbox has lined up for fans, with Avowed, South of Midnight, and Doom: The Dark Ages all coming out of Xbox Game Studios, we're already less focussed on what the massive family of developers has in store. However, while we do wait to hear about its summer and autumn plans, it's already worth noting that Fable won't be making this cut as was previously expected.
During an appearance on the Official Xbox Podcast, Xbox Game Studios head Craig Duncan has confirmed that Fable is coming later than expected and has been delayed and pushed out of 2025 and into 2026.
Duncan stated: "I just want to start with, really excited, really excited about progress, really excited with where Playground are. We previously announced the date for Fable as 2025, we are actually going to give Fable more time and it's going to ship in 2026 now. While I know that's maybe not the news people want to hear, what I want to assure people of is that it's definitely worth the wait and I have... unequivocal confidence in the Playground team."
Duncan then continued shortly afterwards to add: "Really excited about the plans, really excited about the future, and I want the community to understand that we do these things for the best of the games and the teams, and ultimately that results in the best game for the community."
This does leave the door open for some other Xbox Game Studios titles to fill, with perhaps The Outer Worlds 2 or Gears of War: E-Day stepping up...? Either way, it's a blow for this writer who had Fable tapped as his (second) most-anticipated game of the year.