It’s not in its literal or figurative wheelhouse, after all, and given how well it’s done with Forza Horizon – especially the latest entry – surely it would have been content in avoiding risks. However, studio co-founder and game director Ralph Fulton told The Guardian, “I think there was a little bit of pride in proving we could cut it in a different genre.”

Of course, the team will leverage its knowledge from the same genre. “It made sense not to fall too far from Horizon. This project definitely wasn’t going to have cars, but open worlds felt like an area where we had transferable skills.” While Albion isn’t necessarily as massive as a Forza Horizon map, especially the latest title, which had a team dedicated to Tokyo City alone, it’s still densely packed.

Seemingly above all else, however, is the fact that Playground wanted to work on it. As Fulton notes, “When Xbox mentioned Fable, every other opportunity dissolved into the background. It was all we could think about.” That’s not something every developer would say, especially after the cancellation of Fable Legends and Lionhead’s shuttering. Then again, the team is comprised of fans of the original trilogy, so it only makes sense.

Launching on February 23rd, 2027, Fable will be available for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC. Head here for Fulton’s thoughts on the ending and how the team “relentlessly pursued quality.”

“I’ll tell you, every single member – and I can say this without qualification – every single member of the team is first and foremost a Fable fan. We built this team from scratch, and many of them, if not to say most of them, have traveled from all over the world to our little town in the middle of Warwickshire in England. And the reason they did that? It wasn’t to work for Playground Games.”

“Maybe that was a factor, but each and every one of them came here because they’re a Fable fan. They love the series, they want to bring it back. So, that’s the thing. The first day they walked into the studio, what they had in common with everyone else was that they were here to make a great Fable game. And I think you can sense that; you can feel that from the game that they’ve made.”

Further in the same interview, Fulton also revealed that he is very excited about how players are going to react to Fable’s main story.

“People are going to be blown away by our story. It’s packed with memorable characters. I think the story itself is super interesting, and I think they’re going to get a real kick out of it. There are some twists and turns along the way. In true Fable fashion, the game ends with a huge, momentous choice, which, I think, is going to stop people in their tracks and really make them think about not just what they’re going to do, but what it means about them.”

On the subject of Fable’s story and its ending, earlier this month, Fulton had also spoken about how the team had “relentlessly pursued quality” when it came to wrapping up the core narrative.

“It’s easy to look at industry metrics saying 100% of people start a game and only 25% finish, and decide not to invest heavily in the finale. But we relentlessly pursued quality here. In great Fable fashion, it culminates in a choice that really challenges you to think about who you are, with a real personal cost to weigh against the outcome.”

Fable is an action RPG coming to PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. Many details about the title have been revealed in recent months, along with the fact that it is slated for release on February 23rd, 2027. While it was originally going to come out in late 2026, Fulton expressed relief that the title would be avoiding the chaotic release window near the year’s end, which is marked by major titles like Grand Theft Auto 6.

Rumors about development troubles aside, The Guardian’s recent interview with Playground Games co-founder and game director Ralph Fulton reveals it’s been in the works since 2016. By launch, it will have racked up nearly 11 years of production time, which could mean a ridiculous budget (as other rumors have suggested).

As for how it could have survived cancellation – which Microsoft is no stranger to with the franchise – it could be because Fable is “an important game.”

“I genuinely think Fable is an important game. What has protected us over a long development cycle is that so many people within Xbox view Fable as vital to the DNA of the platform,” says Fulton.

“I would go a step further and say it’s important to video games as a whole. It offers a combination of elements that simply doesn’t exist anywhere else.” Off the top of my head, I can’t think of any other game with 1,000 hand-crafted NPCs with full voice acting or a system that lets you build multiple reputations across its world. So that counts for something.

However, the pressure is still on for Fable to deliver when it launches on February 23rd, 2027, for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC. Check out Fulton’s thoughts on the ending and how it ensured it met the studio’s quality bar.

Speaking to The Guardian, game director Ralph Fulton noted that the main quest is relatively “low-stakes to let you explore and engage with the different systems, whether it’s building a reputation or buying real estate. But when it’s time for the finale, the ending is what matters, and in that department, Playground “relentlessly pursued quality.”

“It’s easy to look at industry metrics saying 100% of people start a game and only 25% finish, and decide not to invest heavily in the finale. But we relentlessly pursued quality here. In great Fable fashion, it culminates in a choice that really challenges you to think about who you are, with a real personal cost to weigh against the outcome.”

Considering how Fable 2 infamously ended, that sounds a lot more appealing. Of course, we’ll have to wait and learn more about the circumstances leading up to that choice, and whether your reputation or anything else plays a role.

Regardless of how invested you are in the story, it won’t take long to finish. It’s only 15 to 20 hours long, with an additional 15 to 20 hours to mop up any side content. The real appeal is the life systems, which should, theoretically, lead to “endless” replayability.

Fable launches on February 23rd, 2027, for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC.

During a Q&A session at the trade fair attended by TechRadar, associate game director Will Kennedy said, “When we’re talking about being faithful to the classic franchise, we thought about how there was an approachability to combat there. And we knew that we wanted to be able to capture some of that for our game as well. But at the same time, we’re making a game for gaming today.

“We wanted there to be breadth and depth to it, so we landed on wanting to have style-weaving combat. We wanted to be able to move from move to move really smoothly and easily, and that combined with the level expression that you’ve got.”

To that end, the developer is offering complete freedom to tailor your loadout, while ensuring “you have a really broad, deep, rich suite of options to choose from” early on. And while the gameplay may tell a different story depending on who you ask, Kennedy said the team is “really proud” and said the game feels “satisfying.”

“We’ve landed somewhere that is still approachable but has that depth that we want and so therefore is faithful but works in gaming today as well for players, which is something to be proud of.”

Thus far, we’ve seen the player character wield a sword and shield, a two-handed hammer, and a rapid-fire crossbow. Spells range from throwing fireballs and sending psychic daggers to transforming enemies into chickens. While the lack of responsiveness for one boss stuck out like a sore thumb, combat against regular enemies has admittedly looked more solid.

Of course, with Fable out on February 23rd, 2027, for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC, it could look far better as we near launch. Stay tuned for updates, and in the meantime, check out how much playtime it should offer. Spoilers: If a Final Fantasy 7 Revelation-like runtime scares you, this should be far more manageable.

Further in his report, Warren has expressed a belief that Microsoft and Playground Games are hoping to time the PS5 release of the open-world racing game with that of its first expansion. Considering the fact that Forza Horizon 6 came to PC and Xbox Series X/S back in May, an expansion coming out almost a full calendar year later wouldn’t be too surprising.

Playground Games had already confirmed that it will be working on two expansions for Forza Horizon 6. However, it hasn’t revealed any major details about them. Judging by expansions for older games in the franchise, it is likely that the studio is planning on adding a new landmass to the racing title, and potentially even tie up with some major car-based property. We saw the company team up with LEGO for Forza Horizon 4, and with Hot Wheels for Forza Horizon 5.

Rumors about Forza Horizon 6 potentially getting pushed back beyond 2026 came about earlier this year, with Playground Games’ general silence on the matter not really helping things. VGC’s Andy Robinson reported that the PS5 version simply won’t be ready in time for launch before the end of the year. He also noted that Microsoft is unlikely to cancel the port because PS5 releases for titles like Forza Horizon 5 and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle have done quite well.

“It just wasn’t ready. I don’t know how true that is, because I mean, it’s going to be absolutely massive, but that game would be absolutely massive if it’s launching on everything day one, right? You’d kind of think that’s a bit of a hindrance for them. I mean, even Xbox stalwarts are starting to drift away from playing on the console now. It’ll have a humongous PC launch, but PS5, I mean, look at Indiana Jones: The Great Circle. It did so well when it came out on PS5 afterwards.”

For its part, Playground Games is yet to commit to a solid release window for the PS5 port. Rather, the company has simply said that Forza Horizon 6 “will be releasing on PS5 later this year”, and that fans can added to their wishlists on the PlayStation Store.

Forza Horizon 6 has already been quite successful, with rumors indicating that the title sold almost 5 million copies shortly after its launch. Playground Games has continued to support it with post-launch updates, and even showcased a new Drift Attack game mode during Gamescom 2026. Updates have also brought in content like more vehicles and bug fixes across various aspects of the open-world racing game.

For more details, check out our review of the launch version.

You would think this means a release date announcement is imminent, and it could very well happen at Tokyo Game Show, which runs from September 17th to 21st. After all, Xbox first announced the title at the show last year. It would certainly be auspicious, if nothing else.

Available for Xbox Series X/S and PC, Forza Horizon 6 received rave reviews (check out ours here) and had over six million players at launch. Though sales numbers haven’t been announced, it reportedly reached almost five million in ten days, generating more than $325 million in revenue across both platforms.

Playground Games has remained relatively silent about the PS5 version since it was announced to launch separately, but it’s continued to support the open-world racer with new content and improvements. A new game mode, Drift Attack, recently went live, challenging players to score the highest drift in a single lap. While this sounds easy enough, executing drifts in specific zones adds multipliers, encouraging skill-based play. Head here for all the details.

Forza Horizon 6 is leading the pack, having generated $210.5 million since its release. Crimson Desert is in second place with $203.3 million, and Resident Evil Requiem is in third place with $200.9 million. Slay the Spire 2 brought in $148.4 million in revenue for Steam, followed by Subnautica 2 generating $139.2 million, and Meccha Chameleon making $89.8 million.

As Elliott points out in his social media post, of the top six revenue generators for Steam in 2026, only two are new IPs – Crimson Desert and Meccha Chameleon. The rest are sequels to games that had already been quite popular. Elliott has gone on to note that Crimson Desert on its own accounts for 18 percent of all revenue generated by new IPs in the top 100 best-selling games on Steam. The top 100 have made around $2.4 billion so far, contributing to 15.9 percent of overall Steam revenue.

“The top 100 new 2026 games by gross revenue this year is about $2.4B, or about 15.9% of 2026’s Steam overall revenues so far. Of the new-game top 100, 63% were actually new IP, but 52.5% of the revenue ($1.25B) came from established IP.

“But it’s worth noting Crimson Desert, with its $203M, accounts for about 18% of all new-IP revenue in the top 100. When we take Crimson out of the analysis, the 62 new-IP games make up only about 39%. So yeah, a lot of established IP is doing the legwork, as you’d expect.”

It is also worth noting that two of the top six games – Slay the Spire 2 and Subnautica 2 – are still in Early Access, and as such, will likely see more sales further down the line as the games get updated with more content and polish. Forza Horizon 6, Meccha Chameleon, and Crimson Desert, despite being full releases, also likely benefit from the fact that they see frequent updates, with developers adding in more content and fixing potential bugs.

Resident Evil Requiem serves as the interesting outlier, since it is a single-player story-centric survival horror game. The sheer level of positive critical reception has likely played a major role in the title’s commercial success. Capcom even confirmed back in July that more than 8 million copies of the title had been sold across PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch 2. However, the company didn’t reveal more details about its sales on each platform.

For more details on these titles, check out our reviews for Resident Evil Requiem, Crimson Desert, Subnautica 2, and Forza Horizon 6. And while you’re at it, also take a look at our thoughts on the massive success of Meccha Chameleon and Slay the Spire 2.

He explained that, while the randomized NPC creator tool would have helped save quite a bit of time and energy, he noted that the NPCs created this way didn’t quite make much sense. To avoid having nonsensical characters roaming around the game’s world, the team instead decided to handcraft the NPCs.

“We individually picked everything about every NPC to make it into an NPC that you could read, that made sense top to bottom. We originally had a tool that would randomize it, and just ‘roll’ an NPC, and that would have been a massive labor-saving device. That would have saved us so much time, but what we found was, they just didn’t make as much sense.”

Back in January, Fulton had spoken about how handcrafting all of these NPCs also led Playground Games to figuring out a “very different way of building a game”. He discussed how the various characters throughout the game have their own lives to live, and the challenge this presented to the development team.

“They’ll get up, they’ll go to work, they’ll have some leisure time, they’ll go back to their home, and they’ll go to bed,” he said about the NPCs.

“And immediately, you know, when you hear that, certainly as a developer, you start going, ‘Oh, okay, so every NPC, and there’s more than 1,000 of them in the game, needs a bed.’ And you have that conversation with the environment art team, and they’re like, ‘they need what now?’ Which is, it brings you to a very different way of building a game, because it needs to be functional as well as beautiful.”

At the time, he had noted that the team abandoned the idea of procedurally generating NPCs “because we wanted to craft every one of these NPCs from their name, to their appearance, to their personality traits, to that moral worldview that I talked about.”

The team has also gone on the record to note that it didn’t use any generative AI to create voice work for the over 1,000 NPCs that populate Fable’s Albion. “We’ve got a really fantastic cast of actors who have come in and recorded tons and tons of dialogue, which is what you’ve heard today voicing our NPCs,” said Playground Games. “All of our NPCs are fully voiced. We cast around 100 actors to voice our Living Population alone.”

Fable is being developed for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S, and is slated for release on February 23rd, 2027. Fulton had spoken about avoiding the “chaotic” release window at the end of 2026 that is populated by heavy-hitters like Control Resonant, Gears of War: E-Day, and Grand Theft Auto 6.

It is worth noting that Playground Games and Microsoft last spoke about the PS5 version of Forza Horizon 6 back in January. Since then, however, no details have been released aside from a supposed 2026 release window. Reports at the time indicated that the PS5 version of the racing game simply wasn’t ready, unlike upcoming RPG Fable, which will come to PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S on the same date.

“It just wasn’t ready. I don’t know how true that is, because I mean, it’s going to be absolutely massive, but that game would be absolutely massive if it’s launching on everything day one, right? You’d kind of think that’s a bit of a hindrance for them,” said VGC’s Andy Robinson. “I mean, even Xbox stalwarts are starting to drift away from playing on the console now. It’ll have a humongous PC launch, but PS5, I mean, look at Indiana Jones: The Great Circle. It did so well when it came out on PS5 afterwards.”

While Microsoft may have been planning to release Forza Horizon 6 on PS5 by the end of the year, it is also quite likely that the upcoming release of Grand Theft Auto 6 may have had a hand in changing plans. Rockstar announced its current November 19th release date in November 2025, and while there may have been some doubts in the industry about yet another potential delay for the game, the more recent Extended Look has more or less set the release date for Rockstar’s title in stone.

It is also unlikely that Microsoft may have decided to secretly cancel the PS5 version of Forza Horizon 6, especially since Xbox CEO Asha Sharma spoke about the company sticking to its multi-platform release plans for games that had already been announced.

Forza Horizon 6 was released on PC and Xbox Series X/S earlier this year, and since then, Playground Games has continued to support the title with post-launch updates. The newest addition to the racer – Drift Attack – was showcased just last week. The game mode essentially allows players to compete with each other at certain locations across the game’s map, with the goal being to get the best drift score over a number of laps. The game mode will be free to all players, and also comes with its own Collection Journal that allows for more unlocks when certain things are accomplished in Drift Attack.

In our review of Forza Horizon 6, we gave it a score of 9 out of 10 thanks to its excellent driving mechanics and a variety of content across a well-designed and beautiful open world. Our only problems were that the progression felt more linear compared to previous entries, and that the title sticks to the formula a bit too much.