Ralph Fulton from Playground Games discussed how the new Fable game came to be and how they made sure it felt true to the original series, which first launched 25 years ago.
After a four-year hiatus, the Fable series is making a comeback with its first major installment since 2010’s Fable 3. The team at Playground Games, known for the success of Forza Horizon 3, is now leading the franchise. According to Fulton, their growth as developers following Forza Horizon 3 was key to bringing Fable back.
In a conversation with IGN, Fulton explained his thoughts on how the development team landed this opportunity.
As a developer, it’s important to constantly push your boundaries and learn new things, and that’s what led us to explore new projects. Because we’d worked closely with Xbox since the beginning of Playground Games, we had strong relationships with their team. Naturally, we approached them with our idea: we wanted to create a second team and move into a different game genre. We realized the skills we developed with the Horizon games – particularly in open-world design, technical streaming, and game flow – could be applied to something new. Surprisingly, many of those principles weren’t specific to cars at all. We had learned a lot that could be transferable. I don’t recall who first suggested Fable, but the moment I heard it, I knew it was the perfect fit. It’s a series we’ve always loved and continue to admire.
Playground Wanted to Make Sure Fable Maintained Its Core Elements, Including Its Britishness
As a long-time Fable fan, I was really glad to hear the team at Playground Games were so careful with the reboot. They wanted to make sure the new game still felt like Fable, and they focused on three key things. Ralph Fulton, one of the developers, explained they identified ‘Freedom,’ ‘Fairytale,’ and ‘Britishness’ as the heart of what makes a Fable game, Fable. They really saw those as the core of the series’ identity, and built everything around them.
We call all of this “freedom” because it’s about having the power to choose your own path and accept the results of those choices. It means going where you want, doing what you want, and becoming the hero you envision. That concept is fundamental to our game – we want players to truly define their own heroic journey, and freedom is at the very core of that experience.
We identified two key elements for the game’s overall feel. The first is a fairytale aesthetic. This idea actually came from the previous development team at Lionhead, who left behind a wealth of design documents. One document specifically pointed out that Fable should feel like a fairytale, not a typical fantasy story, which is a really smart and insightful distinction that perfectly captures the game’s tone.
Ultimately, it comes down to what makes Fable distinctly British. We wanted a British studio to continue the series because Fable truly embodies British sensibilities. It’s not just the medieval British setting, or the British characters and accents. It’s a particular tone, a way of thinking, and a unique approach to storytelling that defines the game. These elements are the core of what makes a Fable game, and we knew from the beginning that staying true to them was essential.
Fable is coming to PlayStation for the first time ever! Players on PlayStation 5 will be able to enjoy the game on the same day it launches on Xbox. You can find more details here.
So, everyone’s been asking about the next game in the series, and I’m super curious to hear what you think! Come share your thoughts and hype with the rest of us on our Discord server. And hey, if you want to stay completely up-to-date on everything – news, updates, maybe even some sneak peeks – sign up for our weekly newsletter!
Robert DeFelice
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2026-01-23 01:19