Fable Delayed To 2026, New Gameplay Shown Off

Microsoft and Playground Games have announced that the new Fable game has been delayed to 2026. This update from the head of Xbox Games Studios, Craig Duncan, on the official Xbox podcast.

"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," Duncan explained. "While I know that's not maybe the news people want to hear, what I want to assure people of is that it's definitely worth the wait."

Duncan went on to show some pre-alpha footage of Fable, which mostly consisted of combat. It looks like Fable will have a variety of different combat options, including wielding swords, hammers, and magic spells. There also seems to be seamless transition between cinematic cutscenes and combat. According to a previous report, Fable's combat will feel similar to that of The Witcher 3's. Duncan also said that he's played Fable's city elements, quests, and boss battles, noting that they all felt great.

As part of the video version of the podcast, some brief glimpses of Fable gameplay are shown. Those clips are compiled in the video below, showing off some of the various environments, horseback riding, combat, and more. This is all labeled as being pre-alpha footage, however.

Despite Fable being delayed to 2026, Xbox Games Studios has plenty of releases this year. Avowed just launched earlier this month, and South of Midnight launches in April. Doom: The Dark Ages will release in May. The Outer Worlds 2 is expected to come this year, along with reportedly Gears of War: E-Day.