Playground Games has thoroughly avoided providing information about Fable 4 so far. It hasn't provided much information on why exactly it has said so little, but all signs suggest that the new Fable game might just be too early in development to talk about or show off. Playground announced its Fable game without even a whiff of a release window, while a potential leaked Fable 4 release date suggests that the game won't be out until 2023. The lack of gameplay footage and story details in Fable's announcement trailer may mean that the game has been in a constant state of change over the last few years, with details still getting filled in.
This possibility is supported by the high number of job openings and major new hires that have floated around Fable 4 since 2020. Even some of the most recent listings suggest that Playground Games still needs writers to assemble the game's plot and dialogue, meaning the game's final form may be far from concrete so far. Fable's job listings don't usually provide gameplay details, but they do shed some light on Playground's inner workings and what fans should expect from the game. Fans may need to remain patience for quite some time yet, but there's also cause to be hopeful about Fable 4.
Hope for Fable 4's End Result
Over the past few years, Playground has brought in a lot of new help to work on Fable 4, and many of them come from major parts of the game industry. In August 2021, Playground Games picked up a senior gameplay designer for Cyberpunk 2077, and in December 2020, fans learned that the narrative lead for Control had become a part of the Fable team. Major hires like these have become commonplace for Playground Games, but the studio has been hiring for smaller positions around the clock too, as other job openings suggest.
The assembly of the Fable 4 development team should reassure fans about Playground's delivery on the game. When Playground Games first confirmed that it was in charge of the Fable IP, some were understandably skeptical, since Playground is exclusively known for the Forza Horizon racing games. Rather than assigning Fable to the Forza Horizon team and hoping for the best, however, Playground is doing everything it can to assemble the perfect team of Fable developers. By respecting its own inexperience and going to great lengths to find game developers with appropriate experience for Fable 4, Playground is strongly encouraging fans to have faith in the Fable reboot.
Waiting for Fable
The steady stream of new job applications and team member announcements sends a second subtle message: be patient. Playground Games wouldn't need to still be hiring new developers at this point if Fable 4 was nearly done, but the truth is that new applications keep cropping up. There's probably quite a lot of work left to do on Fable 4, in spite of how long ago it was announced, so fans need to sit tight and let Playground take its time in order to make Fable 4 the best game that it can be.
It'd certainly be more convenient if Playground spoke openly about Fable 4, but for the time being, job listings are probably the best that fans can hope for. It's possible that Playground will come forward with a Fable 4 gameplay reveal or story trailer later in 2022, but there's no sign that the game is meant to release this year, which means it's also hard to say when Playground will feel comfortable talking about it. Job listings at the very least tell Fable fans that Playground Games is doing its best to make a worthy revival of the franchise, even if that means it'll take a little longer to deliver the game.
Fable 4 is in development for PC and Xbox Series X/S.