NowGamer: Peter Molyneux, creative director at Microsoft Game Studio has looked back at his career, experiences and games in an exclusive in-depth interview
Speaking candidly with Retro Gamer magazine the industry legend, and designer of such games as Theme Park, Fable and Black and White discussed the criticism levelled at some of his past titles. "Fable was another one of those games which people were very excited about, and it was another which was a little over-hyped to be honest with you," Molyneux said.
Announced in 2020, Playground Games' open-world action RPG has seen sporadic updates and departures but still no release date.
I expect it to release by the time the next Xbox releases. Can that be 2026? Sure
You could say the same for any number of games that were stupidly announced during pre-production. Elder Scrolls 6 & Perfect Dark are current examples, Blade is another recent one and in the past Mass Effect Andromeda and Cyberpunk 2077 come to mind.
I don't think this game is in any trouble. For a start, Playground Games are one of the few under MS Studios that actually have a track record of delivering on time and with quality. We got a trailer last year and I'd fully expect there to be something more substantial at the next showcase in the summer.
No dramas here - just another victim of Microsoft's incompetence. They simply had to announce several games way too early because they had nothing else to talk about.
how are they a victim when they are clearly being given enough time? They haven't set any release date, haven't had to show any trailers, how is that being a victim? You even say yourself that you think it's not in trouble.
TESVI was mostly announced to stop people from asking. Like how they gave us a roadmap of first Starfield, then TES then Fallout. So people keep asking whether they'll do another one or not.
But Fable and Perfect Dark was defineately too early.
The same thing that happens to any project when you announce it far too early. Perfect Dark, Fable, The Elder Scrolls 6, Star Wars KOTOR Remake...you actually have to, I don't know, make the game?
I'm fairly confident this game will see the light of day, as Playground have released 5 Forza games of quality and on schedule. Think it was just revealed too early.
The only issue I see is that, as you mentioned, they have only done Forza games. An RPG is completely different requiring completely different facets.
Whole new different open world....not just tracks. Character designs and animations, dialogue, combat systems, quest systems, equipment and inventory managment....the list is very long and none of it falls under their previous experience.
Even with assistance from other studios I believe they are still far off from delivering a complete version of this game.
Baldur's Gate 3 producer Ryan Clark, who worked at Larian Studios for four years, has joined Fable developer Playground Games
Xbox is definitely the house of RPGs and it´s getting bigger and better by the day!
Fable will be fantastic!
I hope to see the following at Microsoft’s June games showcase:
Contraband (3rd party exclusive)
ID Software
Machine Games
The Coalition
Playground
Ninja Theory
The Initiative
Double Fine
Rare
Im sure we won’t see all these studio’s projects but at least 5 of them would be nice.
I’m surprised Gears 6 hasn’t been announced by the Coalition as of yet. Gears 5 released 4 years and the Coalitions hasn’t another AAA title since then, excluding the co-developed Gears Tactics.
Todd hinted at Indiana Jones being at next year's E3.
I heard Contraband is going through some sorta rework. I don't really have much hope for that game at this point in time.
Btw Gears 6 is in full development they took time away to learn Unreal Engine 5. Yeah... If we're going off of Immortals Of Aveum performance. They have allot of work ahead of them.
Not even accurate though. They haven't made a single RPG yet. Starfield is barely an RPG as it is...there's no role picking unlike in elder scrolls games...especially the older ones. No skills...no attributes...just perks.
Imagine baldurs gate 3 where all you get to pick are feats.
Starfield was probably the worse RPG from Bethesda. Especially when it comes to review scores on Steam
https://www.gamespot.com/ar...
https://youtu.be/NuJumZT7Kt...
All games are RPG if you think about it. You play the role of a character and do the stuff required to win the game.
Technically speaking.
I couldn't be happier about that. I heard even Infinity Ward is working on an RPG. I am hyped af to see what they can do outside of CoD!
I played the Fable Legends closed beta and actually kinda liked it. It sucks that it was canceled. I'm definitely looking forward to the new Fable.
Absolutely. I loved FF7 Remake and I've been playing the hell out of FFXVI and BG3 on my Xbox and I can't wait for FF7 Rebirth next February!
Oh hang on, none of them are on xbox are they?
House of the RPG indeed.
None of the games you mentioned are first party.
Those aren´t even exclusive.
In case you didn´t notice, Fable is an first party RPG among many others in development at XGS.
When's the last time Sony released a JRPG; let alone an actual RPG? Outside of 3rd party payouts. I can say the same for virtually every genre that isn't a linear action game or a racing game that doesn't press their competition.
"None of the games you mentioned are first party.
Those aren´t even exclusive.
In case you didn´t notice, Fable is an first party RPG among many others in development at XGS."
And where in your original post did you mention first party? Regardless of exclusivity, none of the games I mentioned - some of the biggest RPGs around - are on Xbox but you seem to think Xbox is home of the RPG. You have Starfield and...oh, Fable. Wow.
But that's OK, if you want to move the goalposts to make yourself feel better, go right ahead 👍
Also, if you want to talk first party, some would say that Horizon and God of War are action RPGs. I personally don't, but they could be classed as such since they have RPG elements.
"And where in your original post did you mention first party?"
This topic is about Ryan Clark from Larian joining Playground Games.
I said, "Xbox is definitely the house of RPGs and it´s getting bigger and better by the day!"
Not idea how you though I was talking about third party games.
"Regardless of exclusivity, none of the games I mentioned - some of the biggest RPGs around - are on Xbox but you seem to think Xbox is home of the RPG."
Xbox as a brand, doesn´t have to own all of the RPG games available in the market to be considered "the house of RPGs". I made that statement because today, Xbox is the brand with more dedicated RPG studios under its wings.
Besides, Phil has a new partnership with SE in place, we already got FFXIV from Yoshi P´s team, I wouldn´t be surprised if FF7R and FFXVI are the next. BG3 is also coming to Xbox this year, it´s not like we ain´t getting that game.
" You have Starfield and...oh, Fable. Wow."
Pentiment
Project Dragon
Towerborne
TESVI
Fallout 5
Avowed
Clockwork Revolution
The Outer Worlds 2
All first party. So now you know.
Like I said, Xbox is undoubtedly the house of the RPG games. You may not like it, but it´s nothing but a fact. Unless of course, you have some actual facts to counter the facts the brought here regarding first party RPG development.
"Also, if you want to talk first party, some would say that Horizon and God of War are action RPGs. I personally don't, but they could be classed as such since they have RPG elements."
You know as well as everybody that those games are action/adventure games with some RPG elements thrown into the mix.
Unfortunately at the moment, Sony is not investing in first party RPGs or RPG studios. Sorry.
Still waiting to see what kind of game fable will be. Hope it has gargoyles...probably not.
Hope you can pick between male or female and choose something else to distinguish yourself during character creation.
Super excited for this and perfect dark...excited to see what they make that is. Don't have any high hopes but maybe MS can prove me wrong. Playground has been their studio for a long time and the initiative is their only new studio
"Hope you can pick between male or female and choose something else to distinguish yourself during character creation."
That's a staple in most if not all RPG's.
This is a good get as Baldur's Gate 3 is highly regarded.
But this has to be a hire for their next game right? Why would Fable need a producer now?
Because the current producers at Xbox are helping produce some real bangers.... I'm sure Fable is in a great state right now.
Can't wait to see what their '10 year plan' is for Fable.....just like Halo and now Forza. I'm curious to see just how badly they fuck this up with online focused, drip fed content, design and gameplay. Because I know it's going to be nothing like the previous games and anyone expecting that is in for a nasty surprise.
I really am hoping against hope that you are wrong, but I think you are probably right. Unfortunately
Fable II launched back in 2008 and remains the best the series has offered. Ahead of the series comeback, it's time to look at the classic.
Loved this game, oh and i always saved my dog at the end, hope the new Fable has a animal companion.
Fable 2 was the best inthe series. Peter waaaaaaay over promised with fable 1 and it was good but disappointing. He didn't go crazy eith hype for the second game and it was surprisingly awesome. Then he ran his mouth promoting 3 and it was the worst of the 3.
Funny story: Fable 3 had a funny way of keeping the promises you made in the first half of the game and having enough money to defeat the darkness.
You only had to collect enough money to buy 2 stores in a busy market district. You then raise the prices to maximum and you turn xbox 360 internal clock 99 or more years ahead.
The next time you load the game, all the rents from the 99 years are collected immediately.
But yes I agree that 3 was the weakest of the three.
I only got to play it once 😩 I'm so tempted to buy a Xbox 360 slim but planning on getting the series x soon since I got a PS5 in February Im ready to get saints row 1&2 back, GTA 4, fable 2, but I also want to play infamous 1&2 again Sony screwed us over with the stream only for saints row 2 and other gems smh
Yes, it was overhyped. By YOU, Pete mah boi.
Just like Fable II was overhyped. By YOU!
Fable 2 was overhyped but Fable 1 was awesome.Not to mention the Fable 2 endings were stupid
Milo.
What does it matter if a game is overhyped or not? If a game is good, then it will be received well regardless of the hype. If not, it will be seen as overhyped.
Its kind of nice he admits it, except for the fact he's hyping fable 3 and Milo, or the Milo tech in Natal, as bad if not as worse as the Fable one and two.