The long-awaited and long-in-development reboot of Fable led by Playground Games, best known for the Forza Horizon series, has been delayed to 2026.

Xbox Game Studios head Craig Duncan was the once to make the announcement while speaking on the latest episode of the official Xbox podcast.

While I know that’s not maybe the news people want to hear, what I want to assure people of is it’s definitely worth the wait,” he said.

“I have unequivocal confidence in the Playground team… and just what they’re bringing to Fable as a franchise. Amazing gameplay, British humour, Playground’s version of Albion inspired by what has gone before with the franchise, but their take in quite frankly the most beautifully realised version of Albion you’ve ever seen.”

Duncan and the podcast shared some pre-alpha gameplay footage of Fable, providing a glimpse at some lovely visuals, combat and more. With that said, part of me is worried about how little they are willing to show considering the game was announced back in 2020

“I played some of the city elements,” said Duncan as the footage played. “I played some of the quests, I played some of the combat, I played a boss battle, I’ve used magic… it felt amazing and I had a great time… I’ve seen a bunch more than that, I’m very excited. Take my word for it, but hopefully what the team can see here is enough to build excitement.”

Fable was announced back in July 2020, meaning it will likely be 6 years or longer between announcement and actual release. That’s just when the project was announced – back in 2018, Eurogamer published a report that Playground Games was working on Fable. It was reported that it was merely in the early stages at that point, but it still means that by time Fable comes out in 2026 it will have been worked on for around 8 years.

It’s yet another reminder that studios and publishers really should stop announcing games so early.