Well, there goes my 2026 gaming bingo card. Last week came the announcement that XBOX has delayed Playground Games’ Fable to February 2027, and I doubt anyone was shocked.  Certainly, I had been hopeful the game would see the light of day this year after the devs’ long-form preview of the game released in March, but alas. Tis not meant to be.

If the delay announcement wasn’t banal enough, the implicit reason for it was even more so…

GTA VI.

Of course, and I get. GTA VI is a steamroller, and I’d want to get out of its way, too. As I talked about in my last post, once that game’s hype train gets rolling (any day now, right?) — if I might coin a religious take – no doubt it’s going to be like Moses parting the sea. Good luck to anyone and any game that survives the pending tsunamis.

I should point out that XBOX has not called out GTA VI as the specific reason for the delay, but it seems pretty obvious to, well…everyone. The official word so far is that they want to ensure that Fable has plenty of breathing room upon release. Were it to stay on track for a late third quarter or four quarter release this year, yeah…it probably would have suffocated under the weight of the great state of GTA VI’s Leonida. Moving Fable to next February (without a specific date) does give the next GTA installment a handful of months to complete its repaving of the gaming landscape, after which, everyone else can get out and drive normally again, free from obstacles and all that bumpy terrain. At least until the next gaming behemoth comes along.

This does speak to the shake-up that’s been happening at XBOX since its recent change in leadership, which is a good thing. To some degree, games took a backseat at XBOX for a little while in the not-too-distant past and its goals diverged well off course from what players wanted. It’s nice to see that folks are actively trying to steer things in a better direction. While I want to play Fable “now,” I’d prefer to see it succeed generally. So, as cautiously optimistic as I remain, I’m fine with waiting a little longer to watch that happen (*fingers crossed*).

Lede image © Playground Games, Xbox Game Studios.