After Years Of Silence, The New Fable Reveal Brings Thousands Of Players Back To Albion

I, like many, feared the worst for the Playground Games reboot of. After its official reveal in 2020, news went quiet. In the years that followed, Microsoft laid off thousands of employees, closed studios, and canceled several games. There was a justifiable fear that Fable, given its conspicuous absence from showcases, would be next on the chopping block. The silence from the development team was concerning for a project that many have been anticipating for years. It seemed possible the game would disappear before it ever had a chance to materialize.

Those worries proved to be unfounded. Late last week, Microsoft hosted a Developer Direct that offered a much more in-depth look at the new Fable. This presentation included its first preview of gameplay. The reveal was well-received by fans across the globe, and it has clearly left them pining for an adventure in Albion. Players have been returning in large numbers to previous Fable titles to revisit the world they have missed. The positive reception indicates that the developer is on the right track, capturing the spirit of the original while modernizing its mechanics.

Steam players have two main options when it comes to the older games in the series: Fable Anniversary, which is a remaster of the original game, and Fable - The Lost Chapters. While the selection is limited on the PC platform, that has not stopped fans from diving back in. Both games have seen a massive influx of players. According to SteamDB, Fable Anniversary peaked at 3,737 concurrent players over the last 24 hours. This represents a 789.8 percent increase from its December peak. It is also the highest number of concurrent players the game has had since it launched in September 2014, nearly a decade ago.

Fable - The Lost Chapters experienced a similar, though slightly less dramatic, rise in its player count. The title saw 567 concurrent players, which is an increase of 600 percent compared to December. This was its highest player count since July 2014. The resurgence is not just a small bump; it is a significant trend showing renewed engagement from the community. It’s a testament to the enduring appeal of the original games and the excitement surrounding the upcoming reboot.

Of course, this surge in players can only be easily tracked on Steam. One has to imagine that the Fable franchise is seeing a similar resurgence on Microsoft's platforms, especially given the accessibility of the games through Xbox Game Pass. Every title in the series is available on that service, which likely means that console players are also returning to Albion in droves. The appetite for Fable is clearly still there, and the release of the new entry cannot come soon enough for its dedicated fanbase.

Read also, Peter Molyneux, whose career is centered around Fable, is releasing a new game. Masters of Albion arrives on April 22 for Windows PC via Steam. Developed by 22cans, it revisits the Albion setting, shaped by player choice and reactive systems, making the connection to his earlier work direct.