Microsoft's long-delayed Fable reboot, developed by Playground Games for Xbox and PS5, has reportedly run well past its original budget, according to sources cited by Windows Central journalist Jez Corden. The revelation adds to scrutiny of a project first announced at E3 2020, which has now been in development for around seven years, and highlights the risks of an unusually long production cycle for a major studio.

Playground Games, best known for the Forza series, had to significantly re-engineer its ForzaTech engine to support an entirely different, open-world RPG format, which is likely to have contributed to rising costs and delays. Fable's early access launch is now scheduled for the day after Sony's God of War Laufey, arriving on 16th February, raising questions about how the two titles might affect each other's sales, particularly on PS5.