Jez Corden has some new insights about Fable’s delay.
After Microsoft made the official announcement about the delay two weeks ago, NateDrake came forward with claims that the delay was happening because Microsoft decided to bring the game Day One to PlayStation 5. This alluded to Microsoft’s new strategy of bringing their first party games to their competitor’s console.
While many Xbox fans are decrying what this means for their platform, the strategy seems to be working at expanding the potential player base of Microsoft’s games. This strategy in particular makes sense for their multiplayer co-op games, such as Grounded and Sea of Thieves. But we also know that Microsoft is bringing a lot of single-player games to PlayStation 5 as well, such as Indiana Jones and the Great Circle.
On the other hand, for all the talk of Microsoft bringing their entire slate to PlayStation 5, that actually hasn’t happened yet. So far, many recent high-profile Xbox Series X|S titles, such as Avowed, Starfield, Killer Instinct Anniversary Edition, Forza Motorsport, and Halo Infinite, haven’t been released or announced to be released on PlayStation 5.
This conversation is slightly complicated by Microsoft’s new position as the biggest third-party video game publisher in the industry. Because of commitments they made to regulators, Microsoft will continue to release Bethesda and Activision Blizzard games on multiple platforms. We know some games are certain to always be multiplatform, such as Minecraft or Call of Duty.
However, when we consider that Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is multiplatform, and Starfield is not, and they’re both under Bethesda, we should consider that there aren’t any real clear rules on this strategy. We’ll pass on interpreting Microsoft’s statements on the matter since that can get confusing (and that may be intentional.) But now we have new claims that should give gamers food for thought.
Jez Corden said this when asked about the rumor in the latest episode of the Xbox Two podcast:
“I was told directly that it wasn’t delayed to make sure that it was going to be on PlayStation Day One. Like, that has nothing to do with it. Not to say that when it does come out next year it won’t be on PlayStation Day One, but that wasn’t the reason it was delayed.”
If you were following Fable’s development, you would know that Playground Games and Microsoft were optimistic about its status. As Corden later pointed out, Microsoft simply has a knack for delaying games as of late. But in this case, that seems like a good thing, as recent releases like Avowed seem to have benefited from getting that extra time just to get that polish in for its launch.
It also works in Microsoft’s favor that they have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to games that are nearing the end of development. To a certain degree, they now have to be strategic on how to release these games in such a way that they don’t take away from each other’s sales.
As for the prospects of a PlayStation 5 port, now that many Xbox gamers have made peace on a potential multiplatform future, PlayStation gamers themselves have to owe up to their reality now. Microsoft is bringing some of their games to PlayStation 5, but they haven’t actually promised everything. If you’ve been holding out on a Game Pass subscription or an Xbox console expecting to get all the games on PlayStation 5, you may have to wait until PlayStation 6 to get those games.
And even then, Microsoft might not end up following through on bringing all their games over, even if that’s what Phil Spencer genuinely wanted. It seems folly to predict the industry’s future with certainty, when nobody could have predicted the last five years. We ourselves can’t ascertain why NateDrake and Jez Corden were told different things, but we wouldn’t bet on a rumor that conveniently fits in with what some gamers want to believe.
