Fable has officially been delayed to February 2027, Xbox has confirmed. Originally scheduled to release in late 2026, the next game from Forza Horizon 6 developer Playground Games has instead been shifted to Q1 2027. Talking about the delay, Xbox chief content officer Matt Booty explained that while Xbox is confident with how Fable is shaping up, it wants to give the game a “window” to shine all on its own.

“We’re excited about where the game is. We want to make sure that the game has a window of its own, so we are going to move it from this fall to February,” Booty said in the Xbox podcast.

While he didn’t outright mention it, Booty’s comments do suggest that Microsoft wants to avoid competing with Grand Theft Auto 6, which launches on November 19. Fable originally had a nebulous release date of Fall 2026, but signs of a possible delay cropped up earlier this year when Playground stopped signing off messages to fans with a Fall 2026 release date at the end.

“In order to plan our game launches through the holidays, in a way that works best for players, we’re moving Fable to February 2027 so it can have the dedicated moment it deserves,” Xbox added in a social media post.

Fable steering clear of GTA 6–which Booty described as one of the “biggest entertainment moments” of the year–makes sense when you also factor in Xbox’s tentpole game for the year, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4.

Launching on October 22, Modern Warfare 4 should have enough breathing room to avoid direct competition with GTA 6, and the game is only coming to Xbox Game Pass a year after launch. Call of Duty games are usually one of the best sellers of the year, but last year’s Black Ops 7 was the worst-performing Call of Duty game since 2008.

Microsoft hasn’t revealed concrete dates yet for Halo: Campaign Evolved and Gears of War: E-Day, but it’s likely that more details on those games will be revealed at next month’s Xbox June Showcase.

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