Lionhead Studios had announced that the open beta for Fable Legends will not be available as soon as originally intended, and that the closed beta will continue until some time in the Spring of 2016. The good news is that, in the coming weeks, 100,000 more closed beta invites will be sent out - but this is still no guarantee for beta access.
The ambitious scope and scale of the project are mentioned as reasons for the delay, and Lionhead says they want to take more player feedback into account to create a more complete and polished game before moving into the open beta.
To be honest, we didn’t anticipate just how big Fable Legends is becoming. It’s simply the most ambitious game we’ve ever created at Lionhead. We’ve built a unique and innovative multiplayer experience combining RPG and RTS gameplay which allows you to play, and use your gear seamlessly, across Xbox One and Windows 10. On top of this, we’ve built a beautiful new world full of grand stories and adventures. And it’s taking more time than we thought.
Fable Legends will offer asymmetrical multiplayer, with one group of four making use of traditional Fable RPG elements, while one player will use RTS tactics to counter them. Fable Legends will be available on Windows 10 and Xbox One.
Quick Take
Openly admitting that the project was bigger than they originally expected is almost admirable, and it certainly beats coming up with some other reason to excuse the delay. And while delaying a beta test and quoting a lack of polish may seem strange at first, this day and age, it is not unusual for people to use beta access in lieu of the game rentals of years gone by - the open beta test will be their big chance to market the game, and probably not the best time to try to work out bugs.
