Peter Molyneux is legendary for a lot of things, many of them not good, but arguably his most notable credit is his role in creating the legendary RPG series Fable. Now he's working on a brand-new game "set in the land of Albion," and fans are coming unglued trying to figure out whether or not that's a reference to Fable's Albion.
Molyneux has been teasing a new game called MOAT for some time, and it seems he'll be discussing his approach to designing it as part of a new blog series. "This may be a decision I live to regret, but I am starting a regular blog about the crazy way I design games; namely a new game set in the land of Albion called MOAT," Molyneux said on Twitter earlier today. "Along the way, I’ll be looking back at the development of Fable, Black & White, et cetera."
The notion of "a new game set in the land of Albion" set the minds of Fable fans a-whirring, since that's the name of the fictional setting of the RPG series. "Isn't Albion owned by Microsoft?" as one commenter asks. "How is this going to work with Microsoft owning the rights to Fable? License? Or is this Albion not the Albion from Fable?" another asks. If you want the most cynical read possible, there's a ResetEra thread on the topic titled "Peter Molyneux's next groundbreaking idea: copyright infringement."
Microsoft bought out original Fable developer Lionhead way back in 2006 and now owns the rights to the series, including its setting. Molyneux departed Lionhead over a decade ago, and Microsoft's shutdown of the studio in 2016 means that any potential connection there has long since been severed.
But, of course, "Albion" is just a historical name for Great Britain. While Microsoft now owns Fable's Albion, it doesn't own the word itself or the idea of video games set in medieval Britain - just look at Albion Online, which has been running for years without any interference from Microsoft lawyers.
In fairness, it is still a little weird that Molyneux is building a whole new fantasy Albion for a project entirely disconnected from the Albion he's best known for. Or hey, maybe this is a stealth prequel to Fable 4 and Molyneux has us all fooled. It wouldn't be the strangest direction his career has ever taken.
If you're looking for more games like Fable to check out while the wait for the sequel drags on, you can follow that link.
