80%
Probable
British developer Playground Games will be the absolute star of the Xbox Developer Direct 2026, with the first in-depth look at the long-awaited Fable reboot and the proper reveal of Forza Horizon 6, a sequel to a massively successful game that is estimated to have been played by over 50 million users. Sure, there's also Game Freak's Beast of Reincarnation and even a rumored 'secret' fourth game, but those two games are going to be the centerpiece of the showcase due to air on January 22.
Officially, both Fable and Forza Horizon 6 are only announced for PC and Xbox Series S|X. However, given Microsoft's multiplatform policy, they are almost certainly coming to other platforms, starting with Sony's PlayStation 5 console. Forza Horizon 5 launched in April 2025 on PS5 and performed extremely well there, after all, which is why some users were surprised when the game got announced only for Microsoft's traditional platforms a few months ago.
A few hours ago, speaking on the latest episode (#154) of the VGC podcast, Andy Robinson shared why that might be the case. According to his sources at Playground, Forza Horizon 6 simply wasn't ready to launch on PS5 right away, but Fable very well might.
Fable's day and date. That's what I've been told. Those are the sort of details where insiders misstep, right? Those are the sorts of details that can be changed a week before or a day before. The other stuff is kind of like a bit more set in stone. Yes, it's coming to PlayStation 5. I'd expect it to be day and date because I know they've been targeting PS5 for a while.
[as for] Forza Horizon 6, I mean, I don't know the full story of Forza, but the explanation I was told by someone who was there was, like, it just wasn't ready. I don't know how true that is, because I mean, it's going to be absolutely massive, but that game would be absolutely massive if it's launching on everything day one, right? You'd kind of think that's a bit of a hindrance for them. I mean, even Xbox stalwarts are starting to drift away from playing on the console now. It'll have a humongous PC launch, but PS5 I mean, look at like Indiana Jones: The Great Circle. It did so well when it came out on PS5 afterwards. I imagine they'll do their best to get that out as soon as they can.
It is indeed surprising, but Playground wouldn't want to delay the launch of FH6 just to wait for the PS5 version to be ready. After all, there's now evidence that even the very late launch of FH5 resonated strongly with the PlayStation community; a few months shouldn't be a problem. On the other hand, launching Fable immediately on all major platforms should enhance the game's visibility.
Neither game has a specific release window yet, but that should change at the aforementioned Xbox Developer Direct 2026. Currently, though, it is believed that Playground will start off with Forza Horizon 6 somewhere in Q2, while Fable will probably debut later in the year (although likely still before GTA 6, if at all possible).
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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