Fable Fortune is shutting down in March

When Fable studio Lionhead closed in 2016, it seemed for a very brief moment that the Fable series was gone for good. But mere months later, Fable Fortune was announced, a card game based on the series that was in active development at the time of the studio's closure. Following that closure, a crew of former Lionhead talent formed Flaming Fowl Studios to keep it alive, and a year later, Fable Fortune launched into Early Access.

But the dream is over: in an update on the game's official website, Mediatonic and Flaming Fowl Studios confirm that the game's servers will close on March 4. In the meantime, the in-game store is disabled.

"After over two years, spanning 30 seasons with 6 Heroes, we sadly announce that our adventures are coming to an end," the statement reads.

Fable Fortune exited Early Access on February 22, at which point it transitioned to a free-to-play model. But despite the Fable name (which was licensed from Microsoft), the game seemed to fall almost immediately into obscurity – there are a lot of card games, after all, and even Valve can fail in this space.

When Lionhead Studios closed another in-development Fable game – Fable Legends – was cancelled outright, despite being the most heavily marketed. But in 2020 it's looking increasingly likely that we'll see a rebirth for the series, with rumours suggesting Playground Games (Forza) will develop Fable 4 in the format of an open world RPG.

Shaun Prescott is the Australian editor of PC Gamer. With over ten years experience covering the games industry, his work has appeared on GamesRadar+, TechRadar, The Guardian, PLAY Magazine, the Sydney Morning Herald, and more. Specific interests include indie games, obscure Metroidvanias, speedrunning, experimental games and FPSs. He thinks Lulu by Metallica and Lou Reed is an all-time classic that will receive its due critical reappraisal one day.