Fable director Peter Molyneux says his new city-builder shares a setting with Xbox’s RPG, but that’s not a problem because “Albion can’t be copyrighted”
Peter Molyneux’s Masters of Albion both is and isn’t set in the same world as Fable 4, confusingly, but the influential developer doesn’t actually know if he’s in breach of Microsoft’s copyright.
Masters of Albion duct tapes the designer’s greatest hits from Dungeon Keeper to Black & White so Molyneux can return to the sweeping god simulation genre that he helped pioneer, while also channeling Fable with witty humor and a possession mechanic that lets you view the world from the (third-person) perspective of a villager, a chicken, and more.
Anyone who’s played the Fable series probably raised an eyebrow or two when the name “Albion” popped up alongside Molyneux’s name in the reveal trailer below, however, since that happens to be the name of Fable’s twisted fairytale world. So what’s up with that?
In an interview with IGN, Molyneux reiterated that Albion wasn’t a creation unique to Fable like, let’s say, Dragon Age’s Thedas or Avowed’s Eora. Albion is instead “the old English name for England and Wales and Cornwall,” that was deliberately turned magical for Xbox’s RPG series. “I think it’s a really interesting world,” the designer continued. “It’s an interesting universe that Fable touched upon and really I think Albion in Masters of Albion, it extends and expands that, but it’s not actually Fable 5 or anything like that.”
When asked to clarify, Molyneux confusingly stated that “Fable was set in Albion, Masters of Albion is set in Albion,” but he’s actually not certain what the legal rights look like. “I don’t know if I’m honest, I don’t really know,” Molyneux said. “I hope so. I mean you would think that the responsible person I should be, I would’ve spent the last six months in lawyers’ offices…”
Molyneux continues to say that since the setting is an old folk name for England and Wales it “can’t be copyright” and “that’s how we get away with it.” Other non-Fable games have shared the name too – Albion Online and Dark Age of Camelot come to mind – but none that also shared a director and a signature obsession with chasing chickens, which is probably what’s muddying things up.
“A lot of what Fable was, a lot of what Masters of Albion is, is inspired by Guildford – the green rolling South Downs and the ancient ruins that were dotted around,” Molyneux then explained to Eurogamer. “Playground Games is doing what looks like a fabulous job on Fable, and I hope they see this is not me trying to make Fable 4 or 5 or whatever it’s up to now. It is just saying that Albion – England, old England – is a great setting for a game. Just like New York was a great setting for Grand Theft Auto – and they didn’t call it New York, they called it Liberty City, but we all knew it was New York.”
Long story short, Fable and Masters of Albion share a setting in the sense that they’re both living inside Molyneux’s quirky interpretation of what an old, folklore-ridden Britain looked like. But no, Masters of Albion probably won’t share Fable’s lore, history, and characters.