5m sales goal for Fable III

UK developer Lionhead may be inundated with speculation regarding a certain boy-talking Kinect game, but Peter Molyneux reckons the third Fable game will generate the biggest buzz come October.

The development maestro has told MCV he expects Fable III to grow into the biggest selling game of the series so far, even topping 2008’s sales triumph.

And although Molyneux is famous for big promises and a spot of verbal ambiguity, the Microsoft Game Studio European creative director was clear on what he expects from the title come release on Friday, October 29th.

We want more than five million people playing Fable III on the Xbox 360, full stop,” he told MCV.

The game’s sales projection echoes its design remit to be less intimidating for more casual audiences.

Part of that plan is less clutter in the game, less aggravating little inventions that Peter Molyneux once thought was a good idea. More clarity, better story, better cast, better balance,” he said.

The game’s voice actors include John Cleese, Stephen Fry, Jonathan Ross and Shaun of the Dead writer and comedian Simon Pegg.

Of course, we have to do all this still with fresh ideas and a new feel to the game.”

The original Fable game for Xbox sold about three million copies worldwide. The next in the series, Fable II, sold a little better with 3.5 million units.

Yet Molyneux’s prediction for Fable III is solely for the 360 version and doesn’t include sales picked up by the PC edition.

Microsoft announced Fable III for PC back in May, though last week explained the keyboard-and-mouse edition will be released at some point after its 360 cousin.

And while console owners will be getting their fix a little earlier, Molyneux recently confirmed the game has abandoned Kinect support.