Fable Legends is Not Coming to Steam

Lionhead Studios’ Social Media Coordinator, Lauran, has confirmed Fable Legends will be a Windows 10 store exclusive. Frankly, this is an absolutely atrocious idea, as Steam has a massive stranglehold on the PC market and any other digital delivery platform cannot realistically compete. To make matters worse, Lauran even hinted that this policy could apply to other Microsoft titles. Perhaps, this means Killer Instinct, Gears of War and future announcements will never release on Steam.

Phil Spencer’s leadership has been praised for discussing gaming on Windows and acknowledging past mistakes. Microsoft’s reputation in the PC Gaming sector is at rock bottom, due to Games For Windows Live and leaving the platform stagnant for years. Luckily, Valve helped to pick up the pieces and other services like GOG have helped PC Gaming flourish. Over the years, Microsoft promised to improve and focus on PC Gaming, but were rarely taken seriously as they consistently disappointed in the past. Now, they choose to limit their own games to a frankly niche platform and one which will likely result in terrible sales. Fable Legends is free-to-play but its success will rely on micropayments. Furthermore, how can Microsoft realistically expect people to pay $60 for a few digital games stuck on their service?

Consumers use Steam because of its convenience and want to keep all their games on 1 client. Additionally, it’s unknown what kind of DRM the Windows Store utilizes and if you can easily install games on a new PC. Microsoft needs to seriously re-assess their strategy and see PC Gaming as a viable source of revenue and not something which detracts from Xbox sales. The majority of Xbox users have no interest in PCs due to the technical knowledge required or price for enthusiast hardware.

I shouldn’t be surprised given Microsoft’s history, but it’s staggering to see them restricting a game’s core user-base just to push a very underused storefront. This situation is made even worse with free-to-play MMOs. As a result, Fable Legends community on PC could be fairly non-existent within a few months.