Given the project-based nature of the game development industry, employee turnaround is quite commonplace. As the most high-end projects get bigger and bigger, masters of various aspects of development are frequently recruited from rival developers. Playground Games, the developer behind the Forza Horizon series, has been rumored to be working on Fable 4 this year, and now it seems that they may be building their core creative team for the game.

A list of new hires gained by the company includes former key employees from the likes of EA, BioWare, and other big names in the industry. As reported by GamesIndustry.biz, Playground Games has enlisted several experienced game developers to join one of their development teams.

This series of new hires includes the following: environmental artists Scotty Brown of EA Motive and Noel Lukasewich of BioWare, narrative director Martin Lancaster of Rocksteady Studios, principal animator Chris Goodall of Ninja Theory, UI artist Joe McKernan, and lead technician Rob den Dekker. That last hire is the most interesting, as den Dekker previously worked on the first two Fable titles, which would certainly build the case that the mystery game this team is working on would indeed be the rumored Fable 4.

While Playground has confirmed that these new employees will be working on an open-world RPG, the project has not been particularly specified as the next game in the Fable franchise. Still, studio director Gavin Raeburn seems quite pleased with these new members, as he states: “We continue to attract world-class talent from around the world thanks to our exciting projects and the passion of our team. It’s been a fantastic start for our second studio and I look forward to seeing it continue to grow over the coming months.”

That certainly sounds like high hopes for this team. Hopefully, Playground Games keeps their expectations more grounded than Peter Molyneux’s past aspirations. Do you guys believe these new employees are working on the rumored Fable 4 development? Let us know in the comments below!

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