The newest spin-off of the Fable franchise, Fable Fortune, won’t be released as an early access game until July 25, according to a blog post by the development team.

Here is the blog post in full, which can also be found on the Fable Fortune official website:

“Hello Heroes,

Due to an unexpected administration hiccup we are unfortunately unable to launch the Xbox One version of Fable Fortune next week and we’ve made the decision to move the launch date back to July 25th on all platforms.

This is to make sure Fable Fortune releases on PC and Xbox simultaneously, so we can make the most of cross-play between the platforms. Sadly this is an unavoidable slip, however the PC beta is still rolling and we will be giving away more keys over the next few weeks. Keep an eye on our Twitter and Facebook!

That’s the last time we let Hobbes into the office!

Thank you for your patience,

The Fable Fortune Team”

The game was initially supposed to be released as an early access game on July 11. It would be available on both Steam Early Access and Xbox Game Preview (since Fable Fortune will be available for both PC and Xbox One). It will be free to play once the game is fully released sometime in 2017, but if players want to start early they can purchase a Founder’s Pack for $14.99 according to another blog post on the Fable Fortune official website.

It seems that the reason for the delay, as explained in the blog post about the delay to July 25, is due to some issues with releasing the game on Xbox One.

Fable Fortune is similar to Hearthstone, in which the player tries to beat their opponent using different unit and spell cards. Also, Hearthstone is based off of World of Warcraft, similar to how Fable Fortune is based off the Fable franchise.

The game is being developed by Mediatonic and Flaming Fowl Studios (both independent developers) and will be published by Microsoft. Microsoft previously developed the Fable franchise until they shut down it’s developer, Lionhead Studios, back in 2016. The studio had hit it’s 20th anniversary before it’s closure.

Flaming Fowl Studios is made up of the members of Lionhead Studios, so a continuation (in the form of a card game, in this case) of the Fable franchise doesn’t come as a shock. Before their closure, Lionhead Studios was preparing to release another Fable game named Fable Legends, an MMORPG that was supposed to be released in 2016.

Development for Fable Fortune started in 2016, just a few months after Lionhead Studios closed. Fable Fortune entered closed beta in early 2017, where players can get keys from the developers for the game and test it before its official release according to an announcement on Mediatonic’s official website.

“Choose from one of six Heroes each sporting diverse powers and cards, and set forth to crush your opponents under a hobbe-nailed boot in either classic PVP mode, or the unique and fully integrated Co-op mode. Discover how the iconic Alignment mechanic can be used to shift heroes towards a good or evil path during play; transforming their powers, altering their card effects, and turning the tide of battle in one chicken-kicking hand,” it said in the original July 11 early access release date blog post about how to play Fable Fortune.

Luckily, the delay will only be another two weeks, so fans will still have the opportunity to hop into Fable Fortune soon enough (and the developers are still handing out closed beta access keys until then). The official Steam page for the game can be found here.

Featured image via the Fable Fortune official website.