Will The Fable Franchise Meet Its End?

Does an unspectacular new debut herald the beginning of the end for Molyneux's franchise?
UK Games Charts listings released today for the past week of October 8th-14th have shown that the tide for Brit-developed Xbox 360 Kinect exclusive Fable: The Journey is not in its favour. Whereas Peter Molyneux's well-regarded Fable II and Fable III both debuted in first place in their opening weeks in 2008 and 2010 respectively, Journey has reached merely thirty-seventh place in its first week of sales.

Now, were it to have been released a little later in the game for 2012, facing direct competition in weeks to come such as the releases of Assassin's Creed III, Halo 4 or Hitman Absolution as has been the case for many past Lionhead efforts, this result might have been foreseeable. That the only other main releases were cult hits Dishonored (which really is worth your time, I can already confirm) and X-COM: Enemy Unknown last week really doesn't speak in the game's favour either, especially when you consider that this was essentially meant to be the title which proved Kinect a worthy addition to the 360 brand. Right now, we're merely sitting on Kinect Sports as the only true utilisation of the product, and from what I've seen of the new Fable nothing has changed in that regard.

It would certainly be a shame for Microsoft to have to cann what's been a remarkably successful fantasy franchise so far, yet with Halo, Forza and Gears Of War still all retaining their consistent quality year in, year out and in these harsh economic times it's challenging to see what the other option would be. This is just opinion-based speculation on my part, but I'll keep you posted on the situation as it develops...