Molyneux: Fable III Needs to Sell More than 5 Million Units

Fable III is an ambitious project and something of an odd beast. It's part of one of the series that defined what a role playing game could do on the Xbox 360 but also confirmed as coming to the PC, spearheading an effort from Microsoft to expand its presence there. It's set to feature touch as one of the most meaningful ways of interacting with other characters but integration with the motion tracking Kinect is not at the forefront.

And, in an obvious break with tradition, it is a game developed with a clear sales target in mind, one that the head of Lionhead is not afraid to talk about.

In an interview with Gameindustry.biz, Peter Molyneux, who is known for his outspokenness and tendency to hype up his projects, said, “We are driving to sell more than 5 million units and to make a profit in excess of $150 million. We have to do that because if a franchise doesn't reach that level it will inevitably wither.” It's quite an ambitious target considering that recent reports show Fable II managed to sell north of 3.5 million units.

Fable III will return to the land of Albion and the development team describes the title as actually being made up of two different games, one which focuses on the revolutionary struggle against a tyrant and another that aims to show off the burdens that fall on the shoulders of those who lead. It will evolve the combat and exploration systems seen in the previous two iterations in the role playing games series.

Molyneux also said that Fable III would not have a demo version but that Microsoft and his team plan to launch the entire game as a digitally downloadable series, with the first episode being free in order to show off what the experience is all about.