Fable Fortune closes its Kickstarter campaign — because it’s found outside funding

Well, this is a strange turn of … fortunes (sorry).

Flaming Fowl Studios, which consists of the remnants from the closed Lionhead Studios, is working on a digital card game called Fable Fortune. Today, the company announced on the project’s Kickstarter page that it has secured outside funding, enabling them to launch a closed beta. Because of this, the developer closed the crowdfunding campaign, saying that it will now focus on development for a planned release on Xbox One, PC, and mobile. Fable Fortune is in an alpha state, with a beta planned to begin in “a handful of months.” It has no release window yet. Flaming Fowl did not specify where this new funding came from.

The Kickstarter had raised $86,321 of a $366,685 goal before its closing. The campaign was supposed to end on June 28.

“As we’ve always stated, we want to make this game with your help, your feedback, and your input,” an update on the Kickstarter page notes. “We have huge plans for Fortune and we know that whatever happens in the future, it all started with our already incredible community. Although we will now be concentrating on the closed beta, the alpha build will remain available during this period and we’ll be looking to deliver a balance update in the very near future. Additionally, in return for your fantastic support, we will be providing all Kickstarter backers with access to the alpha build and will then migrate all players over to our closed beta! This means that our backers will continue to be the very first players to get their hands on the latest content and features.”

The digital card game market is worth $1.2 billion, which explains why Microsoft was willing to give this new studio access to the Fable franchise for this project. Hearthstone is the leader in the category, making $20 million a month. But it will soon see new competition from other card games based on popular fantasy series like Fable Fortune, The Elder Scrolls: Legends, and Gwent.