Fable director Peter Molyneux says his new city-builder shares a setting with Xbox's RPG, but that's not a problem because "Albion can't be copyrighted"

Peter Molyneux's Masters of Albion both is and isn't set in the same world as Fable 4, confusingly, but the influential developer doesn't actually know if he's in breach of Microsoft's copyright.

Masters of Albion duct tapes the designer's greatest hits from Dungeon Keeper to Black & White so Molyneux can return to the sweeping god simulation genre that he helped pioneer, while also channeling Fable with witty humor and a possession mechanic that lets you view the world from the (third-person) perspective of a villager, a chicken, and more. 

Anyone who's played the Fable series probably raised an eyebrow or two when the name "Albion" popped up alongside Molyneux's name in the reveal trailer below, however, since that happens to be the name of Fable's twisted fairytale world. So what's up with that?

In an interview with IGN, Molyneux reiterated that Albion wasn't a creation unique to Fable like, let's say, Dragon Age's Thedas or Avowed's Eora. Albion is instead "the old English name for England and Wales and Cornwall," that was deliberately turned magical for Xbox's RPG series. "I think it's a really interesting world," the designer continued. "It's an interesting universe that Fable touched upon and really I think Albion in Masters of Albion, it extends and expands that, but it's not actually Fable 5 or anything like that." 

When asked to clarify, Molyneux confusingly stated that "Fable was set in Albion, Masters of Albion is set in Albion," but he's actually not certain what the legal rights look like. "I don't know if I'm honest, I don't really know," Molyneux said. "I hope so. I mean you would think that the responsible person I should be, I would've spent the last six months in lawyers' offices…" 

Molyneux continues to say that since the setting is an old folk name for England and Wales it "can't be copyright" and "that's how we get away with it." Other non-Fable games have shared the name too - Albion Online and Dark Age of Camelot come to mind - but none that