FableLabs

FableLabs was an independent mobile game development studio founded in 2014 in San Francisco, California. Its work focused on accessible, narrative-rich experiences for tablets and smartphones, combining character-driven storytelling with interactive dialogue, branching choices and casual game mechanics. The studio sought to adapt the appeal of adventure and role-playing games into streamlined, free-to-play experiences suited to mobile devices.

Its early development included standalone narrative games such as The Nerd Detective, a mystery adventure that reimagined the Sherlock Holmes archetype in a contemporary school setting. The game incorporated voice acting, episodic mysteries and branching puzzle dialogue. The team also explored fantasy, roguelike and mystery prototypes, experimenting with settings and narrative approaches beyond conventional genre patterns.

Interactive fiction publishing

By 2017, FableLabs had shifted toward an episodic publishing platform with Tales: Fiction You Play for iOS and Android. The platform brought together choice-driven visual novels written by professional screenwriters, game writers and independent authors. Its stories covered romance, science fiction, horror, comedy and thriller genres, offering readers a catalog of interactive narratives rather than a single standalone adventure.

Published stories included TruCHANGE, The Last Job, Reality Sucks, Saving Grace and Hereafter. This platform approach broadened the studio's work from developing individual games to supporting digital interactive publishing and collaborating with outside storytellers. Its capabilities encompassed narrative game design, scriptwriting and mobile software engineering.

Later development

FableLabs operated as an indie studio through 2018. In 2019, its operations transitioned into Tales, Inc., a successor venture that expanded toward creator-focused storytelling and generative AI while carrying forward the interactive fiction catalog. Active development of the successor platform ceased by 2023, and the supplied company history records that it had ceased operations by mid-2025. FableLabs and the Tales platform are no longer operating.