What if you lost something that commemorated a significant time in your life and career, only to find it pop up on eBay? That’s the case for Mike Ducker.
Mike Ducker has been a coder and programmer for the Fable series since the first game, being credited as working on every Fable game to date. He’s one of those neat folks who can be commended for bringing an iconic series to life.
One notable thing that Ducker received for his work on the Fable series was a commemorative plaque holding the original Fable for Xbox, which had his name on it and recognised him for his contribution to the creation of Fable.
Said plaque, according to Ducker, had been ‘missing presumed stolen’ since 2010. That is, until he was notified by a fellow game developer that the plaque was not only found, but had been listed on eBay.
In a Twitter thread this week, Ducker revealed that his commemorative plaque had been on quite the journey since 2010 before arriving on the auction website.
The plaque I was given for making Fable has been missing presumed stolen since 2010. It ended up in a recycling centre auction in Northampton around 2014, then sat in a collection until it went on sale on eBay recently, where a game dev I’d never met saw it and told me. 1/2 pic.twitter.com/iKFbWTP1WS
— Mike Ducker (@mike_ducker) October 12, 2022
When one user asked how the plaque went missing in the first place, Ducker explained that multiple items from his home had been stolen in 2010. In that process, it is possible that the plaque was one of the items taken from his home.
I don’t know for certain but in 2010 I had a bunch of stuff stolen from my house. Mostly guitars. Don’t remember seeing it after that but it might have disappeared earlier or later.
— Mike Ducker (@mike_ducker) October 12, 2022
Thankfully, this story has multiple happy endings. According to Ducker, the eBay seller sold it back for a surprisingly small sum compared to what they bought it for.
The seller returned it for the price they paid for it (less than 10% of what they had listed it for and much less than I was willing to pay). Never thought I’d see it again and so unlikely that I ever did 🥲
— Mike Ducker (@mike_ducker) October 12, 2022
On top of that, Ducker decided to also pay more than the price that they asked for, as well as throwing in an extra piece of Fable memorabilia for good measure. What a king!
I am, of course, paying them more than they asked (and throwing in a Fable 1 standee I found in my tiny collection of memorabilia)
— Mike Ducker (@mike_ducker) October 12, 2022
The thought of having something important stolen from your home, to me personally, is heartbreaking and scary. However, on the rare chance that it finds its way back to you? Classic. You love to see it.
Speaking of Fable, what’s happening with Fable 4? Well, we know that it’s still in production, with the Forza Horizon devs Playground Games working on it after Lionhead went kaput. Other than that, nada. As a fan of the series, I’ll be keeping an eye out for any news!
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