Obsidian Entertainment, which just released Avowed, Grounded 2 (Early Access), and The Outer Worlds 2 all in the same calendar year, was hit hard in the first wave of 1,600 mass layoffs across Microsoft’s gaming division (roughly 1,600 more are still on the way). Xbox cut 50 staff from the studio and reportedly changed its development plans away from an Avowed sequel to a new Fallout game. , game director on The Outer Worlds 2, shared his thoughts on the events of the last week, including a wave of speculation that occurred online about the current state of Obsidian and its future under Xbox.
“This has been an extremely difficult week at Obsidian,” he wrote on LinkedIn (via Eurogamer). “Not only have I had to say goodbye to some amazing game developers, but I’ve had to say goodbye to some of my best friends. I truly feel for every one of them. Know that if you are looking to hire one of these former Obsidian devs, you are hiring some of the best people around –both professionally and personally.”
Adler continued:
Another difficult aspect is having to see a bunch of cold take artists coming out of the woodwork to talk about what Obsidian is or what it isn’t. The number of times I’ve seen people, with no understanding of who has worked on our previous games or what they contributed, talk about how Obsidian isn’t who they used to be… is staggering. Most of the time they are not just wrong, but spreading an enormous amount of misinformation.
In most circumstances, the people in lead or director roles are the same people that worked on games like The Outer Worlds, Pillars of Eternity, and New Vegas. Like, literally the same people. The through line from KotOR2 to our current games is pretty clear.
The game director, who was recently listed on his LinkedIn page as working on an unannounced project, started at Obsidian back in 2006 as a tester on Neverwinter Nights 2. Obsidian shipped Fallout: New Vegas, one of its most beloved RPGs, in 2010. Since then, it’s moved into making games in its own worlds, including the fantasy CRPG series Pillars of Eternity and the very Fallout-feeling Outer Worlds sci-fi shooters.
There’s been lots of conjecture online this week about which projects Obsidian has chosen to pursue and why, and how its studio culture may have changed during that time. Adler pushed back against claims that the studio’s DNA has fundamentally changed.
“Is Obsidian the same as it was 20 years ago?” he wrote. “No, of course not. Nothing stays the same. But the DNA at Obsidian is the same as it always was. The same DNA that created KotOR, New Vegas, NWN2, and Stick of Truth. I’m extremely proud of our history and I am also excited for who we have become.”
Adler continued, “Just remember, when you are seeing people spouting off about Obsidian, running their mouths about who we are now vs. what we were then, you are listening to someone crow about something with zero insight into how a game is made and who contributed to our previous games.”
According to Bloomberg, the studio was already deep into working on a sequel to last year’s Avowed when this week’s cuts hit. Its focus will now be on a new Fallout project, though work is reportedly continuing on the new Avowed in the meantime. A multi-game studio, Obsidian was also working on other things, including a game headed up by studio design director Josh Sawyer that had many similarities to a Fallout-style RPG. He’ll reportedly be leading the new Fallout game now instead.
It all comes as Xbox doubles down on its biggest franchises and retreats from the Game Pass-era strategy of letting acquired studios pursue new, diverse projects aimed at reaching new subscribers. Xbox CEO Asha Sharma reportedly wants the next Halo and Fallout games out faster than previously planned. Both still seem likely to be years away, no matter how many bodies are potentially thrown at their respective production pipelines.