Obsidian game director Brandon Adler has criticized what he described as an “enormous amount of misinformation” about the studio that emerged online following reports that the developer is working on another Fallout game. He took particular issue with vocal fan skepticism over whether Obsidian can do the project justice, given that many of the developers who worked on its iconic Fallout spin-off are no longer at the studio.
Microsoft’s embattled gaming business announced another major restructuring on July 6, when Xbox CEO Asha Sharma confirmed plans to eliminate about 3,200 jobs, or roughly 20% of the division’s workforce. The company has already identified and notified half of the affected employees, while the remaining layoffs are expected by the end of June 2027, the close of Microsoft’s current fiscal year. The large-scale restructuring affected Xbox studios of all sizes, including Obsidian, which lost about a quarter of its roughly 220-person workforce. Microsoft said the cuts did not lead to cancellations of any already revealed first-party projects. As for the rest, Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier reported that several unannounced Obsidian games were shelved during the restructuring, with a significant part of the studio instead being put to work on a new Fallout game.
Obsidian Director Dismisses Fan Skepticism Over New Fallout Game
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Image via Bethesda -
In a July 11 LinkedIn post, Obsidian game director Brandon Adler bid farewell to the dozens of colleagues who lost their jobs in the latest wave of Xbox layoffs. “This has been an extremely difficult week at Obsidian,” Adler wrote before addressing what he called “another difficult aspect”: online criticism of the studio that he viewed as entirely unwarranted. Adler expressed particular frustration with claims that Obsidian no longer has the talent to produce great games because most of the Fallout: New Vegas creative team has left the studio. “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,” he wrote.
Adler Insists the Studio’s ‘DNA’ Hasn’t Changed Even If Not Many New Vegas Devs Remain
Adler said that even after the recent layoffs, most of Obsidian’s senior creative roles remain filled by veterans who worked on Fallout: New Vegas, Pillars of Eternity, The Outer Worlds, and other acclaimed RPGs. While acknowledging that no company remains unchanged over two decades, he maintained that Obsidian’s creative “DNA” is the same as it ever was, categorically dismissing any online speculation to the contrary as coming from uninformed “cold take artists.”
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
Although Adler’s decision to address Obsidian’s critics highlights how vocal they have been in recent days, they do not necessarily represent the majority of player opinions. Many longtime fans have expressed strong enthusiasm about the prospect of another Obsidian-developed Fallout game since the existence of the purported project leaked online on July 8.
Adler’s argument is broadly consistent with Obsidian’s output in the post-New Vegas era. Since the fan-favorite, Mojave-set Fallout game launched in 2010, the studio has released more than half a dozen renowned RPGs, including South Park: The Stick of Truth, Tyranny, Grounded, and Pentiment. Although its two 2025 titles, Avowed and The Outer Worlds 2, hold only “Mostly Positive” user ratings on Steam as of mid-2026, both have scored in the low 80s on OpenCritic and have been nominated for multiple major awards, in addition to winning some minor honors. Obsidian’s quality floor therefore still appears to exceed many mid-sized studios’ ceilings.
Naturally, that record does not guarantee that the rumored Fallout project will succeed, but it offers some grounds for confidence. The prospect is further strengthened by the presence of Fallout creator Tim Cain, who currently works at Obsidian. Cain came out of retirement in late 2025 to contribute to an unannounced project, raising the possibility that he could once again work on the post-apocalyptic series he helped create.
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October 19, 2010
- ESRB
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M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Use of Drugs
- Engine
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Gamebryo
