New Vegas Developer Obsidian [UPDATE]

[UPDATE: Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier has refuted the claims of Obsidian in the below report from The Game Business. He said that it would be clearer on Monday, July 6, but that Xbox is indeed keeping Obsidian Entertainment. Original story follows.]

Fallout: New Vegas, Avowed, and The Outer Worlds developer Obsidian Entertainment might be shut down in the near future, should negotiations with Xbox not go in the studio’s favor. While everything about Xbox’s planned “reset” is terrifying and equally surprising, Obsidian is a strange pick given how many games it has produced since its acquisition, to say nothing of its prestige as the studio behind Fallout: New Vegas.

Obsidian Entertainment is one of Xbox’s earlier acquisitions in its late 2010/early 2020 shopping spree. Microsoft acquired it under the Xbox Game Studios banner in 2018, after which it released Avowed, The Outer Worlds 2, Pentiment, Grounded, and Grounded 2 (set to release on PS5 in August). Obsidian developed Fallout: New Vegas, the best Fallout game of all time, and many fans have wanted Obsidian/Bethesda/Xbox to give the studio a new attempt at the IP. But whether that’s on the table or not is hard to say.

Obsidian Added to the List of Potential Xbox Game Studio Shutdowns

According to a recent report by The Game Business, Compulsion, Ninja Theory, Double Fine, Obsidian Entertainment, and Undead Labs are all in negotiation with Microsoft and Xbox to avoid closure. This is the first report to mention Obsidian Entertainment, while the other studios have been brought up by other outlets and reports. More negotiations are also reportedly happening at other studios as well. “The impact of this will likely reverberate across the business,” says the report. New Xbox CEO Asha Sharma recently announced upcoming hard times for Xbox, adding that the business is aiming to invest in its biggest games and IPs, as opposed to other projects. Fallout and The Elder Scrolls were two of the IPs specifically mentioned as needing more investment.

Interestingly, director Josh Sawyer of Obsidian Entertainment recently spoke about working on a new Fallout game. When asked about working on a new Fallout: New Vegas “sequel,” as he and everyone at Obsidian are no doubt constantly asked, he responded with: “It’s not up to me.” Instead, he referred to “titans” who are in charge of IPs and make that decision, and yet that hasn’t manifested. Obsidian Entertainment has no currently announced games, but whether or not it is working on a Fallout game in secret is unknown, perhaps even more unlikely if the aforementioned report is true. According to Sawyer, a new Fallout game would more or less be assigned, if it were to happen, as that’s “how it happened with New Vegas.”

Overall, no one wants to see studios shut down. Obsidian Entertainment has produced great games, even if the commercial aspect did not always succeed as it could have. Compulsion Games released South of Midnight and was previously said to represent a different aspect of Xbox’s portfolio than pure profit. Ninja Theory just announced Senua for a 2027 release, Undead Labs has been working on State of Decay 3, and Double Fine is a legendary name.

Some reports indicate that these studios may have ways to spin out, retain their name, and buy their way out of Xbox, so to speak, depending on negotiations and interested buyers. But such decisions take time, and if recent moves by Xbox are any indication, it seems that time is running out.

Released

October 19, 2010

ESRB

M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Use of Drugs

Engine

Gamebryo