Obsidian Entertainment is moving under Bethesda amid a broader restructuring of Xbox Game Studios. The evolving corporate structure will see the creator of Avowed and The Outer Worlds housed alongside Bethesda Game Studios while he works on an upcoming Fallout game. Microsoft chief content officer Matt Booty wrote in a blog post on September 22 that Obsidian’s work on its current projects, including Grounded, would continue, although he made no mention of the studio’s other franchises, including a sequel to Avowed that the studio had previously wanted to make. Founded in 2003, Obsidian established itself as an RPG powerhouse first by partnering with BioWare on Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords and then by partnering with Bethesda on Fallout: New Vegas. Then in the 2010s, it crowdfunded an original isometric RPG called Pillars of Eternity and later released a Fallout-style sci-fi shooter RPG called The Outer Worlds. Microsoft bought Obsidian in 2018 as part of the Xbox maker’s new content strategy around its Game Pass subscription service. Nearly a decade later, that strategy has failed, and Microsoft is making major changes to the Xbox Game Studios apparatus it built to support it. That shift includes focusing more resources on fewer blockbuster franchises like Diablo, The Elder Scrolls and Fallout. Obsidian is reportedly already working on planning Avowed 2 and is now tasked with creating a new Fallout game as part of last summer’s Xbox “reboot.” Remasters of Fallout 3 and New Vegas will also arrive in the future, while Fallout 5 remains in pre-production at Bethesda.
