He claims that many people have no idea what’s really going on at Obsidian Entertainment because their perception is far from the truth.
Earlier this month, Microsoft announced the most significant restructuring in Xbox history, which is what they call laying off thousands of people and selling off four game studios. Double Fine and Compulsion Games returned to their independent roots, while Ninja Theory and Undead Labs were sold. Although Obsidian Entertainment initially seemed to have escaped the layoffs, it soon became clear that they had also suffered significant staff cuts. We also learned that someone had pressed the “emergency button” to have Obsidian develop a new Fallout game. According to reports, Josh Sawyer, director of Fallout: New Vegas, is leading the project.
So, there’s a mix of good and bad news. Many people have voiced their opinions online, suggesting that Obsidian has already effectively drained its original writing team and the talent that made the old Obsidian games what they were. They claim that this is no longer the same studio that created games like New Vegas and Knights of the Old Republic 2.
Brandon Adler, a game director at Obsidian, refuted these claims on LinkedIn. He explained that many of the people who held leadership positions at Obsidian in the past still work there today. Of course, this does not mean that the studio has not changed. Adler also noted that the studio has gone through a difficult period for obvious reasons.
“The number of times I’ve seen people with no understanding of who 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’re not just wrong; they’re spreading a lot of misinformation. It’s literally the same people. The through line from Knights of the Old Republic 2 to our current games is clear. The DNA at Obsidian is the same as it always was. It’s the same DNA that created KotOR, New Vegas, Neverwinter Nights 2, and South Park: The Stick of Truth. It’s been an extremely difficult week at Obsidian. I’ve had to say goodbye to some amazing game developers and some of my best friends. I truly feel for every one of them. If you are looking to hire one of these former Obsidian developers, know that you are hiring some of the best people around, both professionally and personally,” Adler said.
Whatever Obsidian has planned for the future, we’re interested in it too because Pentiment was a masterpiece. It’s hard to believe that a new Fallout game made by Obsidian would be a disaster just because some people didn’t like The Outer Worlds 2.
Leave a Reply