July 2Jul 2 Recent reports indicate that Obsidian is on the Microsoft chopping block as well. Any truth to that?Insider GamingObsidian Negotiating With Xbox To Avoid ClosureA new report suggests that Obsidian Entertainment is negotiating with Xbox to avoid closure in the upcoming cuts at the company.
July 2Jul 2 57 minutes ago, TheFirstOneForgotten said:Recent reports indicate that Obsidian is on the Microsoft chopping block as well. Any truth to that?Insider GamingObsidian Negotiating With Xbox To Avoid ClosureA new report suggests that Obsidian Entertainment is negotiating with Xbox to avoid closure in the upcoming cuts at the company.You answered your own question (possibly unintentionally)From your link:UPDATE: In a twist to Dring’s report, Jason Schreier is now reporting that Obsidian is NOT one of the at-risk studios at Xbox.“Despite a report this morning, I can confirm that Obsidian is not in negotiations to avoid shutting down. Plenty of details are still up in the air surrounding the layoffs (picture will be clear on Monday) but Xbox is keeping Obsidian, according to people familiar with the situation.” “He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would surely suffice.” - Albert Einstein
July 6Jul 6 Yeah, looks like they're being hit by layoffs, with the rest of the MS, though. I cannot - yet I must. How do you calculate that? At what point on the graph do "must" and "cannot" meet? Yet I must - but I cannot! ~ Ro-Man
July 7Jul 7 So not closing just yet, but getting f'd anyways. Great. "only when you no-life you can exist forever, because what does not live cannot die."
July 7Jul 7 I hope Obsidian has some plans in the drawer to spin back into being an independent studio, or has some other backup plan. Being a Microsoft Studio doesn't seem to promise much of a bright future, these days. Like being in a pool of sharks. Sure, the sharks might be eating someone else right now, but you know you'll be next when they're done. Never attribute to malice that which can adequately be explained by incompetence.
July 7Jul 7 Wasn't the whole point of Obsidian agreeing to join MS about security for the company and its people? They may as well have stayed indie.
July 7Jul 7 22 hours ago, Amentep said:Yeah, looks like they're being hit by layoffs, with the rest of the MS, though.Saw a quarter are getting cut Why has elegance found so little following? Elegance has the disadvantage that hard work is needed to achieve it and a good education to appreciate it. - Edsger Wybe Dijkstra
Wednesday at 06:25 PM5 days So the latest news is - if you believe Jason Schreier - that Avowed 2 is pretty much cancelled as well, and they're fully pivoting to a game in the Fallout franchise.Microsoft’s Xbox to Shift Obsidian Studio to New ‘Fallout’ Video GameWhile Obsidian working on a Fallout game could be great, I would hate this to be true. It would mean Obsidian is not even allowed to focus on their own IP anymore. Edited Wednesday at 06:27 PM5 days by JadedWolf Never attribute to malice that which can adequately be explained by incompetence.
Wednesday at 06:36 PM5 days Been out of the loop for so long. Bittersweet to hear of the mass layoffs but hope the news of Fallout (and its potential windfall) can revitalize Obsidian. "Things are funny...are comedic, because they mix the real with the absurd." - Buzz Aldrin."P-O-T-A-T-O-E" - Dan Quayle
Thursday at 01:42 PM4 days 19 hours ago, JadedWolf said:So the latest news is - if you believe Jason Schreier - that Avowed 2 is pretty much cancelled as well, and they're fully pivoting to a game in the Fallout franchise.Microsoft’s Xbox to Shift Obsidian Studio to New ‘Fallout’ Video GameWhile Obsidian working on a Fallout game could be great, I would hate this to be true. It would mean Obsidian is not even allowed to focus on their own IP anymore.That's a huge blow to me, as I have never cared for the genre of RPG that the Fallout games fall into. So, without another game in the fantasy genre/Pillers IP, Obsidian becomes yet another irrelevant studio to me. 😞
Thursday at 06:56 PM4 days 5 hours ago, kanisatha said:That's a huge blow to me, as I have never cared for the genre of RPG that the Fallout games fall into. So, without another game in the fantasy genre/Pillers IP, Obsidian becomes yet another irrelevant studio to me. 😞Hopefully they'll do another crowdfund thing. Pillars of Eternity III would be incredible.
Friday at 06:18 AM3 days 11 hours ago, beatspores said:Hopefully they'll do another crowdfund thing. Pillars of Eternity III would be incredible.I am afraid Obsidian's Kickstarting days are over. When they were an independent studio, they could do things like that. Microsoft now pays the bills, and in return they make all the decisions. Never attribute to malice that which can adequately be explained by incompetence.
Friday at 03:47 PM3 days 9 hours ago, JadedWolf said:I am afraid Obsidian's Kickstarting days are over. When they were an independent studio, they could do things like that. Microsoft now pays the bills, and in return they make all the decisions.Yes. I wasn't clear but I meant if they ever get axed by Microsoft.
Sunday at 10:37 AM1 day From the internet which of course makes it true! Joking aside, no idea how reliable Bloomberg is as a source for this guyI tried to make the url link start at the Obsidian part “He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would surely suffice.” - Albert Einstein
Sunday at 04:15 PM1 day You have to sympathize with Josh Sawyer, that's a lot of responsibility now being put on his shoulders. And all because Microsoft seems have absolutely no idea what they're doing. It's like they're just throwing dice to see what the strategy for next year will be. Never attribute to malice that which can adequately be explained by incompetence.
Sunday at 08:23 PM1 day On 7/9/2026 at 11:18 PM, JadedWolf said:I am afraid Obsidian's Kickstarting days are over. When they were an independent studio, they could do things like that. Microsoft now pays the bills, and in return they make all the decisions."...once you start down the dark path... forever will it dominate your destiny. Consume you it will..."Yeah, in retrospect it looks a bit like a Faustian bargain. I suppose in worse case outcome the band can get back together to try and form a new studio. I'm not sure how viable that will be in the face of AI-everything though. "It has just been discovered that research causes cancer in rats."
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