As Xbox continues its reset and lays off almost 300 employees, the corporate introduced that a few of its subsidiaries have been shaken up as effectively. This consists of Obsidian Leisure, which can now function underneath Bethesda Softworks.
On September 22, Xbox chief content material officer and govt vp Matt Booty posted on Xbox’s web site, outlining a brand new construction that sees the Bethesda enterprise unit now embrace Obsidian.
“Bethesda will develop its remit to incorporate Obsidian, which can proceed its present tasks, together with Grounded, in addition to the brand new Fallout undertaking made in collaboration with Bethesda Recreation Studios,” Booty wrote on Xbox Wire.
This language does not seem to recommend that Bethesda wolfed up Obsidian to take possession over the studio or something. As an alternative, it sounds a bit of nearer to the working relationship Bethesda–or relatively, the studio’s mother or father firm, ZeniMax Media–has with Doom maker id Software program.
Obsidian Leisure–which developed copious RPGs from Neverwinter Nights 2 to Pillars of Eternity to Star Wars Knights of the Previous Republic II: The Sith Lords to The Outer Worlds—misplaced 25% of its employees in July after Xbox’s first main reset. This resulted in the Avowed sequel being killed and the acclaimed RPG studio shifting its focus to the Fallout franchise, with a brand new sport in growth. It is unclear if this undertaking is Fallout 5 or some spin-off of the long-running collection, however alongside no matter Obsidian Leisure is engaged on, there are at the least three Fallout pies within the oven now.
This is not the one reshuffling occurring at Xbox. Booty additionally introduced that Activision will develop the subsequent Halo, Hellblade developer Ninja Idea will seemingly shut, and the 2 Forza studios have hit the fusion dance to grow to be one. There’s extra to return, too, with extra layoffs reportedly deliberate earlier than June 2027.
