Obsidian Can Focus On "Next Games" Thanks To Microsoft, Says Senior Dev

In November 2018, Microsoft announced the acquisition Obsidian Entertainment, the developer behind Fallout: New Vegas and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2 – The Sith Lords. The studio has since expressed appreciation for Microsoft in the year following the acquisition, stating that being a part of Microsoft has provided an added level of security when it comes to making games.

“On the studio level, for me personally, one of the nice things is that now that we’re a part of Microsoft, we’re focusing more on what the next games are going to be, rather than, ‘How do we pitch the next games?'” Obsidian senior designer Brian Heins said in an interview with Wccftech.

“When we were acquired, Microsoft’s said to us, ‘We’re buying you because we want you to keep making games the way you’ve been doing, not to change you.'” he continued. “And that’s been reassuring a lot of people on the team; we’re not suddenly going to be asked to be a different studio than we have been. We have been given the assurance to keep making these games that our fans like–hopefully on a grander scale and better quality.” It’s a sentiment also expressed by Double Fine boss Tim Schafer, whose studio has also recently been acquired by Microsoft.

Obsidian is currently on track to launch The Outer Worlds on Xbox One, PS4, and PC on October 25 with a Switch release scheduled for later. A sci-fi choice-driven RPG, The Outer Worlds is a spiritual successor to Fallout: New Vegas. There’s an added emphasis to player consequence in The Outer Worlds, though, encouraging you to replay the campaign more than once. Your choices can have far-reaching effects on the overall campaign, so your actions can create very different stories.

If you’re grabbing The Outer Worlds, expect a massive day one patch for the physical versions of the game. On both Xbox One X and PS4 Pro, The Outer Worlds is enhanced to play in 4K.