Obsidian Has Quietly Grow to be Xbox’s Secret Weapon

In 2022, Obsidian Leisure was the one first-party Xbox studio to ship a brand new recreation, Pentiment. And in 2025, the Microsoft-owned studio has already launched one massive RPG, Avowed, and is ready to launch a second one, The Outer Worlds 2, later within the 12 months. If it wasn’t clear earlier than, it’s now: Obsidian has quietly grow to be considered one of Xbox’s most essential and priceless studios.

Let’s flash again to E3 2018. Throughout Microsoft’s massive showcase that 12 months, Xbox boss Phil Spencer introduced that the corporate had bought 4 totally different unbiased recreation studios: Playground Video games, Ninja Concept, Compulsion Video games, and Undead Labs. Spencer additionally confirmed a brand new studio known as The Initiative had been created which, we’d later be taught, was charged with rebooting Excellent Darkish. Later in 2018, Xbox introduced it was shopping for two extra studios: InXile and Obsidian. Lastly, in 2019, Xbox purchased Double Fantastic. After the Xbox maker’s studio procuring spree, it had a huge steady of in-house builders.

Flash ahead to as we speak, virtually seven years later, and whereas all of these studios nonetheless stay, they haven’t launched that a lot. Right here’s the place they stand as of February 2025:

• The Initiative – Has but to launch a recreation. Engaged on Excellent Darkish.
• Double Fantastic — Final recreation launched: Psychonauts 2 (2021) – Manufacturing started earlier than Xbox acquisition.
• Compulsion Video games – Final recreation launched: We Blissful Few (2018) – Manufacturing started earlier than Xbox acquisition. South of Midnight is coming this 12 months.
• Undead Labs – Final recreation launched: State of Decay 2 (2018) – Printed by Xbox Studios.
• InXile Leisure – Final recreation launched: Frostpoint VR (2020) – A VR shooter that hardly lasted 4 months. Not revealed by Xbox.
• Playground Video games – Final recreation launched: Forza Horizon 5 (2021) – Printed by Xbox. Fable reboot set for this 12 months.
• Ninja Concept – Final recreation launched: Hellblade 2 (2024) – Additionally launched Bleeding Edge in 2020 beneath Xbox.
• Obsidian Leisure – Final recreation launched: Avowed (2025) – Set to launch Outer Worlds 2 this 12 months. Beforehand, beneath Xbox, launched Grounded in 2020 and Pentiment in 2022.

It’s clear, when taking a look at that listing above, that Obsidian is the outlier. Many of the studios Xbox purchased or created round 2018 have solely shipped possibly one recreation, and a few of these have been in improvement earlier than the Xbox deal. Different studios, like Compulsion, are lastly releasing one thing after seven years of Xbox possession. And should you take a look at different Xbox studios, issues aren’t significantly better.

The Coalition hasn’t launched a brand new Gears recreation since Gears 5 in 2019 and Uncommon hasn’t made a brand new recreation since 2020’s Battletoads. (Although the studio does a number of help on Sea of Thieves.)

In the meantime, Obsidian has shipped three video games since 2018 beneath Xbox and has one other massive RPG touchdown later this 12 months. And it launched Outer Worlds in 2019, a recreation which began manufacturing earlier than the Xbox deal and wasn’t revealed by Microsoft, however was but another massive RPG from the corporate in a comparatively quick span of time. And there are rumors of the corporate already engaged on a brand new venture, too. So how did the studio attain this level?

How Obsidian turned Xbox’s most beneficial asset

Properly, throughout a chat at DICE Summit earlier this week, Obsidian Leisure VP of operations Marcus Morgan and VP of improvement Justin Britch talked concerning the firm’s philosophy of staying lean and making sensible investments in medium-sized video games that don’t take a decade to make. The studio heads additionally emphasised holding headcount low and aiming for as little turnover as doable to assist the studio acquire extra institutional information.

The purpose: The duo need Obsidian to final 100 years. Actually. When requested concerning the purpose of holding the studio round for 100 years, lengthy after they’re lifeless, they mentioned: “Are we severe? … Sure.”

And truthfully, I feel Obsidian can pull it off. It clearly has a workforce of people that perceive the best way to construct correctly scoped video games utilizing comparatively small groups whereas managing a number of initiatives directly.

In an business the place some studios lay individuals off on a regular basis and spend 5 to seven years engaged on one recreation, Obsidian has gone a unique path. And the tip consequence is without doubt one of the best and profitable studios round. I wager Microsoft is glad they snagged the place up again in 2018.

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