Bloomberg Businessweek published a deep dive into Obsidian Entertainment revealing the Xbox studio is overhauling how it makes games after Avowed and The Outer Worlds 2 both fell short of internal sales expectations.
The feature by games journalist Jason Schreier details how both RPGs took six to seven years to develop. Obsidian now wants to cut that timeline down dramatically by reusing assets and technology between projects.
Studio leadership told Bloomberg they’re targeting three to four year development cycles going forward. The model they’re pointing to? Fallout: New Vegas, which cost roughly $8m to make by heavily reusing Fallout 3 assets.
Not everything missed the mark. Grounded 2 was described as a big hit, while the narrative game Pentiment turned a profit despite its smaller scope.
The Grounded 2 success came from a surprise place. Bloomberg reports Eidos Montreal—the studio behind modern Deus Ex games—pitched the sequel in 2023. Obsidian wasn’t planning to make it before that.
Looking ahead, there are currently no plans for The Outer Worlds 3. But Obsidian told Bloomberg it wants to make more games set in the Avowed universe, which shares its setting with the studio’s Pillars of Eternity series.
Obsidian has been one of Xbox Game Studios’ key RPG developers since Microsoft acquired the company in 2018. The shift to faster production mirrors broader industry trends as studios face rising development costs and longer timelines.
