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[Kotaku] Obsidian Has Quietly Become Xbox's Secret Weapon and wants to still be around in 100 years

Obsidian still be in 2125 ?

  • Total voters
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gokurho

gokurho

Member
Summary by Deepseek
Obsidian Entertainment: Xbox’s "Secret Weapon" with a Vision to Thrive for "100 Years"
1. Obsidian as Xbox’s "Secret Weapon"
Since its acquisition by Microsoft in 2018, Obsidian Entertainment has emerged as one of Xbox’s most productive studios, consistently delivering high-quality RPGs while other Xbox-owned studios lag in output. Key achievements include:
  • Multiple releases: Grounded (2020), Pentiment (2022), Avowed (2025), and the upcoming The Outer Worlds 2 (2025)—all while maintaining a lean team structure125.
  • Game Pass dominance: Every Obsidian title launches on Xbox Game Pass, solidifying its role as a cornerstone of Microsoft’s subscription service11.
  • Efficiency: Unlike studios like The Initiative (still developing Perfect Dark after seven years) or InXile (no major releases since 2020), Obsidian balances multiple projects without delays, leveraging its focus on "medium-sized" games17.
2. The "100-Year" Vision
At the 2025 DICE Summit, Obsidian’s leadership outlined their bold goal: to ensure the studio thrives for a century. Their strategy emphasizes:
  • Lean operations: Avoiding bloated teams and prioritizing manageable project scopes to reduce risk and maintain agility27.
  • Institutional knowledge: Minimizing staff turnover to preserve expertise, a rarity in an industry plagued by layoffs57.
  • Sustainable growth: Focusing on "mild success" over blockbuster profits, ensuring steady releases like Avowed and The Outer Worlds 2 without overextending resources7.
3. Why Obsidian Stands Out
  • Diverse RPG expertise: From the satirical The Outer Worlds to the fantasy-driven Avowed, Obsidian masters both sci-fi and fantasy, appealing to a broad audience611.
  • Player-centric design: Games like Avowed emphasize player choice, companion depth, and thematic storytelling—traits that distinguish Obsidian from competitors like Bethesda6.
  • Cultural resilience: While studios like Ninja Theory (Hellblade 2) or Playground Games (Fable) focus on single large projects, Obsidian’s multi-project pipeline ensures consistent output15.
4. Challenges and Future Prospects
  • Technical hurdles: Avowed faced criticism for bugs and item-scaling issues, though its polished combat and narrative earned praise6.
  • Expanding ambitions: Rumors of a new project suggest Obsidian aims to scale up without compromising its "100-year" philosophy25.
  • Global impact: With Avowed delayed for Japanese localization, Obsidian must balance quality and accessibility to maintain its Game Pass dominance11.
Conclusion
Obsidian’s blend of efficiency, creativity, and long-term vision positions it as Xbox’s "secret weapon" in a competitive industry. By prioritizing sustainability over spectacle, the studio not only aims to survive but to shape RPGs for decades—proving that "100 years" is more than a slogan, but a roadmap275.
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kotaku.com

Obsidian Has Quietly Become Xbox's Secret Weapon

The studio behind Avowed and Outer Worlds 2 wants to be around in 100 years and has a plan
kotaku.com kotaku.com
In 2022, Obsidian Entertainment was the only first-party Xbox studio to ship a new game, Pentiment. And in 2025, the Microsoft-owned studio has already launched one big RPG, Avowed, and is set to release a second one, The Outer Worlds 2, later in the year. If it wasn't clear before, it is now: Obsidian has quietly become one of Xbox's most important and valuable studios.
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Let's flash back to E3 2018. During Microsoft's big showcase that year, Xbox boss Phil Spencer announced that the company had purchased four different independent game studios: Playground Games, Ninja Theory, Compulsion Games, and Undead Labs. Spencer also confirmed a new studio called The Initiative had been created which, we would later learn, was charged with rebooting Perfect Dark. Later in 2018, Xbox announced it was buying two more studios: InXile and Obsidian. Finally, in 2019, Xbox bought Double Fine. After the Xbox maker's studio shopping spree, it had a massive stable of in-house developers.
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The goal: The duo want Obsidian to last 100 years. Really. When asked about the goal of keeping the studio around for 100 years, long after they are dead, they said: "Are we serious? … Yes."
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SJRB

SJRB

Gold Member
> Xbox's secret weapon
> 10k players on a Saturday night for their triple A release that cost tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars


champoy-el-risitas.gif
 
M

Mayar

Member
Camreezie said:
Its on early pre order release
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This already reflects the general desire of the players.
The same Civilization did not stop anything in early access from collecting 60,000+, despite the fact that early access actually cost $120. Therefore, it is a bad excuse. Plus, it is already free on torrent trackers, since it was hacked 3 days before the release. Which will help sales even more.
 
Camreezie

Camreezie

Member
SJRB said:
Okay? Only ten thousand people were willing to opt in on the pre-order for their triple A game that cost tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars.
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But how is that a measuring stick when its not yet released on gamepass where people will play it as an additional pack in for a service they have already spent money on. People are eager to dogpile on this game
 
Last edited:
semiconscious

semiconscious

Member
  • Diverse RPG expertise: From the satirical The Outer Worlds to the fantasy-driven Avowed, Obsidian masters both sci-fi and fantasy, appealing to a broad audience
Click to expand...
'expertise'? 'masters'? they list 2 games, one of which sold well enough, & the other of which hasn't even been officially released, & this guy's using words like 'expertise' & 'masters'? smh...
 
rm082e

rm082e

Member
xBlueStonex said:
Anybody using Steam CCU numbers for a Gamepass game is purposely being disingenious and should be ignored.
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Until Microsoft is willing to release official subscriber numbers for the PC specific tier, I simply don't consider it a meaningful factor. I don't believe there are very many PC players playing games via that service. I don't think it has a meaningful impact on Steam sales.
 
ShaiKhulud1989

ShaiKhulud1989

Gold Member
Danny Dudekisser said:
These aren’t the same guys that made Pillars of Eternity anymore. They’re not Microsoft’s secret weapon. They’re just another B-team.
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Kings of Netflix of gaming. The game your partner plays while waiting the laundry to be finished kinda Netflix. I will wrote more in the OP, but after 5 hours with Avoiwed the nicest thing I could say about it - it's... Well, content, I guess.
 
poppabk

poppabk

Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
Who the fuck knows what gaming is gonna be in 100 years time. Movies barely changed in 100 years and a lot of early studios are gone.
 
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