The layoffs at one of your studios most able to ship games is a bonkers, stupid decision; but pivoting Obsidian to making a new Fallout game is a good business decision if you don’t care about what your creatives feel led to create.
Fingers crossed it actually comes out
Welp this is going to be disastrous for the fallout series.
Wasn’t it already? Apart from new vegas, all fps fallout games are basically mediocre crap with boring non memorable stories.
Who remembers what was the main mission fallout 2 and fallout 3? Who remembers who is yes man and the stupid butler robot from 4?
One and two are totally different games. And are amazing.
3 is probably my favorite (but only because it is first person), new Vegas is ok.
4 is where mediocre shows up and 76 is where it just doesn’t matter anymore.
The tv show is fun though.
Fallout 2 wasn’t first person. Lots of people remember who Yes Man was, as that was from New Vegas which you suggested was good. Do you want to go back and rewrite this?
I haven’t played anything before 3… I enjoyed 3 because it was my intro to the series, it was far from perfect in a good sort of way. 76 has given me a lot of mixed feelings through its life… fo4 was good for like 1 play through but I can’t bring myself to try it again… new Vegas was amazing, but obsidian isn’t even the same company or people anymore. Judging by obsidians latest releases, if the new fallout is anything like them, I’m gonna be sad af.
Microsoft had Windows 95, Windows XP and Windows 7. Microsoft have a lot of things that they bought then destroyed… Go Google Microsoft acquisitions Here
Look how many of those companies and software no longer exist.
Now my company is moving to Windows 11, I see all these problems and bugs because Microsoft company-wide actually don’t understand the product that they support.
Go to your windows computer, go into the settings, dive deep into the settings… The older the UI looks the more likely it’s going to be actually in control of your computer.
The older the UI looks the more likely it’s going to be actually in control of your computer.
It tends to be more functional too
Yep.
New Vegas Fans: “We want Obsidian to make Fallout again”
Monkeys paw curls
And then shut them down.
No if it doesn’t sell $1B let half of staff go like with ID Software. Force remaining people to use AI and work twice as much.
I feel obligated to point out that this won’t be the same Obsidian who made New Vegas. Same company, but (mostly) not the same devs or the same leadership.
Though I’m a little hopeful that Josh Sawyer manages to make something neat.
I mean Josh Sawyer is leading it and Tim Cain and Leonard Boyarsky are both at Obsidian and I imagine they’ll be pulled in, as well as a bunch of other folks - so no idea what you’re talking about?
Most notably, John Gonzales, the actual writer on New Vegas, is also there.
outer worlds was not that good (imo) avowed was decent. would be insane to just assume theyd catch lightning in a bottle again
I liked the story of outerworlds but the mechanics and gameplay were never that interesting and it lost me, had to force myself to finish the game and I’m glad I did but oof.
totally agree, it was so not fun fighting enemies
I only watched playthroughs of Outer Worlds and Avowed, and I agree that they were mediocre. But Obsidian’s isometric CRPGs Pillars of Eternity I and II and Tyranny were great. If they can assign the isometric writing teams to the first-person games it might work.
I’m hoping they just need the right setting, and going back to FO could do that for them.
I mean you have two of the most important contributors to Fallout 1 & 2, and the project director from New Vegas - if they can’t do it, it can’t be done.
For what it’s worth I really liked Outer Worlds 1&2 and PoE I & II, as well as Avowed - so whatever they make, I’m probably going to enjoy it.
Microsoft’s leadership, specifically.
Yeah, but Feargus is still in charge of the studio and I don’t think even Microsoft is dumb enough to fuck with the actual development of the game from a proven studio. And now with so many layoffs and the need for this to succeed, Microsoft doesn’t have any other options. I’m sure they’ll find minor ways to fuck it up, but with things as they are, I truly believe this was the best possible solution to getting another good Fallout game.
They supposedly just canceled Avowed 2, which would have been about a year in development, to get the ball rolling on this.
Microsoft has a history of corporate meddling (if 343’s devs experiences are accurate) but you are right, they can’t really afford to mess this one up, so I’d hope they let the talent do their thing and make a great game.
I think the saving grace may be this:
Previously, Sawyer had been directing a roleplaying game that was similar structurally and thematically to Fallout but was not part of the franchise.
I almost wonder if they knew this might happen and Josh was in pre-production on “totally not Fallout but actually Fallout” as an insurance policy. Also, Tim Cain actually recently came back to Obsidian full-time - which may just be a coincidence, but is very convenient for making the argument for them to be given the project.
Oh you know there were rumors months before this announcement. I’d be surprised if all of that was coincidence
And people will talk themselves out of enjoying a game for that, too.
Honestly, the new Odsidian game is not going to be on the same level of New Vegas. Due most of the people who made NV left Odsidian (mainly the writers) years ago.
Ok but the people that made the og games are on the team.
I don’t get this mentality of deciding something isn’t as good before it’s even been created yet. I don’t even think New Vegas is Obsidian’s best RPG. I’d say that’s Pillars 2.
I can only expect it’ll be as lifeless as Avowed.
Hopefully I’m wrong.
It’s gotta really suck to be some employee at a cool studio… And then microfuckingsoft buys it. I’d be wicked pissed at whoever made that decision.
I don’t know why you’d want to work at Bethesda these days, but Id Soft does not deserve to be in that spot.
Stoked Obsidian gets to do a proper title though. I hope they can use a different engine this time.
Eh, it’s the circle of
lifegame development.Small studio makes great games, gets bought by big studio, big studio’s management flood small studio’s staff, the games developed suffer, big studio makes cuts firing almost everyone who was worth a damn, small studio shambles on in name only for a while longer before being mercifully put down. Meanwhile some of the fired devs band together creating a new small studio which makes great games, attracting the attention of a big studio…
True true
I don’t know why anyone would work at one of these studios. Obviously people are staying because the jobs are still lucrative but who is it that’s walking into these super unstable jobs under a company that’s been doing nothing but layoffs and shutdowns for the last few years?
Someone with that skill set who wants to keep making games, looking for any port in a storm.
Yup.
With the crazy number of layoffs from the AI frenzy… for those people, some money is better than no money. Even if the job won’t be there in 6 months.
I mean, if it’s with the intention of making enough money, experience and connections to go indie, I can respect aspiring developers who are doing the best with the hand they’re given.
Anecdotally, I was illegally fired by Microsoft in December 2024 because I helped form a massive union earlier that year. I want my job back because I want a union contract.
I have friends at Zenimax that stayed because they have a union contract. There are currently 14 unions at Microsoft actively negotiating for their first contract. The thousands of people who are protected by a union stay because they have a union.
I’ve been laid off from Microsoft before (you just collect unemployment until they hire back in three months. No union) but I have a feeling these are more permanent layoffs.
Being a part of a union is absolutely a good reason to stay. If it guarantees you a paycheck.
There are several ways a union protects jobs. Because of certain rights during contract negotiations, not a single job was lost at any of the unions that are currently in negotiations.
During layoffs with unions, the company is required to bargain for affects to the workers, which sometimes reduces the amount of people that are actually out of a job.
I’m still friends and organize with Microsoft workers, and there are rumors swirling that parts of the layoffs may constitute Unfair Labor Practices at units with unions. This can only be caught because of workers that are also dedicated to fighting for their union.
Looks like they just canned a bunch of Bethesda people too
The entire games industry, and software development in general, is unstable right now. The few companies that are still stable aren’t hiring. If you have a job, you try to keep it. Because trying to get a new job will be an absolute nightmare. I’m in that situation myself right now.
Sometimes, people leave a company and move to another one, only for that first company to buy the company they moved to…
Knew someone this happened to.
It’s a damned if you do, damned if you don’t sort of situation.
The games industry has a lot of shitty business practices in general. Job security is almost nonexistent unless you manage to get a key position at a successful studio. Otherwise, you’re more likely to be hired for one project and then let go just before release, so you don’t get to collect the sales bonus. Some contracted employees are even omitted from the credits, so you don’t even get much of a portfolio boost out of it.
Larger companies like Microsoft are shitty in their own ways, but they don’t tend to do the hire-fire cycle of game dev as much as other studios may. So it was seen as stable work for a lot of these studios that were acquired. Especially for the former Activision studios that were falling apart at the seams while being rocked by a sequential train of scandals.
And by all accounts it truly was good times for a lot of developers at Xbox, where they were given resources to develop whatever they wanted with relatively little corporate oversight. But then these teams that were previously given carte blanche on their projects suddenly had the rug pulled out from under them by new management. They suddenly care about results, and that’s apparently now the developers’ fault for just doing what they were told was okay before.
theyll probably use the fo4 engine (i hope not) or the new engine starfield had (i hope so). fallout not in creation engine seems insane, unless its isometric again
I hope they’re using Creation.
Avowed on unreal is just completely lifeless and can’t be modded in any real meaningful way. Fallout with zero mod potential will be horrible.
I doubt they’ll use a Bethesda engine. They have their own engine, plus whatever resources Microsoft gives them.
they loved using it on new vegas
And? That was generations ago. They’re not beholden to use bethsofts software anymore.
but thats the engine fallout uses
Are you making a joke Im not understanding?
Sad. They have better games to develop than Fallout.
Honestly I am surprised they didn’t do this years ago. It makes sense to let the studio that made the best Fallout game continue making Fallout games while the other studio works on the long-neglected Elder Scrolls 6. Otherwise we’d just be looking at decade-long droughts between Elder Scrolls and Fallout games at the pace BGS develops.
Especially since Bethesda’s Fallouts suck because of the thing that makes TES great - what they do is power fantasy. That’s great for Nirn, since you almost always turn out to be some sort of demigod anyway. But a post-apocalyptic RPG? You’re meant to be scraping by in dirt. Sure, let the player become a wasteland badass, but not godlike. That sucks.
its the fault of the player becoming godlike. do you remember the first time you played? even at the end game, i was struggling against enemies and banking on my companions to bail me out. but now that i know what to do, and know how to maximize perk selection, gear, and where to loot and sell stuff, no wonder i become godlike
Exactly this
New Vegas will always be my favourite.
More than 1 or 2?
Todd is not happy.
stop this bullshit narrative please. todd not liking more video games coming out is absurd
Shit, you’re right. He only going to get mad. If it sells better.
you have zero knowledge on the subject and this comment shows it
Easy, Todd. Go play some Starfield. You will feel better.
Damn, Obsidian makes good RPGs but they’re not so great at making the kind of open world sandbox RPG that Fallout has been since the 3D era, so idk if they’ll do better than last time where they gave us a great RPG hidden deep under the baggy clothes of an absolutely awful open world. I like FNV for what it is, but they’re really not the right studio for modern 3d Fallout. I hope they let Obsidian make the more classic RPG style of Fallout that they clearly wanted to make with FNV, but I highly doubt that would happen.
Smart money is that it’s built on the bones of The Outer Worlds 2, which was great. Failing that, a far dumber but still possible decision would be to build it on the bones of Fallout 76 or Starfield.
Build it on the bones of The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard!
Battlespire, or bust
fallout shelter 3, take it or leave it
Hmmm. Toss in a fake nylon bag and you’ve got a deal
best i can do is moldy helmets
I’ll believe it when I see it. And even if I do, I’ve decided a while ago to be as not supportive of anything Microslop as possible.
I guess we’ve eventually come full circle?