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.
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.
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:
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