Bethesda says Obsidian will keep its ‘creative identity’ and leadership

Earlier this week, Microsoft revealed the next stage of its Xbox reset plan, which involves merging several studios and shuffling some IP around. Halo was moved to Activision, Turn 10 and Playground Games merged, and Obsidian Entertainment is now a Bethesda studio.

Microsoft explained at the time that Obsidian joining Bethesda was to better align the teams for their future collaborative work on Fallout, including Obsidian's new Fallout game, which is currently in early development. Now, an internal email sent out to Obsidian employees has shared a similar message amongst staff.

The email, penned by Bethesda President Jill Braff and shared online by Aftermath, tells employees that “the creative identity and strengths that make Obsidian distinct will remain at the core of their studio and work”.

The email also goes on to say that “the Obsidian leadership team will continue to lead Obsidian, with the studio reporting to me [Braff]”. It continues to say that Bethesda is still the lead on the Fallout franchise, but the two teams will “build on their longstanding relationship” while creating this new Fallout game.

While not explicitly stated, the plan seems to be that Obsidian's main project will now be a new Fallout game, but Bethesda will still be making Fallout 5 when the time comes for that. For now, Bethesda Game Studios is primarily busy with The Elder Scrolls 6, which is now deep into production.

KitGuru Says: On paper, with Obsidian now working on Fallout and likely to continue doing that well into the future, this change does make sense. Still, I do hope that Obsidian's own IP are also given a chance to continue. After Baldur's Gate 3 brought so many new players into the CRPG genre, a new Pillars of Eternity game could be huge.

Become a Patron!