With many reports about the future of Obsidian Entertainment having popped up in the days following Xbox’s mass layoffs, director at the studio, Brandon Adler, has taken to LinkedIn to call out what he refers to as “cold take artists coming out of the woodwork to talk about what Obsidian is or what it isn’t.”
Mourning the loss of talented colleagues due to the layoffs, Adler said that many of these reports have been coming from people who have no understanding or knowledge of the inner workings of Obsidian Entertainment and said that they were doing little more than spreading “an enormous amount of misinformation.”
“This has been an extremely difficult week at Obsidian,” wrote Adler. “Not only have I had to say goodbye to some amazing game developers, but I’ve had to say goodbye to some of my best friends. I truly feel for every one of them. Know that if you are looking to hire one of these former Obsidian devs, you are hiring some of the best people around – both professionally and personally.”
“Another difficult aspect is having to see a bunch of cold-take artists coming out of the woodwork to talk about what Obsidian is or what it isn’t. The number of times I’ve seen people, with no understanding of who has worked on our previous games or what they contributed, talk about how Obsidian isn’t who they used to be… is staggering. Most of the time they are not just wrong, but spreading an enormous amount of misinformation.”
He noted that, despite layoffs and other troubles faced by Obsidian, the studio can still draw a solid through line going all the way back to the development of 2004 RPG Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2 – The Sith Lords. This is due to the fact that many people who are now leading their own teams used to work on older projects. Adler, however, also acknowledged the fact that the Obsidian Entertainment of today isn’t the same as it was two decades ago. Despite this, he says that the DNA of the studio that previously made Neverwinter Nights 2 and Fallout: New Vegas has remained unchanged.
“In most circumstances, the people in lead or director roles are the same people that worked on games like The Outer Worlds, Pillars of Eternity, and New Vegas. Like, literally the same people. The through line from KotOR2 to our current games is pretty clear.”
“Is Obsidian the same as it was 20 years ago? No, of course not. Nothing stays the same. But the DNA at Obsidian is the same as it always was. The same DNA that created KotOR, New Vegas, NWN2, and Stick of Truth. I’m extremely proud of our history, and I am also excited for who we have become.”
Adler’s words come in response to reports indicating that a planned sequel to first-person action RPG Avowed had been cancelled and that Obsidian had instead been redirected to work on a new Fallout game. Former co-founder Chris Avellone, however, said that Avowed 2 is still in the works and that there are plans to re-pitch the project once the dust has settled. As for Adler, according to his LinkedIn profile, he is working on an “Unannounced” project as its game director.
