Obsidian Entertainment–the developer behind Grounded, The Outer Worlds, and Avowed–will reportedly shift strategies to work on a new Fallout game. That means that a planned Avowed sequel and other unannounced projects will get shelved in the process, according to Bloomberg.
It’s unclear whether this new Fallout game from Obsidian will be Fallout 5 or a spin-off similar to New Vegas. Fallout 5 was reportedly “greenlit” a year ago, though there were no details about the lead developer. In 2023, Obsidian CEO Feargus Urquhart did express interest in the studio making another Fallout game.
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Bloomberg adds that studio design director Josh Sawyer is set to lead this new Fallout project at Obsidian. Sawyer previously served as the director of Pentiment as well as Fallout: New Vegas. The report noted that Sawyer was in charge of another RPG at Obsidian with similarities to Fallout before being reassigned. Bethesda oversees the Fallout franchise and will be involved on this project.
Obsidian was just hit hard by Xbox layoffs this week, with up to 25% of the studio’s workforce fired by Microsoft. This was part of an Xbox reset plan put in effect by Xbox boss Asha Sharma, which will lead to 3,200 jobs overall cut over this next year. Sharma also stated that no announced Xbox games were getting axed, but obviously, unannounced titles are being canned.
In general, Xbox looks set on investing in its biggest franchises, such as Fallout. There have been rumblings about a Fallout 3 remake in the works, though nothing official has been announced. Meanwhile, the Fallout TV series on Prime Video just received 10 Emmy nominations for the show’s second season.
