Obsidian and inXile acquired by Microsoft

[Sailor Woedica]

You could also play it on your Xbox or stream it to your phone!

 

[Nano]

It's going down, y'all

https://kotaku.com/sources-microsoft-is-close-to-buying-obsidian-1829614135

Sources: Microsoft Is Close To Buying Obsidian

Jason Schreier
15 minutes ago

Screenshot: Pillars of Eternity 2
Microsoft is finalizing a deal to acquire the independent development studio Obsidian Entertainment, according to three people briefed on the negotiations. We don’t know if ink is on paper yet, and plenty of major acquisition deals have fallen apart in the final hours, but those close to the companies believe it is all but done.

One person with knowledge of the deal told Kotaku they’d heard it was “90%” finished. Said a second person: “It’s a matter of when, not if.”

Obsidian, best known for its work on critically acclaimed role-playing games like Knights of the Old Republic II (2004) and Fallout: New Vegas (2010), has been independent since it was founded in 2003. The Irvine, California-based studio has long been beloved by RPG fans, but has often faced financial strains, nearly going out of business in 2012 before it signed a deal for an online tank game and launched a Kickstarter for the isometric throwback that would become Pillars of Eternity.

One compelling argument for the sale is that being owned by a company with deep pockets will offer Obsidian stability and resources the likes of which it has never had before.

“We do not comment on rumors or speculation,” said a Microsoft spokesperson.

“Unfortunately, we don’t comment on rumors or speculation other than to say that the Rumors album by Fleetwood Mac still holds up,” said an Obsidian spokesperson.

In late 2017, Obsidian announced that it was developing a new RPG that would be published by Private Division, a label of 2K Games designed to fund mid-sized games. The companies did not say anything about which consoles the RPG will be available on, and it’s not clear how this sale will affect that game. One option is for Microsoft to buy out the contract; another is for Microsoft to simply inherit it, allowing Obsidian to tie up its loose ends as part of the acquisition.

“While it is our policy not to comment on rumors or speculation, we look forward to publishing the upcoming RPG from Obsidian Entertainment, and remain confident in the team there to deliver an outstanding game,” said a representative for Private Division.

This would be a huge move for the company behind Xbox, which has been on a shopping spree this year, snapping up four game studios including Playground (Forza Horizon) and Ninja Theory (Hellblade). Its most recent notable game studio purchase before that was Mojang, the maker of Minecraft. Microsoft has kept Minecraft multiplatform, even enabling cross-play between Switch and Xbox One players, but console makers usually buy studios with the intent for those studios to make games for their consoles, not the competition. Microsoft’s biggest weakness this generation has been its stable of first-party developers, and with Obsidian, the company now has an RPG-focused studio that can help it compete against the PlayStation’s strong lineup.

A person familiar with goings-on at Microsoft said the company has been looking to bolster its PC development, which makes the PC-focused Obsidian a perfect fit.

Obsidian and Microsoft have a checkered history. Before the release of the Xbox One, Obsidian was working on an Xbox-exclusive role-playing game, published by Microsoft, called Stormlands. Tense disagreements between the two companies led Microsoft to cancel the game in 2012, and to some involved it was hard to imagine the pair working together again. The Xbox department is under different leadership now, however, with Phil Spencer taking the top role in early 2014. And the move appears to make sense for both parties.

 

[Kyl Von Kull]

MSFT wouldn't pull the trigger here unless they looked under the hood and liked what they saw with The Outer Worlds.

Question: is Microsoft's endorsement a good thing or a bad thing?

 

[Latelistener]

RIP Indiana

 

[Tacgnol]

Final nail in the coffin.

Shame as I was looking forward to Cain and Boyarsky's project.

 

[Doma]

Oh boy! I cannot wait a game like Anthem from Obsidian.

 

[Molina]

Do companies owned by Microsoft really lose their artistic freedom? It could be worse.

 

[Squid]

Goodnight Obsidian. RIP the Cain/Boyarsky secret project.

 

[santino27]

Given how shitty Obsidian's leadership is, being acquired by Microsoft is at worst a lateral move imo. More money + (hopefully) less Feargus/Parker offers potential for incline.

 

[fantadomat]

I am surprised that Microsoft would fuck themself over in such a way. As if obsidian have anything worth any money. Bunch of incompetent tumbler writers,a few shitty and worthless IPs and a tarnished reputation. I wouldn't be surprised if most of the capable devs decide to fuck off after this shit. From what i remember most of the people are there because they want to work for independent studio and on rpgs,and that is why they tolerated the shitty bosses.

 

[Sailor Woedica]

Yes! Skyrim but you can play in the Pillars of Eternity world!!!!!!!! Ac, this rules

 

[Russia is over. The end.]

I wouldn't be surprised if most of the capable devs decide to fuck off after this shit.

Implying they have those.

 

[Infinitron]

Why be so sure that this would kill The Outer Worlds? On the contrary, you'd think Microsoft would want their new acquisition to start making money ASAP.

Also, great risk that Tim Cain and Leonard Boyarsky would get up and leave if their project was harmed - and getting the original creators of Fallout on their payroll is surely an important part of the deal for Microsoft.

 

[Jenkem]

sad that the outer worlds is probably dead now but at least obsidian won't be schlepping back to kickstarter FIG to make another dumpsterfire

 

[Latelistener]

Why does anybody think this would kill The Outer Worlds? On the contrary, Microsoft would want their new acquisition to start making money ASAP.

Being exclusive to Windows 10, Windows Store, DX12 and Xbox One/One X will surely kill this.
And more than anything they want to push this spyware on as many machines as possible (now through games). That's their main agenda anyway.

 

[Russia is over. The end.]

You think that Microsoft would impose more restrictions on the project than senile Feargus would?

What I would've liked is for them to be acquired by Ubisoft, that company ship quality stuff sometimes. What does Microsoft ship? I can't remember anything recent from them.

 

[fantadomat]

Why be so sure that this would kill The Outer Worlds? On the contrary you'd think Microsoft would want their new acquisition to start making money ASAP.

And great risk that Tim Cain and Leonard Boyarsky would get up and leave if their project was harmed.

Tell me one such acquisition that ended well for the studio! All of them go the same way:half the devs leave,the rest make mediocre sequels that nobody buys,published get butthurt and force them to work on other genres,they release shitty games that nobody cares about and a few years later the studio is scraped.

Anything that will come form obsidian in the future will be shit!

 

[Squid]

Given how shitty Obsidian's leadership is, being acquired by Microsoft is at worst a lateral move imo. More money + (hopefully) less Feargus/Parker offers potential for incline.

This is my only hope from this. Let it be true.

 

[Infinitron]

Being exclusive to Windows 10, Windows Store, DX12 and Xbox One/One X will surely kill this.

Good chance this doesn't happen if the project remain affiliated with Take-Two Interactive, no?

What does Microsoft ship? I can't remember anything recent from them.

Microsoft feel the same way which is why they're on a studio shopping spree.

 

[Russia is over. The end.]

Being exclusive to Windows 10, Windows Store, DX12 and Xbox One/One X will surely kill this.

And this kills a project how? Lmao. Your steam/drm sensibilities are irrelevant.

 

[fantadomat]

What does Microsoft ship?

Age of empires remake,exclusively on win10.

 

[Jenkem]

Why be so sure that this would kill The Outer Worlds? On the contrary, you'd think Microsoft would want their new acquisition to start making money ASAP.

Also, great risk that Tim Cain and Leonard Boyarsky would get up and leave if their project was harmed - and getting the original creators of Fallout on their payroll is surely an important part of the deal for Microsoft.

yes I am sure they will want to make money right away. On the XBOX ONE and the Windows 10 store.

fuck off

 

[Haba]

Anyone wanna start betting on the evaluation? 2 million USD and a happy meal?

 

[Infinitron]

Anyone wanna start betting on the evaluation? 2 million USD and a happy meal?

Even Harebrained Schemes, who owned absolutely no IP that was anywhere near valuable, were acquired by Paradox for a cool $7.5M. Start your estimates there IMO.

 

[LESS T_T]

“While it is our policy not to comment on rumors or speculation, we look forward to publishing the upcoming RPG from Obsidian Entertainment, and remain confident in the team there to deliver an outstanding game,” said a representative for Private Division.

This sounds like Indiana is going to be released by Private Division regardless of the acquisition?

I wonder if this talk of acquisition was the reason the supposed announcement of Indiana didn't happen this year.

Also are Feargus and co. selling PoE too? Which is technically not owned by Obsidian but Dark Rock Industries Limited.