Yahoo Finance Microsoft set to buy Fallout: New Vegas developer Obsidian Entertainment
Microsoft are reportedly close to finalising a deal to acquire Obsidian Entertainment, with the acclaimed RPG developer set to be the latest studio to join Microsoft’s growing number of Xbox focussed studios.
Reports of the acquisition comes from Kotaku, which cites three sources ‘briefed on the negotiations’. One source was quoted as saying the deal was ‘90% done’, while another said it was ‘a matter of when, not if.’
Obsidian are best known for their work on detailed role-playing games. An impressive portfolio includes Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II, Neverwinter Nights 2, Fallout: New Vegas and the surprisingly excellent South Park: The Stick of Truth published by Ubisoft.
While it has made a name for itself within existing franchises, Obsidian launched its own critically acclaimed old-school RPG Pillars of Eternity in 2015 following a successful Kickstarter funding campaign. Its sequel Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire was released in May of this year after a second crowd-funding target was met within a day.
Obsidian is currently working on an unannounced RPG for Take-Two’s mid-sized publishing label Private Division. What will happen to that project after any acquisition is unclear.
Despite its oft-lauded work, Obsidian faced financial difficulties in 2012 and has yet to find a fully stable platform. A deal with the resource-heavy Microsoft would provide that, but it would also mean giving up the independence the company has enjoyed since its formation in 2003.
The two companies have a strained history after Microsoft cancelled the ambitious Xbox One exclusive RPG, Stormlands, in 2012. But under Xbox’s new leadership of Phil Spencer, relations seem to have been repaired and it seems Obsidian would fit in with Microsoft’s recent push for internal developers to bolster its Xbox-exclusive lineup.
At E3 2018 this year, Microsoft announced it was acquiring British studios Playground Games (Forza Horizon 4) and Ninja Theory (Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice), while also adding Compulsion Games (We Happy Few) and Undead Labs (State of Decay) to its first-party portfolio. The expansion of its internal studios looks to be a response to its lean offerings in terms of exclusives for the Xbox One, particularly when compared to the more prolific Sony exclusives on PlayStation 4.
Xbox One has lagged behind PlayStation 4 in terms of sales since the consoles launched in 2013 and Microsoft seem determined to be more competitive in the next round of the so-called console wars.
Talk of the next generation is heating up, with Microsoft committing to an Xbox One successor and detailing its plans for state-of-the-art cloud-streaming service, as well Sony as confirming it is working on PlayStation 5. If the Obsidian acquisition is true, then it suggests Xbox is not yet done with bolstering its studio line-up for the generation ahead.
In response to Kotaku, Microsoft said that it did not comment on rumour or speculation. Obsidian, on the other hand, said: “Unfortunately, we don’t comment on rumours or speculation other than to say that the Rumours album by Fleetwood Mac still holds up,”
