Obsidian Entertainment Acquired By Microsoft

Published: November 10, 2018 7:03 PM /

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obsidian acquiried x018

Last month rumors were stirring that Obsidian Entertainment would be acquired by Microsoft. Announced at XO18 today, it turns out that Obsidian is joining the Xbox family.

Obsidian Entertainment was founded by ex-Black Isle Studios developers, known for some very high-profile CRPGs such as Fallout 2 and Planetscape: Torment. 

Since 2013, Obsidian has developed a number of other RPGs including Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords and more recently, the crowdfunded titles Pillars of Eternity and its sequel.

During XO18, several Obsidian Entertainment staff members spoke about the company in a clip. COO Chris Parker said:

Obsidian Games is something really special and its really an interesting mix of different gaming concepts. It's born out of tabletop roleplaying games where you can kind of do anything you want.
Obsidian released a full announcement video, which you can watch below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Suvxb0OfhpQ

Obsidian has made public statements regarding its financial situation. Although their games have received critical acclaim from critics, the sales have underperformed. Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire was funded on Fig.co, where crowdfunders are essentially investors and receive money back on successful titles.

Crowdfunder Dylan Holmes on Twitter invested $1000 in the game and received only $192.67 back. He deduced that the game sold only about 110,000 copies total, far below expectations.

https://twitter.com/Aerothorn/status/1060203412745216000

In a 2016 interview with Gamesindustry.biz, Obsidian CEO Feargus Urquhart said:

 We just want to be in a financial situation where we’re not worried all the time.
This acquisition comes along with the purchase of InXile Entertainment. Expect big titles from these two companies some time in the future.

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austin
| Staff Writer

Austin cut his teeth writing various  fan-fiction stories on the RuneScape forums when he was in elementary school. Later on, he developed a deep love for… More about Austin