Microsoft is finalising 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 per cent” 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 such as Knights of the Old Republic 2 (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 rumours or speculation,” said a Microsoft spokesperson.
“Unfortunately, we don’t comment on rumours or speculation other than to say that the Rumours 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 isn’t 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 rumours 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.
Comments
16 responses to “Sources: Microsoft Is Close To Buying Obsidian”
Glass half full…. they might continue to write great RPGs and make them with AAA budgets.
Glass half empty….. They could be the next Bioware.
Glass thrown against the wall, smashed into a million pieces….. Rare.
I often wonder where Bioware would be today if it was Microsoft who bought them instead of EA. Certainly I struggle to imagine them being any worse off.
Rare wasn’t entirely Microsofts fault IMO, I think in many ways they got stuck in their glory days rather than innovating, and have only finally come out of that rut with Sea of Thieves.
Warning heavy cynicism follows:
Whelp there goes another great indie studio to a big who’ll micromanage the crap out of the studio and their work and turn what could be amazing into something mediocre.
Hope they don’t make POE games exclusives.
This just strikes me as an odd choice.
“What has held the xbone back? Console exclusives! Let’s fix that by buying a relatively well known independent studio known for making text heavy PC oriented games….” Sure that will work!
It could be good for the studio to get some backing, but then again, it could negatively effect their product. If this goes through I can see the brains and talent in the studio leaving to form a new studio in say 2 to 5 years time.
Microsofts studio purchases has leaned towards smaller independents as of late. I don’t think its really ‘the types of games being made’ as in ‘the talent the studio has’.
Vale, Obsidian.
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Nonononononononononononononononononononono…….
Seriously I love POE & Tyranny, been so good to see a return of the isometric RPG’s genre, I don’t want to see anything that may change that.
On the other hand Microsoft may actually be able to wrangle up a way for us to finally get KOTOR 3 sooooooooo yay?
If they are bought, I think the short to medium term future looks pretty rosy for Obsidian.
Longer term future, whelp.
I’m just gonna hope this will go well.
If this were EA i’d be crying but Microsoft has had mixed results with acquired studios.
Lionhead worked out pretty well for a long time and I don’t think Microsoft was the reason that studio kept getting diminishing returns(unless I’m forgetting something).
Either way Avalon left a while ago so one of the gaming world’s best writers is still free and out in the wild.
coffee came out my nose.
This is why Obsidian should have at least been involved in writing Fallout 4.
Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
Crap.
Microsoft, can you like fuck off and not ruin one of the last western rpg greats.
Obsidian is dead! Long live Obsidian!
Obsidian aren’t what they used to be.
This could be a great step forward for them
Guessing they’ll resurrect Fable?
Obsidian would be the studio to do it now that Lionhead is dead.
Good, I won’t buy or play any of their games then.