Xbox just finished slashing 1,600 jobs this week, with another 1,600 coming before the end of the fiscal year. It’s part of a long-term turnaround strategy for the brand that, on the other side of deep cuts, involves trying to make games that actually sell. Sell either copies, Game Pass subscriptions or consoles. It believes one of those is a new Fallout game.
Jason Schreier at Bloomberg is reporting that Xbox-owned developer Obsidian, which recently laid off a quarter of its workers as part of this week’s cuts, has cancelled a sequel to Avowed, and will instead work on a new Fallout game under the direction of Fallout New Vegas’ Josh Sawyer.
It seems like we are entering something of a “common sense” era of Xbox in terms of many major decisions being made, such as immediately reducing the absurd 50% price hike on Game Pass, which instantly lost the service millions of subscribers. Now, this is also a somewhat obvious move:
- Obsidian’s Avowed underperformed, yet a sequel was greenlit.
- Obsidian is widely known for the fan-favorite Fallout: New Vegas.
- Bethesda was not slated to release a new mainline Fallout entry until well into the 2030s.
- The IP is more popular than ever thanks to the megahit Amazon Prime Fallout TV series.
Two plus two equals Obsidian should make a new Fallout game. This is probably a decision that should have been made years ago, as this will not come to pass until years from now. Even with Xbox trying to accelerate timelines on AAA games, it’s still going to be a years-long wait. Anything less than three would be a miracle. The original development cycle on Fallout: New Vegas was just 18 months, but that was in 2009, and 17 years later, boy has the industry changed.
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At least one theory as to why Obsidian didn’t start on a Fallout title at Xbox was the idea that perhaps Bethesda didn’t want that, but now Bethesda released the somewhat underwhelming Starfield and is staring down the barrel of an Elder Scrolls VI that will probably not be out until a decade after it was first announced. It is likely that the studio may not have much leverage to protest something like this these days. Fallout is Xbox’s. If it wants Obsidian to make a Fallout game so players can get their hands on one before 2035, it’s going to do that.
Xbox has declined to comment on the report, and we’ll have to wait and see when and if this is officially announced. It may be some time, given all that’s just gone on.
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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.
