Microsoft's acquisition of Bethesda has intrinsically tied the Xbox brand to the future of western-developed RPGs, now that the console manufacturer will control the Fallout, Elder Scrolls, and Starfield IP. Despite this, Microsoft's connection to the genre's future had already been cemented in 2018, when it purchased Obsidian Entertainment during the development of The Outer Worlds. While The Outer Worlds was published by Take-Two Interactive's Private Division subsidiary, the future of the franchise rests with Microsoft.
Obsidian Entertainment is a Californian-based developer best known for its beloved RPG titles such as Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2, Fallout: New Vegas, Pillars of Eternity, and South Park: The Stick of Truth. In 2018, Microsoft announced that it had acquired Obsidian Entertainment as a first-party developer for Xbox Game Studios.
At the time Obsidian was developing a new RPG franchise, The Outer Worlds, with Private Division publishing the title. Despite this and the fact that the game also came to Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4, The Outer Worlds launched as an Xbox Game Pass title, and in 2020 Obsidian released its first Xbox exclusive title as part of Xbox Game Preview, Grounded.
With Obsidian's future titles like Grounded being Xbox console exclusives, many fans were concerned over the future of The Outer Worlds, which started out as a multi-platform title. It appears a recent Take-Two investors meeting may have given us our answer, as after commenting on how it was anticipating the future of the IP during the earnings call, the company later confirmed to Gamasutra that "Moving forward, Obsidian and Microsoft will be publishing future iterations in the franchise." Take-Two Interactive also revealed that the first game's sales have now exceeded 3 million units worldwide, and that its DLC has sold well.
It remains to be seen how Take-Two Interactive will be involved with the franchise's future, as the company did tell its investors that it "will be participating in the franchise and whatever the future holds," implying that some of The Outer Worlds' IP or publishing rights might lay with its former publisher. Regardless, what this means for fans is that The Outer Worlds may be the next in Xbox's line-up of acquired IP to leave the realm of multi-platform releases, and future titles may only be available on PC and Xbox Series X/S consoles, similar to how the company is allegedly handing Bethesda's titles going forward.
It's likely to be quite some time until Obsidian is ready to discuss the future of The Outer Worlds however, as the company has its hands full with multiple titles including the early access game Grounded, the recently announced Xbox exclusive fantasy RPG Avowed, and more from its multiple internal teams, some of which are likely to be revealed at Xbox's E3 2021 showcase.
The Outer Worlds is available now for Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
Source: Gamasutra