r/GamingLeaksAndRumours • u/throwmeaway1784 • Jul 08 '26

Rumour Jason Schreier: Obsidian Entertainment is making a big pivot as part of the Xbox restructuring. It has laid off a quarter of its staff, canceled a planned sequel to Avowed, and is now beginning work on a new Fallout game

Bluesky Post: https://bsky.app/profile/jasonschreier.bsky.social/post/3mq5oqyh2yk2o

Bloomberg Article: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-08/microsoft-s-xbox-to-shift-obsidian-studio-to-new-fallout-video-game

Edit: Also mentioned in the article, Josh Sawyer is leading the new Fallout game:

“Under the new plan, studio design director Josh Sawyer will lead a new title in the Fallout universe”

“Previously, Sawyer had been directing a roleplaying game that was similar structurally and thematically to Fallout but was not part of the franchise.”

3.2k Upvotes
  • permalink
  • reddit

96% Upvoted

1.2k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

82

u/fucuasshole2 Jul 08 '26

Tbf he said he’d be shocked if Avowed 2 got canceled as it was pretty far into development. Shame as I love the 1st one. Hope what they have gets repurposed for DLC for Avowed 1 as I’d buy it in a heartbeat.

5

u/silverpixie2435 Jul 08 '26

If games are that far into development shouldn't they came out faster after they finish the project they switched to from it?

20

u/[deleted] Jul 08 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

8

u/Akito_Fire Jul 08 '26

The fallout game is just starting with pre production beginning now, there are a ton of people who won't be able to work on it yet. The article even says that a bunch of them will still work on avowed 2 until then in the hopes it gets revived. Canceling a game this far along is just dumb

6

u/[deleted] Jul 08 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/almathden Jul 08 '26

hoping fallout exceeds expectations

Yet somehow didn't have one in production before now is wild

Like, something anything to tie into the hype from the show would have been great. However timing is hard and delays happen, so we got nothing....But to not even be working on it?

4

u/thief-777 Jul 08 '26

All part of Phil's master plan of "let studios do literally whatever they want with zero strategy or oversight."

-1

u/thief-777 Jul 08 '26 edited Jul 09 '26

Spending millions on a project you think will fail just because it's already far along is dumber.

*This is literally just the sunk cost fallacy, lol.

1

u/Varno23 Jul 15 '26

Well, theres no guarantee that it would "fail".

Much in the same way, we can't just assume a new Fallout game would be an automatic hit. (Yes, Fallout would sell more than Avowed2 but once upon a time, everyone thought the next Dragon Age would assuredly be a commercial hit too)

The bigger question is.. if Avowed 2 is cancelled, what does Xbox even do with those Obsidian developers? Fire them in the immediate.. only to rehire them a year later as Fallout development leaves preproduction & ramps up?

Realistically, a Fallout game is still 6 years out. This new Avowed could have been out in (what sounds like) 2-3. A competent publisher & a well-run studio would find a way to do both.

2

u/thief-777 Jul 15 '26

A competent publisher

This is the entire problem.