Xbox just finished cutting 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, which, on the other side of deep cuts, includes trying to make games that actually sell. Sell either copies, Game Pass subscriptions or consoles. He thinks one of them is new Fallout game.
Jason Schreier reports Bloomberg that Xbox-owned developer Obsidian, which recently laid off a quarter of its workforce as part of cuts this week, has canceled a sequel to Avowedand will work on a new one instead Fallout game under his direction Fallout New Vegas’ Josh Sawyer.
We seem to be entering an era of Xbox “common sense” in terms of many major decisions being made, such as immediately reducing the absurd 50% price increase on Game Pass, which immediately lost the service millions of subscribers. Now, this is also a somewhat obvious move:
- Obsidian Avowed performed poorly, however a sequel was greenlit.
- Obsidian is widely known for being a fan favorite Fallout: New Vegas.
- Bethesda was not scheduled to release a new main line Fallout entry until 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 one Fallout game. This is probably a decision that should have been made years ago, as this won’t happen until years from now now. Even with Xbox trying to speed up timelines for AAA games, we’ll have to wait many years. Anything less than three would be a miracle. The initial development cycle continues Fallout: New Vegas he was only 18 months old, but that was in 2009, and 17 years later, the boy changed industries.
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At least one theory as to why Obsidian didn’t start in a Fallout title on Xbox was the idea that maybe Bethesda didn’t want something like that, but now Bethesda released it somewhat disappointing Starfield and stares down the barrel of one Elder Scrolls VI which probably won’t be released until a decade after it was first announced. It’s possible that the studio doesn’t have much power to complain about that these days. Fallout it’s Xbox’s. If he wants Obsidian to do a Fallout game so players can get their hands on it before 2035, it will.
Xbox declined to comment on the report, and we’ll have to wait and see when and if this is officially announced. It may be a while, given all that has just happened.
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