Baldur's Gate 3 Dev Concerned About Obsidian's Future Under Bethesda
Larian's Michael Douse worries about Obsidian's independence as Bethesda takes over management, amid Xbox layoffs and a mysterious Fallout collab.
How would you feel if your studio suddenly found itself reporting to a competitor? That's the exact scenario Baldur's Gate 3 publishing director Michael "Cromwelp" Douse is worried about for Fallout: New Vegas studio Obsidian Entertainment. Just yesterday, news broke that Bethesda is taking control of Obsidian amid the ongoing Xbox reshuffles, and Douse took to Twitter to share his unease.
"I can't imagine what it must feel like to have independent agency and then, suddenly enough, find yourself working *under* a competitor," he wrote. "I can't imagine that feels great." His concern makes sense on the surface—Obsidian and Bethesda have long been seen as rivals in the RPG space, especially given their shared history with the Fallout franchise.
But not everyone agrees with Douse's take. One commenter pointed out that the two studios aren't really competitors anymore since they've both been under the Xbox umbrella for some time. Douse fired back: "Putting aside the fact I was referring to a time prior to the sale, the fact that you think two entities under the umbrella of one parent company can't be competitors tells me you've never had a corporate job." Fair point—internal competition is a real thing in big corporations.
Still, it's worth remembering that Bethesda and Obsidian have been working together for a while now. Two months ago, they unveiled a mysterious collaborative new Fallout game—though we still don't know exactly what it is. At that time, Bethesda also said Fallout 5 is in pre-production and revealed remasters for Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas. So the partnership is already deep.
That said, Douse's worries aren't out of place. The industry is going through a rough patch. Microsoft's plans to cut 3,200 employees at Xbox have already hit both Bethesda and Obsidian, with Obsidian reportedly seeing around 25% of its studio impacted. Following 1,600 redundancies earlier this year, another 268 layoffs of that total 3,200 were announced yesterday—the same day the Bethesda management news dropped. So yeah, it's not a strange time to feel anxious.
What do you think? Is Douse right to be concerned, or is this just business as usual under Xbox? Will you be keeping an eye on Obsidian's next move?
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