News

Microsoft officially acquires Obsidian Entertainment

Mr. Softy officially put a ring on it and now Obsidian Entertainment has all the moneyhats. Xbox gains another competent developer for their growing stable.

Asif Khan

November 10, 2018 2:50 PM

Microsoft announced today during their X018 live stream from Mexico City that they have acquired Obsidian Entertainment. This adds to their already growing portfolio of Xbox studios. The developer of Pillars of Eternity and many other titles had been rumored to be acquired recently.

Obsidian Entertainment is also known for their other titles Alpha Protocol, Fallout New Vegas, and South Park: The Stick of Truth. The studio was the subject of our latest long read Beneath a Starless Sky: Pillars of Eternity and the Infinity Engine Era of RPGs. Today's acquistions of both inXile and Obsidian sets up Microsoft with some awesome RPG developer talent and is a sign that Microsoft is committing to video games for the long run.

Asif Khan

CEO/EIC/EIEIO

Asif Khan is the CEO, EIC, and majority shareholder of Shacknews. He began his career in video game journalism as a freelancer in 2001 for Tendobox.com. Asif is a CPA and was formerly an investment adviser representative. After much success in his own personal investments, he retired from his day job in financial services and is currently focused on new private investments. His favorite PC game of all time is Duke Nukem 3D, and he is an unapologetic fan of most things Nintendo. Asif first frequented the Shack when it was sCary's Shugashack to find all things Quake. When he is not immersed in investments or gaming he is a purveyor of fine electronic music. Asif also has an irrational love of Cleveland sports.

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November 10, 2018 2:50 PM

Asif Khan posted a new article, Microsoft officially acquires Obsidian Entertainment
- shirif
  
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  November 10, 2018 2:52 PM
  
  Huh.
- MagicWishMonkey
  
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  November 10, 2018 3:00 PM
  
  Does this mean no more Obsidian games on Steam, or is MS cool with their studios selling outside of the MS store?
  - the man with the briefcase
    
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    November 10, 2018 3:08 PM
    
    Pretty sure this means no more Obsidian on Steam.
    - Ambient80
      
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      November 10, 2018 3:09 PM
      
      Hasn’t MS put a few of their games on Steam recently?
      - sanchez
        
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        November 10, 2018 3:12 PM
        
        AoE2 HD
      - node
        
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        November 10, 2018 3:12 PM
        
        Not internal stuff, not that I recall. Seems third party studios are sometimes eventually allowed to eg Remedy with Quantum Break.
        
        Conan
        
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        November 10, 2018 3:41 PM
        
        Killer Instinct is on Steam.
        
        node
        
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        November 10, 2018 4:10 PM
        
        Good point. No idea then! :)
    - MagicWishMonkey
      
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      November 10, 2018 3:13 PM
      
      Damn. Has MS said anything about adding Steam Link type functionality to the XB1? It would be awesome if I could play PC games on my console.
      - the man with the briefcase
        
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        November 10, 2018 3:31 PM
        
        The Play Anywhere function is kinda like that? I bought Sea of Thieves once but installed it on my PC and Xbox, no streaming like Steam Link tho.
        
        MagicWishMonkey
        
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        November 10, 2018 3:40 PM
        
        I just assumed that was more of a "anything on xbox is also available on PC now" type thing, but there are a lot of PC games that don't get released on XBOX, and it would be cool to be able to play those.
        
        It would be pretty killer if they added support for that, I would probably start buying a lot of PC games from the Microsoft store.
      - feek
        
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        November 10, 2018 3:32 PM
        
        Really wish they would do that. It goes the other way, which is way less desirable (it would be really useful for me if you could do tv stuff on the console and simultaneously stream games to your pc, but nope)
    - mo13
      
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      November 10, 2018 3:17 PM
      
      I don't think this is 100% done no steam
    - Halen
      
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      November 10, 2018 6:35 PM
      
      I don't think its that clear cut
  - shirif
    
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    November 10, 2018 3:11 PM
    
    No more Steam. MS was kind of cool when they didn't have Play Anywhere
    - feek
      
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      November 10, 2018 3:35 PM
      
      Games can be play anywhere and on steam. Though I’m not sure if they have the “play anywhere” capability if purchased there
      - Conan
        
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        November 10, 2018 3:42 PM
        
        Right, the games that are on both that's the tradeoff. Windows Store gets play anywhere, Steam does not. It's reasonable if not ideal.
  - Crimsonbeak
    
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    November 10, 2018 3:14 PM
    
    It probably means any existing, or currently announced games will continue to come out as planned like they did with the other studios they bought. But future games will be MS exclusive.
  - yoshimi20
    
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    November 10, 2018 4:20 PM
    
    It does mean you will get them as play anywhere and gamepass.
- Crimsonbeak
  
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  November 10, 2018 3:15 PM
  
  Alpha Protocol 2!
  - quazar
    
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    November 10, 2018 3:22 PM
    
    Make it happen bill gates! Stop wasting money on toilets and let us play good games
  - baron calamity
    
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    November 10, 2018 7:08 PM
    
    sega owns it. Besides they are probably making that SciFi Fable game.
- megarust32
  
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  November 10, 2018 3:33 PM
  
  Holy shit, this and inxile?
  - the man with the briefcase
    
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    November 10, 2018 3:35 PM
    
    Yea, Mr. Softy is back and he has more money than ever.
    - feek
      
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      November 10, 2018 3:43 PM
      
      Phil Spencer reports directly to nadella, and the head of windows is now basically a noname like 3 layers deep if that tells you anything
      - Crimsonbeak
        
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        November 10, 2018 4:01 PM
        
        Isn't it Nadella -> Rajesh Jha (Devices and Experiences) -> Joe Belfiore (Windows) now?
        
        feek
        
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        November 10, 2018 4:03 PM
        
        That sounds right but I’m honestly not even sure. I think it’s split up, like joe b does the UX stuff
  - jet-poop
    
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    November 10, 2018 6:58 PM
    
    This basically means Classic Interplay is back, under Microsoft.
  - FreshwaterAU
    
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    November 10, 2018 7:38 PM
    
    Whats a game theyve made?
    - ErneX
      
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      November 10, 2018 7:50 PM
      
      https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Obsidian_Entertainment_games
    - ErneX
      
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      November 10, 2018 7:50 PM
      
      https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/InXile_Entertainment#Games_developed
    - megarust32
      
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      November 10, 2018 8:06 PM
      
      Bards Tale IV most recently, Wasteland 2, Torment: Tides of Numenera
- [deleted] 2111275823
  
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  November 10, 2018 8:16 PM
  
  [deleted]
- Borzoi
  
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  November 10, 2018 8:43 PM
  
  Ahhh so it’s official. /sigh
  - johnhead
    
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    November 11, 2018 6:13 AM
    
    It’s a good thing. Neither studio was gonna last without a lot of cash.
    - shirif
      
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      November 11, 2018 6:16 AM
      
      Yup.
    - OutlawSundown
      
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      November 11, 2018 7:31 AM
      
      Yeah obsidian has been bordering on shutting down for a while.
    - Borzoi
      
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      November 11, 2018 3:19 PM
      
      I’m just sighing because I was enjoying having all my game needs covered by PS4 this generation. I’m going to have to get back into PC gaming or buy Xbox + PS5 next gen. I’m trying to pare down, haha!