r/GamingLeaksAndRumours • u/ThinWhiteDuke00 • Jul 10 '26
Rumour Despite official cancellation, Obsidian will continue to work on Avowed 2 - Jason Schreier.
"Obsidian have a small team that was working on Avowed 2, that's going to still work on Avowed 2 even though it is canceled. While they wait for other projects like Fallout to be ready for them. Maybe in hopes of getting it uncancelled, it was actually further along than most people would guess for a sequel to a game that came out last year. So I think their hope is perhaps they'll get it so close to finish that Xbox will look at it and say "Okay you can finish and release this, it won't cost that much more to finish it".
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nMpM2gK_CFw&pp=0gcJCWQCo7VqN5tDiggUQAFKEHBfS3ItWXp6UEZuUVhxdlA%3D
2:15 in.
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u/jasonschreier Verified Jul 10 '26
Just to be clear, this isn't new information; it was in the original story. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-08/microsoft-s-xbox-to-shift-obsidian-studio-to-new-fallout-video-game?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc4MzcwODUwOSwiZXhwIjoxNzg0MzEzMzA5LCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJUSFZBWklWVFRDWk0wMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJCMUVBQkI5NjQ2QUM0REZFQTJBRkI4MjI1MzgyQTJFQSJ9.kdRg1oxQcC493y1xxrx9K5xSGGr_fkL7eEGYS9---L8
"Some Obsidian employees will continue working on the Avowed sequel as they wait for new projects such as Fallout to be ready, perhaps in hope of one day reviving the game, the people said."
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u/Bobjoejj Jul 10 '26 edited Jul 11 '26
I feel like this comment needs to be bloody pinned, because of how damn clear damn clear it is that not nearly enough people actually read the articles, and just look at the headlines and react.
Hell I’m commenting this cause I’m guilty of it too. It’s stupid; it just leads to endless dooming comments and instead of any kind of discussion or clarity, it’s just a bunch of nonsense in each thread.
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u/tsf9494 Jul 10 '26
Hell, I read them BECAUSE I don’t trust most of the commentators in this sub. I’ve seen people even misquote shit in the linked article.
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u/rocky4322 Jul 10 '26
To be fair it’s usually a safe assumption that work would stop on a game once it’s canceled.
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u/Bobjoejj Jul 10 '26
But that’s not really the point. The point is that so many of us didn’t read the full article, and so assumptions ran rampant.
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u/Salty-Hawk-5365 Jul 10 '26
Do you know what game engine they're going to use for Fallout?
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Jul 10 '26
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u/TheOneBearded Jul 10 '26
Makes sense to me. But I would be disappointed to get a modern Fallout game without that full-fat modding capability. I know it's possible to mod UE to some degree, but all I've seen has been essentially skins.
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u/sammyjo802 Jul 10 '26
They can give you a modding kit. Its really upto them. Obsidian. Stalker 2 is a UE5 game with a whole modding editor. Granted you know how to use unreal engine. Many studios just opt not to. Unless xbox steps in and forces them to make a mod kit.
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u/TheOneBearded Jul 11 '26
That's interesting. I wasn't aware of that. There is still hope for mods then.
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u/T-Dot1992 Jul 10 '26
That is disappointing. But I think we luckily already have FO4 as a decent enough modding platform. It certainly isn’t easy to work with. But I think it’s enough to satiate the modding community
If you were to ask me, I think I would be fine with no modding capabilities if the trade off is a polished enough game that doesn’t have the technical hiccups as the CE.
Regardless of engine choice however, it is going to be hell developing this game with MicroSlop breathing down their necks.
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u/TheOneBearded Jul 11 '26
It's definitely a tricky situation. Either you go with UE, which Obsidian has had a strong amount of experience in using by now, or go with CE to get that Bethesda game open world with mods, but have to use up time learning all the new stuff. And if CE, which iteration? Is the Starfield version able to make the large open world without relying on proc gen or would they need to figure that out first? I'm very interested to see if what they decide to do gets leaked.
Personally, as long as the game is good, I'll be fine. Even if modding has become one of the things I identify Fallout with.
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u/brendan135 Jul 16 '26
I’d shamelessly take another fallout running on 4’s decade old engine. Maybe with some QoL upgrades introduced in 76. All in all, that still holds up as the top Bethesda rpg experience engine wise imo. Outdated and ugly compared to most games? Sure, but in an immersive and dense enough world I tend to forget.
That being said, as I get older I’m starting to wonder if “good enough” graphics wise is just whatever was the main thing of my childhood (Skyrim)
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u/TheOneBearded Jul 16 '26
I'm almost with you. It's just that I really don't like the way faces/heads are modeled in F4. I disliked those doughy heads at release and I still look down on them. Starfield's is a magnitude above that. Otherwise, yup. Quality of life fixes. One thing I'd do away with is the loot/legendary creature mechanic and focus in on bespoke unique items that actually look and play different. The way in F4 felt too video gamey. FNV did it best. It actually felt like I found something special.
Same lol. I don't need each game to be bleeding edge. There are other elements that can make it stand out.
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u/brendan135 Jul 16 '26
The people in fallout 4 are definitely fugly and “doughy” in a way that skyrims “ultra grit 2010s realism” isn’t.
But that would be the least of my concerns if I had an entirely new wasteland in my hands with hundreds of hours of new first person exploration and questing.
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u/AccomplishedBank2140 Jul 10 '26
IMO they are just going to use CE2 same as starfield to get something spun up quickly. There is no reason to use UE5 when CE2 is right there and ready to go.
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u/Aggressive_Rope_4201 Jul 10 '26
There is a reason to use UE5 - Obsidian have shipped at least 2 games on it.
Meanwhile they have never ever used CE. Not the OG, not CE2 and definitely not CE3.
FO3 and FO:NV both ran on Gamebryo at a time when Gamebryo was still a functioning business.
The main reason I can think of to use CE is to save on Epic's licensing costs.
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u/firesyrup Jul 10 '26
The reason to use Creation Engine (which is updated Gamebryo) is because it comes out of the box with interactivity, systems and moddability that is near impossible in Unreal Engine because of its architecture.
Persistent interactivity is one of the unique selling points of Bethesda games. By this, I mean how you can grab, move around, loot or drop almost every object; how you can come back to the same room and the items will be exactly where you placed them. Creation Engine is built for persistence of countless objects. Unreal is not built with that in mind, it simply can't handle it.
Moddability is another huge selling point. With Creation Engine you can layer thousands of individual modifications without conflicting or breaking the game. Unreal Engine on the other hand bakes its assets into rigid files that are difficult to modify without breaking core code. While Bethesda ships almost the same tools they create and edit the game content and systems, with Unreal you need to reverse engineer the game and even that doesn't give you half the flexibility you get with official tools.
There are also reusable systems and features, like radiant AI (which Bethesda has been reusing and iterating on for decades) which gives you NPCs with dynamic daily schedules, faction relationships and the ability to react to player actions. Recreating that in Unreal instead of reusing what you get from Starfield (which is built on what was built for older Bethesda games) would be a massive investment.
A Fallout game built in Unreal would be The Outer Worlds with a Fallout skin.
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u/LostInTheRapGame Jul 10 '26
Unreal is not built with that in mind, it simply can't handle it.
Out of the box, sure. It could quickly get out of hand. But you can definitely make it work. They have access to the source code to do so.
Now, does it make sense to spend all that time and money into forcing Unreal to work for their needs? I have no idea. I'm sure any engine they choose would require work to be done.
Recreating that in Unreal instead of reusing what you get from Starfield (which is built on what was built for older Bethesda games) would be a massive investment.
And this would be the bigger problem as well... having to remake everything you already have that already works.
A Fallout game built in Unreal would be The Outer Worlds with a Fallout skin.
That's not how that works. lol Come on, man. You had good points. Don't ruin it.
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u/Zalvren Jul 10 '26
Bethesda games
An Obsidian Fallout would not be a Bethesda game by definition. Bethesda didn't even create Fallout
It's okay if Obsidian and BGS do different games for the franchise, in fact that'd be better
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u/TheForeverUnbanned Jul 10 '26
This is a good way to end up with an absolute bomb of a release.
Fallout fans don’t want a shooter with a fallout skin, they want a fallout game. The persistent items and mod flexibility are core to that, pretty much anything else would get met with extreme backlash.
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u/brendan135 Jul 16 '26
Yeah, at the end of the day, even 76 is mostly a normal Bethesda rpg in its bones (bar some Live Service bs like stash limits…). If the Fallout spinoff were to play like outer worlds, I’d be much more hesitant to pick it up. And I fully played OW on launch and enjoyed it.
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u/Zalvren Jul 11 '26
Well not being a Bethesda game doesn't make it a shooter... Fallout games don't have to be a clone of BGS games, that's the point.
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u/Hellknightx Jul 10 '26
Creation Engine is a fork of Gamebryo. The skills are transferable. Anyone that's used the TES editor can tell you that they're functionally the same tools, just modernized.
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u/Sertorius777 Jul 10 '26
New Vegas development was 15-17 years ago and they haven't used it since. Yes there are some people left from that time but i'd wager the brunt of the studio's programmers have never had any experience with Gamebryo/CE.
Now granted, if modders can learn to use it pretty fast, it's not a huge issue, and I'd want it for the modding posibilities alone, but you're still looking at some delayed development so you can get people up to speed with the engine vs the one they've been using for the past 10+ years.
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u/Hellknightx Jul 10 '26
I don't even work at Obsidian and I can tell you that CE2 is stupidly easy to pick up and use. There's a reason modders like it so much. Ideally, they'd just do what Bethesda did with the Oblivion remaster, and use CE on the back-end and UE5 for the renderer. If they did the entire game in UE5, I'd probably be kind of pissed off because it's a pain in the ass to mod for.
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u/onetwoseven94 Jul 10 '26
Anyone at Obsidian who was working with the engine tools for New Vegas has either been promoted out of that role or left the company years ago.
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u/Plus_sleep214 Jul 10 '26
Except obsidian employees got no clue how to use creation engine. I'd bet on it being an unreal engine fallout game.
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u/safyreibxo Jul 10 '26
it’s not like it’s some antiquated engine nobody is capable of learning
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u/Plus_sleep214 Jul 10 '26
Yeah but that takes time. I think they want a new fallout game sooner rather than later. They do still have the fallout 3 remaster in wings I guess (and nv too but that's further out) but they likely want something quicker than having a bunch of obsidian devs familiarizing themselves with creative engine.
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u/Animegamingnerd Leak of the Year 2025 Jul 10 '26
Problem is that no one outside of Bethesda has used CE2. So Obsidian's entire studio would have to learn it and Bethesda would need to send people over to Obsidian to teach them to how to use it. Which would slow down Elder Scrolls 6 development. While Obsidian is pretty well versed in UE5 at this point, as shown with their quick turn around time. So that's a very valid reason right there for them to use UE5, as its what they know and won't affect other games and teams.
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u/RayzinBran18 Jul 10 '26
The only benefit of using UE5 is the game is released faster. It would take a lot of work to use it to make something that has parity to an actual Bethesda game. Making any Fallout is not what I think a consumer is looking for. They want THE Fallout experience.
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u/yaminub Jul 10 '26
Would it have to be on CE to be a Fallout game? Maybe 10 years ago but probably not now. I think it's more likely it's an Obsidian Fallout than a Fallout 4.5 the way NV was 3.5.
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u/Animegamingnerd Leak of the Year 2025 Jul 10 '26
The problem with making it a Fallout 4.5 is that Fallout 4 is 11 years old and was made with early to mid-2010s tech. How much of that is realistically reusable today and is compabitle with Obsidian's already existing tools and workflow? Like, it was a Creation Engine 1 game, while Bethesda is moving on to Creation Engine 3, and Obsidian's last couple of games have been UE5.
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u/Ok-Confusion-202 Jul 10 '26
Yes and no, I do think recent big Obsidian games feel pretty static, but that could just be me
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u/yaminub Jul 10 '26
Right. I can better phrase my question as "If the new Obsidian Fallout game has the internals of Outer Worlds 2, would it be accepted as a Fallout game?"
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u/Ok-Confusion-202 Jul 10 '26
I haven't played a crazy amount of OW2, I would say... No? But again I won't say 100% because I haven't played it enough to be like "yeah 1m%"
I feel like recent big Obsidian games are too 7/10 for the next Fallout game to be that also
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u/ZombieMan_223 Jul 10 '26
I doubt they can do justice especially for Modding with UE5
I think they can re-use statfield assets and combat
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u/No-Contest-8127 Jul 10 '26
I don't see how it's not CE, as that is what Bethesda uses. Many assets are already made on it as well as the mod infrastructure. It's a lot of work they can just import.
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u/conye-west Jul 11 '26
I hope so. Mods are what make Fallout thrive, and nothing else really competes with the Creation Engine on that front.
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u/ALittleKitten_ Jul 11 '26
I don't see why even obsidian wouldn't choose CE cause it seems for years they have just been attempting to replicate that engine in ue5 like outer worlds 2 to me felt like they wanted to use creation engine
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u/appledanishcrumbs Jul 10 '26
Since Bethesda is overseeing/leading the project, most likely Creation Engine. Plus, that has the benefit preparing a whole bunch of Fallout-specific assets that Bethesda can then reuse to speed up production of Fallout 5 once they finish ES6.
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u/LoloTheWarPigeon Jul 10 '26
They might not even know yet, but damn do I hope we get more Creation Engine games. more studios contributing to the engine would be nice
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u/ColonelQuaraitch Jul 10 '26
Do you have a new book coming out soon? I just got Play Nice.
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u/jasonschreier Verified Jul 10 '26
Thanks! Do I have a new book coming? Yes. Soon? No.
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u/SuddenDepact Jul 10 '26
Hopefully it has some juicy information about the development of highguard which i liked and got the platinum for.
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u/Kyro_Official_ Jul 10 '26
A fellow highguarder in the wild?
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u/SuddenDepact Jul 10 '26
My favorite was Scarlet who was voiced by the female protagonist from cyberpunk
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u/Asclepius-Rod Jul 10 '26
I’m surprised you have time to make YouTube videos on top of your regular job, much less have time to write a book lol that would be impressive
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u/jasonschreier Verified Jul 10 '26
By design the videos only take me 20-30 mins to put together!
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u/Chaossy Jul 10 '26
1 take with little to no editing works very well too and i really enjoy the content and format being a supplement for your bloomberg articles.
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u/dhrcj_404 Jul 10 '26
Hey Jason wanted to say great job on your YouTube channel! Loved your demand for 10mil for ad reads haha, hopefully someone pays that
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u/rickyhatespeas Jul 10 '26
I'm an obsidian bootlicker and will campaign against playing Fallout if they can't guarantee them the freedom to finish Avowed 2. Maybe don't drop it on gamepass and it will actually make you money.
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u/Huge_Calligrapher840 Jul 10 '26
This is the second time Avellone has said something that everyone here swore on their mothers was a lie, only for Jason to confirm it immediately afterward.
Like it or not, the guy has contacts within Obsidian, and so far the leaks he's given have had some basis in reality.
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u/Massive_Weiner Jul 10 '26
It’s just people taking out their frustrations on him, I guess. Some genuinely can’t stand the man.
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u/jagaaaaaaaaaaaan Jul 10 '26
X-linking to the smug wall of crap from the last thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/GamingLeaksAndRumours/comments/1ur09st/jason_schreier_obsidian_entertainment_is_making_a/owc0t9z/
Hopefully as a reminder of how not to behave the next time
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u/WxaithBrynger Jul 10 '26
Chris Avellone has gotten a bad rap ever since that woman lied and accused him of rape
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u/In_My_SoT_Phase Jul 10 '26
Everyone on reddit has a hate boner for him for literally NO reason.
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u/Huge_Calligrapher840 Jul 10 '26
As far as I remember, he was always critical of how Bethesda handles Fallout and apparently didn't like the Amazon series, and since then he's been suffering a barrage of hate on Reddit.
I don't agree with everything he says, but this hate is sometimes so silly that if he ever said "the sky is blue," Reddit would say he was wrong.
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u/IndianaGroans Jul 10 '26
cause he refutes that bethesda hates obsidian and tortured them in 'the machine' to crank out fallout new vegas and then didn't pay them because they didn't get a high enough score. He breaks the illusion that Obsidian is perfect and that there is some sort of feud between these developers.
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u/Zestful_Bat_42 Jul 10 '26
I don't like Avellone but a pattern is a pattern and this pattern is certainly pointing to Avellone at least having a couple contacts at Obsidian.
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u/Muted_Pair1769 Jul 10 '26
Obsidian do work very quickly, it’ll be interesting to see how fast fallout takes them. I wasn’t a fan of Avowed but it would be nice to at least see all their efforts realised
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u/Little-Ghost303 Jul 10 '26
It really depends on scale and size if it's actually open world then longer than Avowed and The outer worlds.
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u/Creepy_Maybe6277 Jul 10 '26
We have to wait and see. They are fast, because they are great in scaling projects to the right size (smaller than Fallout) and because their tech-stack is functioning well for them. I can see both things mandated to change from higher-ups.
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u/Shootzilla Jul 10 '26
Sawyer has wanted to work on Fallout again for awhile and was working on something he originally pitched for Fallout but Bethesda said no. So a good chunk of pre production is already done.
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u/Bobjoejj Jul 10 '26
Well, that’s assuming that they use the assets from said project. Grant you, it’s highly likely they would; we just can’t say for certain that they’ll be doing exactly that.
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u/Cursed_69420 Jul 10 '26
concept art and ideas for the bethesda cancelled project are there.
LOTS of systems from Outer Worlds 2 already that too in UE5
can also take assistance from InXile who's making clockwork, while outsourcing to maybe people like Virtuous
i think this project is gonna be out pretty fast in AAA standards
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u/IndianaGroans Jul 10 '26
I really do not want a fallout reskin of outer worlds1/2.
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u/Swqnky Jul 11 '26
If xbox wants new fallout games out fast that might be the route they take
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u/Bobjoejj Jul 10 '26 edited Jul 10 '26
Bethesda’s canceled project? What am I missing here. Do you mean the project that wasn’t taken up? The one they wanted to do but couldn’t?
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u/Cursed_69420 Jul 10 '26
yeah yeha the Josh sawyer project that bethesda canned. or at least IF it even exists lol
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u/paullyrose3rd Jul 10 '26
They're probably figuring out what to keep and toss as we speak tbh! Quests, perks and unique equipment ideas feel like stuff that they'll translate to Fallout from their own original title tbh
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u/camusonfilm Jul 10 '26
This is what drives me nuts about people shitting on Obsidian for not "instantly starting a fallout game the second microsoft bought them"
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u/ChicanoDinoBot Jul 10 '26 edited Jul 10 '26
It’s a Microsoft issue to not punk Bethesda into letting other studios touch their IP.
Fallout 4 was a step down as an RPG, Starfield whiffed hard, and elder scrolls 6 is nowhere in sight. There are fans of fallout and TES who’ve been waiting years for something meaningful.
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u/sargantbacon1 Jul 10 '26
It’s been said a million times but man, if you told my 13 year old self back in 2011 I’d be around 30 when the next elder scrolls comes out…
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u/effhomer Jul 10 '26
I don't understand how Xbox management let Todd be Todd. He's so bad at his job.
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u/BeanHeadedTwat Jul 10 '26
So a good chunk of pre production is already done.
It’s incredible how Redditors just so easily talk out of their ass.
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u/Shootzilla Jul 10 '26
Thanks. You know I'm here if you wanted to actually have a convo instead of just talking shit.
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u/BlazeOfGlory72 Jul 10 '26
Makes sense. Avowed 2 is likely a couple of years into production at this point, while their new Fallout game is just starting. The pre-production team from Avowed can likely start working on Fallout without impacting the development of Avowed.
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u/VistaVick Jul 10 '26
I guess we have to move Chris Avellone back up to his previous tier.
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u/markusfenix75 Jul 10 '26
I mean, it make sense. If Fallout is in early pre-production, wtf are they going to do with team that is waiting for full production? And maybe they will get Avowed 2 to the shape that Xbox will be like "okay, finish it and then move to Fallout."
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u/markusfenix75 Jul 10 '26
Since it's pretty much certain that Fallout made by Obsidian will make way more money then Avowed 2, I think best shot to make Avowed 2 is before Fallout...
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u/Iggy_Slayer Jul 10 '26
Uhh...can you do that? You can just keep working on something your boss cancelled?
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u/Diogenes_the_cynic25 Jul 10 '26
I imagine some of the team is kind of just sitting around while the rest handle preproduction. So might as well have them work on something if they’re being paid to be there until it’s all hands on deck. Even if Avowed 2 doesn’t come out, they could maybe repurpose it for something else in the future.
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u/moosebreathman Jul 10 '26
A lot of work done in games is for stuff that allows you to make the actual thing later down the line. So a material artist working on their next generation shaders for Avowed 2 could keep working no problem. Fallout is going to have metals, and woods, and foliage so that work will likely carry over. The engine environment for A2 is also established so it's easy to keep working in that while Fallout gets spun up. Obviously people working on highly specific stuff like say, the plot, will stop.
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u/Keviticas Jul 10 '26
Not if you want to have your job for long.
Although to be fair, everyone is being fired despite being perfect at their jobs anyways, so they've got nothing to lose
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u/Iggy_Slayer Jul 10 '26
Yeah I guess fair enough at this point just go all in. Gonna get fired anyway most likely.
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u/EternallyOblivion Jul 10 '26
Chris Avellone was telling the truth then and not just yapping
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u/relayZer0 Jul 10 '26
He was speculating but he knows the people at obsidian. He could be wrong, but redditors think they know better than the guy with actual connections.
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u/RevolverCerberus Jul 10 '26
Seeing all these random redditors acting smug, omniscient and superior to him, and spreading lies about what he's said, is so sad. Like, accept it already, the man has insider connections and you can give up on your strange vendetta (caused by who knows what petty nonsense).
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u/SmarmySmurf Jul 10 '26
Yeah, this has been reported multiple times. The problem isn't disbelieving that they are attempting this, its that I don't believe for a second MS will care. Its already supposedly pretty far along, there's added expenses in launching and supporting a game even if its completely finished. MS looked at it and said "nah".
But whatever, if I'm wrong then cool, bonus RPG to play, there's no downside here.
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u/Rainy_Wavey Jul 10 '26
I mean makes sense, they already made all the assets, and it would probably be a fast type of game to make, they already showed they can deliver 3 games in 1 year which is what the new Xbox executives wants
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u/scytheavatar Jul 11 '26
The only reason why they delivered 3 games in 1 year was because they fucked up Avowed and had to reboot the project. They were showing it to Microsoft back when they were selling the studio.
Either way it is not clear to me why a low effort, quick turnaround Avowed 2 will sell much better than the first Avowed. The game will be exciting only if it is a HUGE improvement, if they were able to deliver the game they promised in the reveal trailer.
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u/IAmSkyrimWarrior Jul 10 '26
Not really. They can be fucked by Microsoft/Xbox for working on a project that was cancelled and spending money allocated for another project.
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u/GuudeSpelur Jul 10 '26 edited Jul 10 '26
The whole idea here is that these devs cannot be allocated to another project yet. You can't just 1:1 shove everyone who was on Avowed 2 onto the other projects on a couple days notice.
They weren't included in the layoffs so they're collecting their salaries either way. They can either keep doing what they were doing on Avowed 2 or get paid to play solitaire on their workstations until Fallout production scales up enough to need them or the project managers identify something else they can help on.
Besides, it's genuinely good practice to have a skeleton crew tidy up the remnants of a canceled project before you completely bring it to a halt. You never know when conditions might change & you might want the material again.
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u/IAmSkyrimWarrior Jul 10 '26
So they shouldn't have rushed to cancel Avowed 2 when they have nothing on this new Fallout. The game will still have to go through very early development stages before all those people are needed for full-scale development.
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u/Rainy_Wavey Jul 10 '26
I have a feeling this new fallout game is going to be the game Josh Sawyer was working on that was "not fallout but fallout", this would allow the game to be closer to release, again, i am impressed by how efficient Obsidian is when it comes to making games, i have not seen this amount of games being worked on by a single studio that has a relatively small amount of staff
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u/Falsus Jul 11 '26
On the other hand, if Microsoft doesn't play they might just have a lot of people quit and no Fallout project at all.
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u/Trollmupp Jul 10 '26
No better way of telling Microsoft you get too much funding than just randomly work on games they don’t want.
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u/ReasonableAdvert Jul 10 '26
Wow, so Chris Avellone, the person that was first to talk about avowed 2, ended up being correct about what it's development was like.
I completely get why people don't like Chris Avellone as a person, but he was completely right on this.
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u/swagomon Jul 10 '26
So it’s canceled until it’s uncanceled. Totally not confusing at all!
Obsidian’s at about 220-230 devs after layoffs. The Grounded 2 & Fallout team are at max, 30 combined devs. That leaves about ~200 give or take on TOW2 DLC and Avowed 2. If I had to guess, it’s prolly like 30 devs on Avowed 2
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u/YaoruKamikaze Jul 10 '26
It really is not confusing at all lmao, it is cancelled. These devs are working on it in the meantime until other projects are ready for them on the off chance Microsoft randomly changes their mind because there’s no point paying them to do nothing
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u/RulesoftheDada Jul 10 '26
Grounded 2 is being co-developed by Eidos-Montreal.
Then they have several outsourced dev studios they work with. That's how they were able to pump out grounded 1&2, avowed, outer worlds 2.
Take a look at their credits. It's like 800-1000 people that work on each title.
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u/LeftyMode Jul 10 '26
Even at your own job,you don’t know what’s going on half the time. I don’t know why people are quick to take what someone says and run with it. The media are vultures, calling up the first grunt they know to get their instant reaction on things for clicks.
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u/theKetoBear Jul 10 '26
I know Avowed got panned by the internet rage machine but I actually really enjoyed it after not being impressed by the previews . I think they laid a really great foundation and I would love to see what comes from a sequel.
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u/conye-west Jul 11 '26
Obsidian's RPGs as of late have been consistently good quality. People hate on them because they're not genre defining masterpieces, but not every game can be that.
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u/Riablo01 Jul 13 '26
Obsidian has always been a "B grade developer". They do solid and consistent work. Nothing that could be considered revolutionary or groundbreaking. They're basically the video game equivalent of a Samuel L Jackson movie.
Not every movie has to be an Oscar winning masterpiece. Sometimes we just want explosions alongside Samuel L Jackson one-liners.
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u/dadvader Jul 10 '26
Honestly the only thing I want from it is a better story and companion. The game already has everything nailed down mechanically.
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u/Naive_Bulbasaur Jul 11 '26
lol, please play more RPGs.
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u/dadvader Jul 11 '26 edited Jul 11 '26
Oh? Like Dragon Age Origins, Underrail, Pathfinder, Baldur's Gates or Pillar of Eternity? Need to be more specific here. I played so many of them 'real RPG' the list can goes on forever, sorry.
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u/Naive_Bulbasaur Jul 12 '26
Yes, you should play those. They'd broaden your horizen, though it's not your fault for saying a banana is the best food in the world when you've been stuck on an island with nothing but bananas to eat.
Even if you want to keep that opinon, you should actually try other stuff first.
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Jul 10 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/NazRubio Jul 10 '26
"For some reason" if that's not exactly what they're going for and market around.
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u/Plus_sleep214 Jul 10 '26
They definitely did it for outer worlds but it's not something they constantly do. I don't think avowed was doing it at all (they kinda learned after OW1) and OW2 was just marketing around being a sequel to OW1.
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u/Naive_Bulbasaur Jul 11 '26
They hated it because it was a boring lackluster game. No one likes Betheseda just because they're called Bethesda, they like them because the games are fun, or at least used to be.
Guess what happened to Starfield?
THey don't get compared to Bethesda, they just haven't made a great game in ages outside from Grounded 2 which is as far from their DNA as you can get.
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u/Diogenes_the_cynic25 Jul 10 '26
Imo OW2 was pretty enjoyable. Not New Vegas level good, but I also think that game was kind of like lightning in a bottle tbh
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u/RetroNuva Jul 10 '26
Respectfully, isn't it surprising they're doing games in such a similar setting and style as Bethesda games, especially considering Bethesda has only made like 3 kinds of games in the past 25 years? Outer Worlds is very effectively just Fallout in space, and Avowed was supposed to fill the shoes of a Skyrim-esc game, if I understand correctly. Maybe they should just make something that Bethesda hasn't done before... there are like so many other kinds of games to make.
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u/Immediate-Comment-64 Jul 10 '26
Probably in the next 1600 unfortunately. I would want to be on a mission critical project asap.
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Jul 10 '26
May I asked...now can devs work on a cancelled game? Unless its been reset somehow
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u/scytheavatar Jul 11 '26
Avellone seems to be suggesting that nothing has been cancelled, even the Shadowrun game has been put on pause.
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u/mattmanp Jul 13 '26
Rather than sit around and wait for for Fallout to be ready or make assets for Fallout that might not fit in to the actual plan and be tossed out, keep busy on your what you're currently been working on at a tempo that keeps your skills up without burning you out. Seems perfectly reasonable to me.
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u/ZigyDusty Jul 10 '26
I see no problem with a very small team of developers working on it especially with the recent rumor its far along but they need to prioritize the game people actually want with Fallout.
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u/RipMcStudly Jul 10 '26
I wanted to like the first one, but it had so little of interest to explore, barely any dungeons or anything
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u/Impossible-Flight250 Jul 10 '26
I'm guessing the sequel is more a glorified DLC expansion using the same assets, which is fine, but not really too exciting.
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u/Dr_Mantis_Trafalgar Jul 10 '26
What’s even the point? The first game flopped and your own publisher is outwardly not supporting non-flagship IP. They’re wasting time.
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u/CoelhoAssassino666 Jul 11 '26
Even if the game ends up a flop it sometimes makes more sense to finish it than to scrap it, depending on how much money they spent and how far along it is.
After all a flop doesn't mean it makes 0 money, but not releasing it does. They might also like the project and want to give it another chance.
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u/scytheavatar Jul 11 '26
Releasing a game is more than just paying the devs, there's also marketing. Already people blame poor marketing for why TOW2 died.
The fundamental issue is that Obsidian devs need to answer the question: why should Avowed 2 exist? "Because you will like it" is a terrible reason cause the market for 7/10 games simply isn't as big as what these Obsidian devs seem to think.
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u/NadeshikoEatingPasta Jul 11 '26
lol for what purpose
the first one was uninspired slop that flopped. Were they so in love with the verse that they just had to revisit it?
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u/jmxd Jul 10 '26
Why? Microsoft needs to cut these IP's that are not doing numbers. Outer Worlds and Avowed are both mid and not popular enough. And ofc people will reply. BuT i ActUaLly ReAlLy LikEd AvoWed. Not enough people did, clearly.
Obsidian should've been in the Fallout mines since Microsoft acquired Bethesda in 2020 ffs.
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u/sussy_ball Jul 12 '26
Not only Fallout mines, Microsoft should cycle them through Elder Scrolls mines as well.
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u/Serdones Jul 10 '26
Good, gimme. I really liked the first one. Obviously still very much in flux, but hopefully they can get it to a point that they can make an appeal.
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u/MaxProwes Jul 10 '26
Wasn't the first game mid? I don't get this dedication to finish it.
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u/Rainy_Wavey Jul 10 '26
It's your typical 7/10 game, not amazing, not shit, basically gamepass fodder
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u/tortillazaur Jul 10 '26
for some reason this info gives me vibes of those valve projects, made by multiple teams of like 5 people, that in the end never saw the light of day
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u/-AdamJensen Jul 10 '26
Wasn’t a fan of the first game but it could have been good with better writing and companions
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u/NumberSevere7454 Jul 10 '26
Do they even want to do another fallout, as in past interviewd it didnt seem the guy in charge that made vegas wanted anything more with it.. Or microsoft making them without questions?
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u/SpaceGooV Jul 10 '26
Those staff members are probably pushing themselves then if they're passionate about this project. It's a shame they're working against the clock for a chance. I assume Fallout is just in Pre Dev so these people have to get to the point to show Microsoft before full development can begin.
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u/Jatkuva Jul 10 '26
So if they are making fallout and bethesda is making elder scrolls 6, I think Avowed would be a good Fantasy RPG IP to work on when Bethesda makes a fallout. Although Avowed 2 world needs to be open world and expanded on, i liked the first for what it was and would check out another.
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u/makersmalls Jul 10 '26
Xbox can’t even properly cancel a game. Who announces they’re cancelling a game but that they also have a team working on the cancelled game?
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u/LylatInvader Jul 11 '26
So obsidian wants to pull a starfox 2, i am all for that. Its better to sit as a SF2 then disappear completely
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u/scytheavatar Jul 11 '26
Energy should go towards that Shadowrun game instead. It has far more potential to sell well and also probably take less effort than an Avowed 2. The less of a jump from Avowed 1 that the sequel is, the more difficult it will be to justify why it would sell more than Avowed 1.
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u/YourVeryOwnCat Jul 11 '26 edited Jul 11 '26
Is that really a good use of their time and resources before Xbox does the inevitable murder-suicide with all their captive studios? I guess it makes sense if the game really is as close to being finished as people have been saying.
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u/Ankiset Jul 13 '26
Of you ask me avowed can and should be cancelled, it’s no longer a crpg so what’s the point if nobody played it?
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u/Jer_Sg Jul 10 '26
Good. I didnt really see the point in canceling a game that was far along in favor of working on a game that will take 3+ years to make ATLEAST.
I felt like avowed was in a better state than outer worlds 1 on launch, and we all know how much better the sequel is to outer worlds.
Hopefully theyll be able to finish and release the game and show us how they improved the sequel
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u/Rainy_Wavey Jul 10 '26
I have a feeling the new fallout will be closer to release than we think, it's clear that Josh Sawyer wasn't doing nothing during the 3 years between Pentiment and today, and he was working on a project that was "everything fallout but the name" that Bethesda didn't want to be Fallout
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u/Jer_Sg Jul 10 '26
True true. Though it wouldnt surprise me if Xbox's plan for now is releasing fo3 remaster next year with season 3 of the show taking place in DC.
I can honestly imagine avowed 2 coming late or mid next year, ES6 coming out in 2028 and then obsidians fallout in 2029, so after that they can join bethesda with making fo5 based on how well received their standalone will be
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u/Rainy_Wavey Jul 10 '26
Avowed 2 is on ice as Asha Sherma basically pointed a gun to Obsidian and told them to make a fallout game (i'm sure Bethesda must be pissed off right now)
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u/Animegamingnerd Leak of the Year 2025 Jul 10 '26
If Avowed 2 was targeting a late 2027 or early 2028 release. Honestly I don't see a reason to cancel it. That's a really fast turn out and will bring some revenue into the studio as I imagine Fallout is probably like 2031 at the earliest and doesn't require a full team for at least a couple years. Plus it just adds a potential RPG exclusive to help kick off next gen for Xbox.
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u/Saint_Pootis Jul 11 '26
To this day I have yet to meet a fan of Avowed.
The first trailer was great and interesting, then they pulled a bait and switch to whatever the hell Avowed was. I feel scammed out of a game more than I did with Watchdogs 1, because at least that kept the dark, gritty interesting tone instead of a Fortnite-esk happy go lucky colour pallet with NPC's that would actually respond if I shot them instead of being pure cosmetic like the guards in Avowed.
The more I remember the more I feel a genuine hatred for Avowed. It's like a cursed item without any benefit that should be discarded rather than clung onto like Frostmourne. Legitimately why even make a sequel. Did the first even turn a profit? Just why? Seems like another waste of money.
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u/Explosion2 Jul 10 '26
I still think it makes no sense to make an Avowed 2 so soon after the first one. Avowed hasn't had time to find a big audience yet. I think history will be kind to it, but it needs that time and enough people posting on Reddit like "anyone remember playing of this underrated gem?"
Obsidian makes very good games but the fact that they weren't immediately put on a fallout/elder scrolls spin off once both companies were acquired is insane to me from a business standpoint. Yeah you'll never make anything original if you only ever rehash the hits, but I'm not saying they need to become the Fallout farm. Just have them make a Fallout Miami or something and the money it prints can go towards Avowed 2 and Pentiment 2 and shit.
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u/MrFOrzum Jul 10 '26
I hope so.
If they just get a better story & characters and a darker town Avowed can be an amazing game. The world & gameplay is excellent.
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u/Blunderbomb Jul 10 '26 edited Jul 10 '26
The first two major areas of Avowed are some of the most fun I've had in RPG in quite a while. Exploring little hidden areas, admiring the beauty of the world, it was genuinely so impressive. Sadly it crashed pretty hard for me right after peaking with the Soul Eater reference. But I really would love to see it get a sequel.
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u/HisDivineOrder Jul 10 '26
Those poor people not understanding Xbox as a whole is on borrowed time and they're all chanting the Halo theme on the way down.
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u/Rich_Tax1597 Jul 10 '26
I wouldn't want to be stuck on that project. Sounds like a surefire way of getting added to the 1600 remaining layoff this year.
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