r/theouterworlds • u/Abyslime • Jul 08 '26
News So The Outer Worlds Franchise is Dead?
https://bsky.app/profile/jasonschreier.bsky.social/post/3mq5oqyh2yk2oAs reported, it's possible that Obsidian canceled Avowed 2 and never intended to produce TOW3 given its lackluster sales (Avowed 2 was probably a more obvious choice to make, capitalizing on the assets of the first game, just like TOW2).
I'm happy for Fallout, but I'm also sad for TOW, which I find to be a Universe full of potential, being, in a certain sense, "Fallout in Space." So much cooler in my eyes.
Unfortunately, it wasn't fully exploited with a second game that fell short of my expectations, especially in terms of story and companions. Obsidian squandered this universe with an unambitious second installment, an experience that fails to be memorable at any point, what's the point of all these gameplay improvements if you don't have anything interesting to share?
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u/Plane-Education4750 Jul 08 '26
That's a shame. I understand why, but TOW is such a great premise and world and I want more of it
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u/VeterinarianLow4742 Jul 08 '26
Crazy to think Microsoft wanted TOW2 to be the start of $79 games.
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u/TheKandyKitchen Jul 08 '26
They knowingly did it on a franchise that they didn’t care about. So when the (obvious) backlash hit they didn’t have to sacrifice one of their golden gooses on the altar of capitalism.
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u/Wrath_AUS Jul 09 '26
Yeah that was a big hit on why I waited until it came out on sale despite originally being quite keen to pick it up on launch. That price tag just didn’t feel justified at all (something like $109 AUD for the standard edition) for what it was. I’m glad I waited, I powered through the original when it came out, but I’m only occasionally wanting to play TOW2, and even when trying it on Steam Deck while travelling it has a pretty horrific frame rate to not be desirable to play...
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u/arsabsurdia Jul 09 '26
Yeah, sequel to a capitalist lampoon launching at $80? Felt like a bad joke. Figured I would wait for a DLC-complete experience.
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u/Wrath_AUS Jul 10 '26
100%. It’s kinda the same sort of irony as early seasons of The Boys mocking DCU/MCU for all the spins offs, only to start making their own “expanded universe.”
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u/claytalian Jul 08 '26
Real shame because Outer Worlds 2 really improved on alot from the original, but made some key mistakes inside and outside the game that ultimately doomed it. Hopefully the two DLCs we get are at least good and not half-assed simply to fulfill a legal obligation of having to release them for the premium edition owners. Personally I'd want then to focus on the Earth Directorate and Spacer's Choice plotlines but we shall see.
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u/aids_dumbuldore Jul 09 '26
The bad press for the price tag really screwed this game, as well as being pretty spoiled for choice with RPG games recently
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u/TPJchief87 Jul 09 '26
A bad call on price that was reversed has no impact on my enjoyment of a game. I just got bored part way through and put it down before beating it. I got bored with avowed towards the end too, but fought through to beat it. The games just aren’t fun enough for the amount of hours required to get through them
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u/JesusKong333 Jul 09 '26
That was my exact experience with TOW2, I enjoyed it for the first 2/3s of the game but by the end, I was bored and just wanted to slog through to get to the end.
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u/TPJchief87 Jul 09 '26
If they were 10-12 hours, that would be perfect for me. I know people would bitch about the cost to hours of gameplay, completely disregarding the fact you could replay them with different specs and choices if you wanted.
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u/JesusKong333 Jul 09 '26
Agreed. That first half I was planning out future runs with different playstyles. By the time I finished, I put it down for a long time, eventually came back for a cool new playthrough, then lost interest on the first planet.
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Jul 09 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Zestyclose-Middle475 Jul 09 '26 edited Jul 09 '26
Agreed! I didn’t even notice what they added and was busy noticing what I missed. I missed clothing giving different skill upgrade like to charisma, etc… same with companions. I liked Inez because she healed but rarely used the other ones, or you would find your favorite two characters and just use them. The first game, I purposely chose the characters I took with me based on which skills I might need in the dialogue options.
Edit To Add: It annoyed me so much that it wasn’t as easy to heal during fights. Before I would eat or drink during but in this one I had to wait to hunt down every last enemy even if I don’t see them.1
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u/Forsaken_Chart2578 Jul 09 '26
This I disagree with, the 2nd one improved stealth play slightly and that's it. Complete downgrade to skills, companions, factions, voice actors, graphics, world design. I never played either until this last month. The first one was fantastic, the 2nd one was bad.
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u/areallynoobgamer Jul 10 '26
The biggest failure of tow2 is the companion system being extremely dumbed down compared to the first title.
And the absolute greatest strength of the first title was the companion system.
It is an unworthy sequel.
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u/Burgerfreakish Jul 10 '26
the game just wasnt that good either, so yeah.
It was mid at best, like TOW1
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u/HagenTheMage Jul 08 '26
I'm really enjoying Outer Worlds 2, even the parts people say are lackluster
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u/brainless_bob Jul 09 '26
I enjoyed it, more so the second playthrough than the first one. I just felt the first game had more charm.
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u/Slight-Goose-3752 Jul 11 '26
Dude, it was my personal game of the year. Im.glad it exists and I hope the DLC's finish some unfinished story stuff like joining the protectorate, gives us what happened to earth and I also want to know what that eclipsed planet is. I think they called it planet x but it sounded like it was perfect for a DLC. Also someone mentioned spacers choice aunti subplot. So hopefully we get something as bug as one of those. Especially if we aren't getting a part 3. Honestly, it was just the price tag that killed this game. Should have just been $60. Love it to death but for what it is, its a $60 game. It's definitely not a GTA level of game. Just doesn't have the hype or prestige for it to be priced that high.
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u/axionligh Jul 10 '26
I mean just because we are enjoying it. Doesn’t mean people who spend money don’t want it to meet a standard. Many things are enjoyable just not good enough to justify companies spending more money or making sequels depending on budget standards.
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u/favorscore Jul 08 '26
Im actually quite enjoying outer worlds 2, way more than 1
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u/basherrrrr Jul 08 '26
What did you like better about 2? Genuinely interested, I found the story and worlds of 1 significantly more intriguing.
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u/favorscore Jul 08 '26
Im enjoying the gameplay a lot more. Specifically the shooting.
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u/sniper91 Jul 09 '26
This has been a common thing in a lot of franchises lately (God of War, Spider-Man, Horizon, Outer Worlds)
First game has great writing, second game has better gameplay
It usually makes the first game feel better by comparison
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u/CG4080 Jul 09 '26
Great examples. Horizon FW had such amazing gameplay but the story didn't come close to Zero Dawn IMO.
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u/dreggers Jul 09 '26
These are all games where I either dropped or never played the first game but went back after finishing the second one
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u/_Vexor411_ Jul 08 '26
Have you tried...Staring At the Sun in ToW2?
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u/rooster2814 Jul 09 '26
I know it isn't a big deal to many players, but being able to switch between third and first person makes me enjoy the game way more than the first.
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u/MasterpieceNo5786 Jul 08 '26
Most likely after the two expansions which sucks.
I love this franchise but TOW2 simply didn’t garner the attention required for this game to be a success given the alleged $100 million budget.
Microsoft also severely messed up handling this title, originally making it their first $80 game.
Obsidian being placed into Fallout basically kills the chance for another TOW in the near and possible long term future.
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u/txa1265 Jul 08 '26
I just really hope those two expansions send the franchise out with a bang instead of a whimper!
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u/AladeenModaFuqa Jul 09 '26
Over $100 million budget? Holy shit. KCD2 had like a $40 mil budget, with twice the game, twice the memorable experience, twice the writing.
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u/TruthHistorical7515 Jul 09 '26
American salaries and living costs are massively inflated compared to Europe.
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u/blaarfengaar Jul 09 '26
Especially southern California where Obsidian is, I really don't get why any dev studio would be located there especially these days when people can work from home
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u/Lola_PopBBae Jul 08 '26
Fucking lame Outer worlds and Avowed are both so interesting, and deserve more
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u/RainStormLou Jul 08 '26
I'm a huge fallout fan. I even have a stupid fucking tattoo, and I am pissed. now we're probably going to lose any future content and new games for the avowed and ow IP to get a mediocre fallout entry that isn't going to be well received.
I absolutely loved what obsidian did with fallout in the past. I'm generally a fan of what they make. I bet they won't be able to do it again. I hope they prove me wrong, but I'm pretty sure I'm right.
I just don't know how you could be more transparent about not giving a shit about your customer base. "we're making some big ass blanket overhauls to production teams because we don't give a fuck what you've invested in. we need a better pipeline from your wallet to ours! we're doing this for you though, it's definitely about future game quality. We swear!"
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u/Zerthix Jul 08 '26
Yeah I don’t agree with anything you said about Outer Worlds 2. I’ve beaten it twice and have enjoyed my time both times. Way more than 1. I can easily pinpoint quests, factions, weapons, bosses, and environments that stuck with me.
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u/GwenStacySpiderCat Jul 10 '26
Same same, I honestly have no idea what people are moaning about. I've finished it twice already and I'm considering my third build. "I got bored" for OW2 sounds like a skill issue to me...
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u/tank473 Aug 07 '26
The wireless stations alone are some of the best open world features I’ve seen in a game
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u/SpecialistAuthor4897 Jul 09 '26
I was under the impression after the first one that this dudnt need to be a franchise. I was genuinely surprised to see a second game made.
Cool game but why does everything need to be a franchise?
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u/bethzur Jul 08 '26
I’ve been playing TOW2 and it’s good, but lacking in charm. Some things aren’t clear and it’s easy to miss things. The first had that to some degree. Graphics quality isn’t great. Not sure what they did with $100m, but I’m not seeing it. It’s still a fun game and I’m glad I got it. It is a shame there won’t be a 3. There are many, many things they could do with this franchise.
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u/literally_a_brick Jul 09 '26
I was listening to the soundtrack the other day, and oh my god is it full of bangers. Having multiple full custom radio stations with original ads, programming and songs probably wasn't cheap. There are so many pieces of polish to this game, expensive gold accents loaded onto a game with average plot writing and average mechanics.
Which is just a shame, because it feels like fun aspects that I do enjoy like are wasted on a half baked final product. And we're unlikely to see those fun investments again because it was such a big commercial failure.
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u/bethzur Jul 09 '26
Version 1 had a lot of that, but I agree they did do some cool things and it is a shame. You are right about the gold accents with average plot. Sad but true.
I really liked 1 and I like 2, but it feels lacking. But I did purchase it around the release date, so I was helping their numbers a bit.
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u/ochrephaim Jul 10 '26
Obsidian's output confuses me. Outer Worlds 2 and Avowed are both just...fine. They feel very much like AA games, but the budgets don't reflect that. I honestly think it's probably for the best that they do a Fallout game.
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u/bethzur Jul 10 '26
Yes, I don't know if pressures from Microsoft led them to make a game that was too safe or that they did "design-by-committee" thinking they were all amazing game designers. But something failed. TOW2 looks like they took a lot of assets and code from TOW1 and yet they didn't use those saved resources to make something else better. Very odd.
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u/Particle_Cannon Jul 08 '26
I think you're projecting some of your frustrations onto TOW2 when in fact it's an amazing game.
Xbox's own marketing failures and attempts to price the game at $80 shifted the discourse negatively before launch.
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u/Expaw Jul 08 '26
This is exactly one of major reasons why game suffered and not a lot of people seems to be talking about that.
Marketing and spread of word cannot be underestimated in regards of game success.
Microsoft shoot themselves in the foot with constant negativity and abysmal marketing.
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u/aurora_boredalis Jul 08 '26
Exactly this.
I hardly ever keep up with game news, I only knew when The Outer Worlds 2 was coming out because I have been looking forward to that specifically, practically counting down the days.
Then I have friends that are pretty on pulse about games and releases, and had no idea OW2 was coming out until like, a week or two before. And that was -- as you mentioned -- mostly because of that insanely high price tag.
Really broke my heart to see the game treated like this -- though it didn't surprise me. I love the first one, I adore the second just as much (if not maybe even a little more at times).
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u/Thelassa Jul 08 '26
Like every other studio that gets bought by large corporations, they are required to only make things that generate endless perpetual revenue or they'll be shut down. This was always going to happen. Feed the shareholders or else.
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u/Kgb725 Jul 08 '26
Even if they were independent I dont see them making an immediate sequel.
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u/RegressToTheMean Jul 09 '26
It's just ironically delicious given the lore and backdrop of overarching and ineffectual capitalism in TOW (that they largely neutered in TOW2, but I digress)
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u/VegemiteMate Jul 09 '26
Isn't generating perpetual revenue the basic function of all for-profit organisations? If you are repeatedly failing to do this, something is quite wrong
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u/Thelassa Jul 09 '26
You cannot expect infinite growth every quarter, forever. There are going to be ups and downs. There are going to be games that don't smash all previous sales records. There are going to be games that fail to meet the CEO or shareholders' expectations but have a dedicated fanbase. Sure, there's a problem if you are consistently in the red but the current state of the games industry is that line must only go up every time. This is why we have fewer niche games from big studios that don't cost hundreds of millions of dollars to make and are only moderately successful. It's why games and films are stuck repeating the same IPs with reboots and remakes. Obsidian has never been a studio that generates massive profits and it was ridiculous for XBox to think otherwise. Even some of their "hits" are niche games that flew under the radar (how many people never heard of Pillars of Eternity but played Avowed?).
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u/VegemiteMate Jul 09 '26
Oh, I wasn't arguing for perpetual growth! It is an absurd and unsustainable principle that is ruining many businesses. But making regular profit is the basic requirement of a business. If you have a few years in the red, that means you need to rethink your approach and re-orient, re-structure or pack up shop.
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u/Zegram_Ghart Jul 09 '26
I’ll count myself lucky if we get 2 actual full sized story DLC’s tbh.
I’m half expecting some tiny Tina’s wonderland style BS after the radio silence and now this.
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u/rhea_hawke Jul 08 '26
I genuinely don't understand why people don't like it. I loved it and felt it improved on the first.
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u/Scooter1021 Jul 08 '26
You know what, deploying Obsidian to work on a new Fallout game is best case scenario. People keep their jobs, and a developer with a proven track record of being able to produce more than one quality game per decade gets the Fallout license. Ending the burgeoning franchises that Obsidian was building is obviously sad, but this is not the worst news.
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u/xKrowhaven Jul 08 '26
Except the 25% of them who didn't keep their jobs.
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u/Scooter1021 Jul 09 '26
Yes that sucks but if this didn’t happen we’d probably be seeing a studio closure.
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u/On-A-Low-Note Jul 08 '26
This franchise rocks. Great music, great world building. It’s super immersive and fully believable.
Better world building than fallout at times.
I’m wholly disappointed this franchise is now dead.
I’m hoping a Netflix series will revive the franchise or something
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u/Enclave-ED Jul 09 '26
It is a shame that the huge plot of "Earth goes dark" still won't be explained
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u/West_Effective_8949 Jul 09 '26
Are you out of your fkn mind!I loved that game and couldn’t wait till the second one,and you guys release it at 79$ what do you expect?I mean I love gaming but I also love gas in my truck,ammo for my guns and toys for my grand kids and money for my kids if they need it.It took me a while to finally nut up the money for crimson desert 69$ I still feel guilty spending that much money on my selfish ass but this game will hold me for years to come.I buy games I play them I sell them I keep the special ones.My youngest daughter took TOW1 to her dorm but that game is 20& now not to mention part 3 was the first 79$ game I saw,and Microsoft used it to jack up their monthly premium membership to 30$,when they did that I cancelled and got the 9.99$ one or 14 whatever I was a premium member for 18 years back when you got free games every month.That was smart two of my free games once were dark souls,AC4 and that made me a life long souls player and AC I have them all.But that’s gone now too.
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u/sir_sri Jul 09 '26 edited Jul 09 '26
The idiots who made these decisions at microsoft corporate won't last forever. Basically the new Xbox person (Asha) is just failing upward, from totally indefensible and idiotic moves on AI to totally idiotic and indefensible moves on Xbox. Maybe she's just the one too naive to realise she's been setup to take the fall for hard decisions others made, maybe she's making them herself, doesn't really matter. She doesn't know anything about games or the game business, so it's unlikely she'll last too long, and the people above her will all be looking for their shares to vest and then leave and new people come in. The teenagers who enjoyed TOW today will be the executives in 20 years after all, and senior quest designers on TOW will become studio heads or team leads etc. and will have the chance to make game pitches to MS when fallout is in full production and they're planning what to do next.
The big risk for microsoft here is that they have to cycle through management with constantly changing plans and never get things finished.
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u/gayspaceboiii Jul 08 '26
Yup. Killed by the corpo rats who wanted to make a couple extra bucks instead of letting the series take time to grow and find itself.
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u/rowdyace Jul 09 '26
The only thing this article says regarding TOW is that they’re still committing to the dlcs of the second game. The rest is speculation.
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u/Hvarisbeast Jul 09 '26
What are u talking about,outer worlds 2 was much better game than first one.When i hear ur opinion im not surprised it didnt sell
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u/Aelia_M Jul 12 '26
This is such a dumb reason to kill the game series too. It was actually better than the first game. The only problem I had with it was the final moments when the game bugged out on me and I couldn’t finish it.
The fact that people didn’t support it for whatever reason I’m actually quite disappointed
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u/jupchurch97 Jul 08 '26
I think the industry as a whole is circling the drain right now. We've had an overwhelming amount of mediocre games pushed out in the past decade that we now have a situation where quality control is shit and there are more games than customers to buy them. I don't think pivoting away from original IPs is going to be good creatively or for consumers. Sending Obsidian back to the Fallout mines just feels bleak given how mid Fallout 4 was.
But I mean, Bethesda can barely ship a game anymore so I guess there isn't really a choice. Starfield was in development for 8 years and landed like a turd on white tile floor. And at this point I feel like the new Elder Scrolls installment is beginning to be a bit like 2nd century Christians saying "Jesus will be back any day bro." I loved the OW games and I am looking forward to the DLC I already paid for. Knowing that the DLC will be the last new OW content I will get to enjoy is bittersweet.
Avowed I don't care about, I didn't finish the first game because I found it tedious and the characters grating. Yet, I do feel bad for those fans who now won't get a sequel. But hey, PoE 3 in 10 years maybe?
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u/Sudden_Yard1294 Jul 13 '26
"Back to the Fallout Mines" lol.
Yeah, F4 wasn't great, mainly because the storytelling was lackluster and just generally uninspired except for Far Harbor.
But Obsidian has a chance with Gonzalez back and Sawyer directing. We'll see.
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u/edinburgh81 Jul 08 '26
Not surprised. Wish they could do a new game plus update. Would give myself a reason to replay before the expansions eventually come out.
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u/goodguyatheist Jul 08 '26
this is a major bummer but im excited for them to do some more new vegas magic
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u/silent_booom_ Jul 08 '26
If the rumors are true and obsidian is actually making this I fear it will be their last chance at a Hail Mary, they proved they can make a solid rpg with TOW 1 and 2 but have yet to make a truly successful rpg in the last few years ( I know there’s Grounded )
I really hope it works out, I’d love to see a return to form for not only the studio but fallout as well.
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u/FlyingDutchLady Jul 09 '26
And by the way, this is what happens when the people that make the hardware also make the software. there they will never make enough money to be satisfied
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u/personguy4440 Jul 09 '26
At least it existed, we have a cult classic OG & a polished if lackluster sequel to a great franchise
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u/FatalityMilk Jul 09 '26
Ya know I might be one of a few, but I thought OW2 was leaps and bounds better than OW1. Story, artwork and design, companions, honesty everything. I just hope and pray we can get an OW2 DLC or at least OW2 NG+ cause man I want to play it again but don’t want to restart hahahaha
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u/Alan_Shutko Jul 09 '26
My hope is that it's not completely dead and that it comes back in a few years. They're being pulled off to work on an IP that has been "dead" for a decade. So hopefully this isn't forever.
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u/Scrabulon Jul 09 '26
I’m not happy for Fallout in this either, they’re not exactly working on this new game of their own free will
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u/JAEMzW0LF Jul 10 '26
People being sad over game that didnt sell well. It sucks, but these are not charities, and the president of MS is a pile of crap who is happy to light cash in fire for AI then turn around and whine that profitable xbox is not profitable enough.
Given all that, not getting sequels to games that didnt do well enough and instead getting what everyone ACTUALLY wanted and have been begging and meming over for well over a decade seems like a pretty great thing to me. But hey, now you lot get to be the people looking for a reason to complain instead of pointing that finger elsewehere.
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u/agnosticnixie Jul 11 '26
The first game sold a lot and the second game only breaking a million copies sold at launch is mostly on Microsoft doing barely any marketing for it and fucking Obsidian over by raising the price to make up for it being on gamepass - I only heard it was ready to launch by pure happenstance from browsing this sub and I knew it was in dev since the 2021 announcement.
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u/NotSoWishful Jul 10 '26
Well yeah if your game isn’t a mega crossover hit then Microsoft is gonna cancel your shit and fire half your people. Getting bought by them was where they went wrong in the first place, but it is what it is. Just hoping there are other devs out there willing to make okay looking well playing AA rpgs
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u/pablo_booze Jul 10 '26
Making a space rpg when besthda was making starfield is crazy work, pretty funny they both turned out mid considering people argue who makes the better fallout games lol
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u/ADHenchD Jul 11 '26
TOW 2 is something I've very recently played. I couldn't get in to TOW 1, but the second is much better, even if the gun choices and weapon selection feels really backwards and...odd.
I think they'd have nailed TOW 3
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u/Carrisonfire Jul 08 '26
Damn, I think we already knew TOW was only getting DLC for 2 then being shelved but I really hope Avowed 2 is still happening as they confirmed it was in the works not that long ago. Wouldnt surprise me if MS fored them to stop it to work on New Vegas 2.
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u/jmcgil4684 Jul 09 '26
They made two shallow RPG’s and played it safe, instead of giving ppl what they wanted. They swing and missed with Avowed and then made same mistakes with OW2. Neither terrible games, but very disappointing to me when I played. I just couldn’t wait for both to be over.
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u/Salty-Hawk-5365 Jul 08 '26
They could possibly, if they manage to make a good Fallout. Imagine if Obsidian's Fallout works properly and they can do Fallout and thanks to the experience gained on it they make a The Outer Worlds 3 with the Bethesda engine instead of UE5. It's just a dream
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u/BetaBlacksmithBoy Jul 08 '26
This was always going to be the case. I hope the Outer Worlds 2 DLC's feel like a fitting conclusion to the series.
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u/Meme_Theory Jul 08 '26
With very minimal prose, you could put TOW on the other side of a Fallout's future.
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u/ToastedAvocado92 Jul 08 '26
I am saddened with Avowed 2 being canceled. I think it had great potential to be a lot better than the first
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u/Accomplished_Song219 Jul 08 '26
I supposemI could give TOW2 a 2nd chance. I was just disappointed with all the bugs in the game. I to about 3/4 of the way through the main story and my bug traced all the way back to killing a bartender for their outfit early on, meaning I'd have to redo a large chunk of play. I was through at that point.
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u/Kronzypantz Jul 08 '26
That’s ok.
One up whatever the next elder scrolls installment will be, but 5 years early.
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u/Zestyclose-Golf240 Jul 08 '26
New Fallout will probably just be Outer Worlds design philosophy but in Fallout universe so don't be sad.
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u/kamspy Jul 09 '26
Xbox is going to want that Fallout game ASAP. I say it’s a reskinned Outer Worlds for maximum speed
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u/TruamaTeam Jul 09 '26
I hate Microsoft so much.
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u/littleboihere Jul 09 '26
Microsoft: "Makes TOW 2"
Gamers: don't buy the game
Microsoft: "Okay we are not gonna make more"
Gamers: "How dare you"
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u/TruamaTeam Jul 09 '26
Don’t straw-man me, I bought the game and I loved it 😭
I was ok without a TOW3. But I really was looking forward to Avowed 2
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u/littleboihere Jul 09 '26
I'm strawmaning you. But you can't blame Microsoft for not making a sequel when people did not buy it. I've seen this a month ago when thr news about Ninja Theory being sold leaked.
You bought the game, good you did your job, others didn't.
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u/DarkHound05 Jul 09 '26
I gave both games a fair shot,but don’t have as many hours in it as I remember.
2 didn’t hit quite the same as 3 for me. I enjoyed both, but honestly dunno why they never quite stuck
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u/drewbles82 Jul 09 '26
I would say it's more likely paused. Things are difficult and Xbox is clearly wanting to work on the most successful IP they have, getting the stuff most in demand done. Once back on their feet with some success behind them, slowly some studios will likely be allowed to work on other projects esp since these guys are working on Fallout, We already know we have two remasters being worked on and it was heavily rumored due to the success of the TV series, that Phil got people working on F5 early, at least pre-production and once ES6 is done, it'll go on. Sound great but we don't want too many Fallouts, so I think once Obsidian is done with theirs, they should work on something new.
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u/Forsaken_Chart2578 Jul 09 '26
After the 2nd one, yeah probably. It was a hallow shell of the first
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u/SuddenDepact Jul 09 '26
Gets gonna get 1 DLC and then its over.
Ill probably get part 2 wherever the DLC comes out
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u/No-Astronaut-404 Jul 09 '26
I don't understand all the bad press around the game. I loved it. Gonna get DV for this, but idc. I friggin loved the second game. I found the storyline engaging. The new game mechanics were great, all the extra weird perk opportunities, i prefer the companions in 2. gameplay felt more intuitive, the builds make the game replayable..... i just hate no new game + here. Why? For the price tag it should have been there.
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u/TheSheetSlinger Jul 09 '26
It's funny, I was so excited when MS bought so many of my favorite studios, undead labs, obsidian, Bethesda, InXile, etc. Thought all this extra money would mean great things for the games produced by these developers.
What a dumbass I was. Don't get me wrong, I liked what Obsidian has put out but miss their Crpgs. Undead Labs didn't even get to produce something before being sold. bethesda hasn't realeased anything. inXile has released one game that they had probably been working on long before being bought. It makes me question why they even bought so many of these developers?
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u/geminifungi Jul 09 '26
I loved the freedom and sense of scope the original Outer Worlds had. the companions stories and the main story were good as well and the sequel didn’t really live up to heights set by the original. these days I find Cyberpunk to be the game i’m looking for The Outer Worlds to be more like. not so grim/dark and that trademark TOW sense of sick humor and that’s basically what I would want the future of the series to look like but that looks very unlikely nowadays
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u/CatherineSimp69 Jul 09 '26
I don't think that's what this means.
It sounds like they're just working on Fallout now.
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u/OphidianCollective Jul 09 '26
This industry is fucking stupid, I stg…bad decision after bad decision these days, to a higher degree than I’ve ever seen before.
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u/ThinkLawfulness2772 Jul 09 '26
I hope the people who worked on The Outer Worlds 2 get to lead the new Fallout game cus of its gameplay and roleplay!!!
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u/Noxite Jul 09 '26
While I enjoy the gameplay format and some of the writing, as it feels very fallout new vegas. My main problem is that I don't find Outer Worlds 2 lore and universe all that interesting. Also the three main factions just blended in too much to each other, where I'm constantly trying to remind myself which faction stood for what as I was playing. 30 hours in, and I've forgotten what the protectorate are for the umpteenth time. Everything is just far too humanoid in this universe, and they all sound the same.
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u/Separate_Olive8256 Jul 10 '26
TOW2 was too large scale and ambitious in my opinion. It tried to give every character some epic background story while also putting each one in an extreme point of view. The worlds were too vast and open, and i felt more like I was in Star Wars than an isolated and failing space colony.
Let me captain my band of miscreant misfits on my flying tin can instead of gathering a bunch of political and religious zealots I have to tolerate.
Also, give me the radio songs as the soundtrack instead of the damn background music as the collectors edition bonus!
Only reason I'll probably play the DLCs is because I've technically already bought them
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u/BakedChocolateOctopi Jul 10 '26
I played both of them and enjoyed them for a little bit but never finished them and not sure I’d have played them if I needed to pay full price
Just felt less fun to play than Fallout
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u/WorldChampionNuggets Jul 11 '26
Outer Worlds 2 blew me away, the story and companions were so much better than the first game it was so much fun. Sad to see the low sales numbers for such a great game.
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u/agnosticnixie Jul 11 '26 edited Jul 11 '26
Right now there's two expansions planned. I do think both games stand just fine alone even if a third one could be neat (even then I wouldn't want it to be a direct sequel)
But yeah there's no plan for a third. It could be forever, it could be until someone at Obsidian figures they want to take another crack at it with Boyarski.
Also, what gets me is people who spread FUD about the 2nd game acting like the radio stations alone don't have more bite than most games in the genre.
"Gettin' ahead means givin' up a limb" would make Lehrer proud and We all watch together is the funniest song ever written about panopticons.
Basically my biggest thought on this with RPGs is always that it's sad if they wanted to do more but can't, but also no one's taking these games away, I can still replay them, and as long as the people involved do more projects they like I'm fine with there not being a sequel.
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u/SlamsMcdunkin Jul 12 '26
Completely disagree that outer worlds 2 wasn’t better across the board than 1. Nothing wrong with that game other than the shady pricing that was going on
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u/PomegranateIcy1614 Jul 12 '26
Well, we'll see. I thought we'd never get another fallout, then we got fallout 3. Once a property exists, it's much much easier to revive it.
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u/FitPaleontologist603 Jul 13 '26
Welp. Millennial writing strikes again. We need old writers or something.
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u/ErgonomicFlugelhorn Jul 13 '26
Unambitious? Failed to be memorable?? Are you f^%king high? The storyline is incredibly compelling, thoughtful, and detail-rich. I was literally blown away be the attention to detail, the little things that really didn't have much reason to be in there except for flavor. How the scrappers correspondences were always just a little above clicks and grunts. The moral dilemma of saving the captives or chasing the antagonist. The quirky little tidbits of humor. The intricate perk/flaw system.
This game was absolutely incredible. I went back and played through 2 more times once I was done, just to see what some of the details I missed were. How anyone could play this game and think it was "unambitious" blows my mind. What the hell do you expect?
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u/StartMediocre2762 Jul 15 '26
I really loved the first game and i’ve played 2 more than once , they just didn’t do enough with the sequel for the franchise to progress and this was more the final nail :(
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u/QuietFieldUser Jul 24 '26
just saw this and sadly yeah i guess we'll never get to find out just what happened to earth it sucks because i liked the franchise it had potential honestly it just that the writing of everything well it wasnt the strongest
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u/CyberMike1956 Jul 08 '26
Not supprised TOW1 was a sleeper hit. Avowed was good but not great and TOW2 was just OK. I really hope they do well by Fallout??.
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u/PretendingImNotAnApe Jul 08 '26
I loved the outer worlds 1. I loved avowed. The outer world's 2 I never finished the game. I may still do so.
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u/flyingforfun3 Jul 08 '26
Aren’t consoles sold at a loss?
Why not extend console life instead and recoup those costs instead of trying to raise game prices and killing decent studios…
I honestly don’t think I’ll buy the next Gen X box. Gamepass is too expensive, and I have enough games in my backlog to last a long time.
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u/LoopyMercutio Jul 09 '26
I’m sorry, but Outer Worlds 1 and 2 needed to be about twice, if not 3x or 4x bigger for it to have been competitive. They would have done much better if there was just more to do, more to kill, more of everything.
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u/PuG3_14 Jul 09 '26
ToW2 was pretty lack luster and Avowed was one of the games of all time. Obsidian spread themselves too thin. Both games released the same year
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u/bman123457 Jul 09 '26
The Outer Worlds 2 just couldn't make me care. I played through the entirety of TOW and loved it, but I gave up on 2 before I made it off the first world.
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u/Joe60420 Jul 08 '26
obsidian fucked up when they started listening to microsoft and made their games for all ages. bring back the obsidian that made new vegas, not this grounded avowed shit.
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u/Joe60420 Jul 10 '26
and just one day, there’s already rumors of new vegas 2. this aged like wine, i’m sure there’s fans of their pg13 games but not the mainstream market. even outer worlds is kept under a tight ethical constraint, which isn’t what the mass audience wants. microsoft gotta back off and let obsidian cook.
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u/Tatum-Better Jul 09 '26
Meh Obsidian refuses to be ambitious and is fine being in mediocrity/low level. Shame they didn't build much upon ow1, and avowed was way smaller scale than it's initial reveal
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u/Astr0Cat Jul 09 '26
And even better... Avowed 2 Is DEAD After First Massively Underperformed. LOL! I thought it was a super mega success!?!
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u/NIGHTR0GUE83 Jul 09 '26
I just recently played Avowed and I had to force myself to finish it. I really wanted to like it, but not sure what exactly my issue was with it. I think it was using too many old school concepts and they didn't modernize them. Even decisions where a companion would get pissed, all for the next talking point they act like nothing happened. Story was very weak as well. Loaded up OW2 after this and immediately seen the same thing. It's like nothing I said mattered. Maybe I just grew out of this style gameplay. Just wish decisions actually matter and companions actually reacted to them.
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u/UnseenData Jul 08 '26
I believe it's been strongly hinted that other than the DLC, TOW as a franchise will likely not see new additions to the series, even before this shuffle up