Microsoft Studios has announced the acquisition of Fallout: New Vegas studio Obsidian and Wasteland 2 creators inXile Entertainment, adding two more big names to their impressive roster of top game developers.
This is quite an impressive haul for Microsoft, with Obsidian boasting huge titles such as Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, South Park: The Stick of Truth and the Pillars of Eternity series.
Meanwhile, inXile is known for the likes of Fantastic Contraption, Torment: Tides of Numenera, Bard’s Tale IV and the upcoming Wasteland 3.
“As part of our commitment to bringing a steady stream of new, exclusive games to our fans, I’m excited to announce Microsoft’s intent to acquire two new game development studios – Obsidian Entertainment and inXile Entertainment,” Matt Booty, Microsoft Studios’ corporate vice president confirmed via Xbox Wire.
Obsidian and inXile have lots of history together. The studios are the results of a developer exodus which took place in 2003 and stem from the original Fallout makers Interplay Entertainment. They also have an agreement that makes it so tools and technologies are shared with each other; Obsidian even helped inXile with the making of Wasteland 2.
Microsoft has also announced that the houses will continue on as separate entities and will have the company’s support while they operate with full creative freedom.
“While they do share a common heritage, the two creative teams at Obsidian and inXile are very different,” Booty added. “They will continue to operate autonomously with their unique talents, IP and expertise. As part of Microsoft Studios, Obsidian and inXile will have the support and freedom to fully realize their creative ambitions on both existing franchises and new RPG projects.”
Microsoft already has 11 video game developers under their umbrella across the United States, Canada, and Europe. Those include Halo shepherd 343 Industries, Ninja Theory, who are the makers of Hellblade, Minecraft maker Mojang and We Happy Few developers Compulsion Games.
Back in June, they announced the purchases of five new companies, with State of Decay developer Undead Labs and Forza Horizon studio Playground Games among them.
Microsoft has faced a lot of criticism in the past for not having enough exclusive games on their platform, something which likely helped the PlayStation 4 gain lots of ground on the Xbox One. But it appears that they are preparing to get to the top rung ahead of Sony with their next console, which is due for release in 2020.
The company is even rumored to be working on two consoles, with one built for streaming. And, given their acquisition of that many notable developers, gamers are likely to expect a much wider variety of original content when the next piece of hardware hits the shelves.
