Microsoft Has Officially Acquired Inxile And Obsidian
Paolo Sirio
Microsoft has announced that Obsidian Entertainment and inXile Entertainment have entered its portfolio of studios working on Xbox One and Windows 10 games.
While Obsidian has been rumored for a while, inXile is a quite big surprise for the fans, since a second studio acquisition had been discussed but was pointing at Turtle Rock Studios instead.
Obsidian Entertainment was founded in 2003 in Irvine, Calif. by industry veterans from Black Isle Studios, led by Feargus Urquhart. The studio quickly made a name for itself with the Xbox exclusive Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords.
Over the last fifteen years, they have delivered genre-defining RPGs to players on both console and PC through titles including Fallout: New Vegas, South Park: The Stick of Truth, and Pillars of Eternity.
inXile Entertainment is a team of industry veterans with decades of PC and RPG expertise. Led by Interplay founder Brian Fargo, inXile’s two development teams in Newport Beach, Calif. and New Orleans excel at creating vast worlds for players to explore with titles such as Wasteland 2, Torment: Tides of Numenera, Bard’s Tale IV and the upcoming Wasteland 3.
“It was important for us to find studio partners who have strong creative visions, a mastery of their medium and are expert world-builders. Obsidian and inXile embody all of these qualities while also bringing expertise on the PC platform and a unique RPG focus to the table,” commented Microsoft Studios’ head Matt Booty.
“While they do share a common heritage, the two creative teams at Obsidian and inXile are very different. 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.”
These new entry join a family of 15 studios, a few months after E3 2018 where Playground Games, Undead Labs, The Initiative, Compulsion Games and Ninja Theory had been announced as part of MS Studios.
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