Obsidian Entertainment — the studio that gave us Fallout: New Vegas, one of the most beloved RPGs ever made — is reportedly returning to the Fallout universe. According to reporting by Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, a new game in Bethesda’s post-apocalyptic franchise is now in development at Obsidian, with studio design director Josh Sawyer leading the project. The bad news for fans of the studio’s last title: the Avowed sequel is dead.
Josh Sawyer Is Leading a New Fallout Title at Obsidian
The new project is in early development and led by Sawyer, who was previously directing a separate role-playing game described by Bloomberg’s sources as structurally and thematically similar to Fallout — but outside the franchise entirely. That original game has now been shelved in favour of an actual Fallout title. No platforms, release window, or title has been publicly confirmed. Obsidian and Xbox have not issued an official statement.
For Singapore’s PC and Xbox gaming community, this is the kind of news worth sitting with. Sawyer directed Fallout: New Vegas — the only Fallout game not made by Bethesda itself, and still widely considered the high-water mark for the series’ storytelling, moral depth, and faction-driven design. Many Singapore and Southeast Asian RPG fans grew up with New Vegas as a formative game. The prospect of Sawyer returning to Fallout, with a full mandate from Microsoft and the full weight of Obsidian behind him, is the most exciting RPG development announcement in years — even if the game is years away.
Avowed 2 Was Killed Before It Could Be Announced
The Avowed sequel was well into development and on track to be publicly announced within the coming year, according to sources who spoke to Bloomberg. The cancellation did not come from technical or creative failure — by all accounts it was going well. It came from a strategic decision by Xbox CEO Asha Sharma, who is reorienting Microsoft’s gaming investments around fewer, higher-profile bets following the company’s wider restructuring announced earlier this month.
An Avowed sequel — solid and well-received, but not a blockbuster seller — apparently did not clear that bar. Bloomberg reports that some Obsidian employees who worked on the sequel will remain attached to it in a holding capacity while the Fallout project ramps up, in the hope of one day reviving it. Whether that happens depends entirely on how Microsoft’s broader gaming recovery shapes up over the next few years.
52 Obsidian Staff Let Go in Latest Xbox Cuts
A WARN notice filed in California — received and reported by Jason Schreier’s Game File newsletter — confirms 52 employees were let go from Obsidian’s Irvine studio, roughly a quarter of its total headcount. These cuts are the most concentrated to hit any single Xbox studio in the current round of layoffs and represent a meaningful loss of institutional knowledge and development capacity, even as the studio pivots to an ambitious new direction.
What’s Still in the Pipeline at Obsidian
Obsidian is not shutting down or retreating. The studio will continue producing DLC for The Outer Worlds 2 and is actively developing Grounded 2, the sequel to its popular co-op survival game. The new Fallout project is the centrepiece, but Obsidian remains a multi-project studio — a leaner one now, but still operating across multiple titles.
For Singapore players who played Avowed via Xbox Game Pass or picked it up on Steam, nothing about the original game changes. The sequel cancellation does not affect the base game or any existing content. As for the new Fallout title: there is no SEA release window yet, and given the project appears to be in early stages, realistically we are looking at several years. But if Obsidian’s track record in this franchise is anything to go by, it will be worth the wait. Watch this one. Check back at Game Industry News for any further updates.