Microsoft Studios Acquire Obsidian Entertainment and inXile Entertainment

Ben Walker November 10, 2018 5:49 PM EST

Microsoft have announced today at X018 that they have acquired Fallout: New Vegas developer Obsidian Entertainment and inXile Entertainment.

Microsoft Studios has acquired Obsidian Entertainment. A video game development studio best known for their work on RPGs like Fallout: New Vegas, South Park: The Stick of Truth, and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II. The announcement was made today at Microsoft’s Inside Xbox X018 press conference which was broadcasted live from Mexico City.

In addition to Obsidian, inXile Entertainment was also added to Microsoft’s portfolio of developers during today’s announcements. inXile is known for their work on games such as Wasteland and The Bard’s Tale.

Obsidian and inXile are the 6th and 7th development studios to have been acquired by Microsoft this year. At E3 2018 the company announced that takeovers of Ninja Theory, Compulsion Games, Undead Labs, Playground Games and The Initiative were underway. The most notable acquisition was Ninja Theory, who developed Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice and DMC: Devil May Cry before being acquired.

With today’s news of acquiring Obsidian Entertainment and inXile Entertainment, Microsoft now has two well known role playing game developers in its bag of tricks. We’ll have to see what how that all shakes out (and probably won’t see if this gamble pays off for a couple of years). However, Microsoft did hint at what the future may hold for both developers on the official Xbox Press site.

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.

This makes the amount of studios under the Microsoft Studios umbrella a total of 13 video game development companies, and confirmation that both Obsidian and inXile are working on “new RPG projects” for Microsoft this is huge news, especially since the Xbox is a bit lacking in that genre (when it comes to exclusive titles) at the present time.

“The reason this is great for the fans is that now my team and I have the opportunity to improve our production quality in ways that we’ve never had the chance to before. Of course, we’re gonna continue doing role-playing games.” said inXile CEO Brian Fargo in a video statement shortly after the announcement.

Check out a pair of video announcements (about the acquisition) from both inXile Entertainment and Obsidian Entertainment below.