The Survival of the Frugal: How Obsidian Entertainment is Trying to Find Its Identity

For 22 years, Obsidian Entertainment has managed to survive in the most challenging situations. Thanks to its diversified approach to development, today it occupies a unique position within Microsoft Gaming's structure. However, the studio is still searching for its identity, unable to create a truly massive hit in its core RPG genre.

Maximum productivity is not a guarantee of success

The outgoing year 2025 has been the most productive in Obsidian's history in terms of the number of releases. In less than 10 months, the studio launched three projects:

• Avowed — a fantasy role-playing adventure set in the Pillars of Eternity universe;
• Grounded 2 — the sequel to the successful cooperative survival simulator reminiscent of Disney's "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" series;
• The Outer Worlds 2 — a continuation of the sci-fi RPG, promoted as the spiritual successor to Fallout: New Vegas.

Nominally, the flagship titles should be the two major role-playing games, which have always been the studio's forte. However, neither title became a hit.

Released in February, Avowed did not show outstanding results. Analysts from VG Insights and Gamalytic estimate Steam sales at around 300,000 copies, generating revenue of $16–17 million. Game director Carrie Patel noted only that the studio is pleased with sales and the size of the audience.

The Outer Worlds 2, despite a warm reception from the press and players, is also hard to call a hit. In its first month, it earned about $11 million on Steam, with sales estimated at 170,000 copies. How it performed on Xbox remains unknown due to the absence of data from Microsoft. In any case, the game's results pale in comparison to the first installment, which exceeded Take-Two's expectations and eventually surpassed the 5 million copies sold mark. Whether the sequel will achieve comparable results remains an open question.