inXile entertainment

inXile entertainment is a developer and publisher.

inXile entertainment Webpage, Facebook

An American development studio, best known for continuing iconic series from the struggling Interplay Entertainment, such as The Bard’s Tale and Wasteland.

While inXile Entertainment is based in Newport Beach, California, it has also maintained a branch in New Orleans since 2015. For several years, another division of the studio, SparkWorkz, produced and hosted free browser games like Fantastic Contraption. However, SparkWorkz was shut down in 2015, and some of its games were moved to other platforms like Google Play.

At the end of 2018, inXile Entertainment was acquired by Microsoft, becoming part of the rapidly growing Xbox Game Studios.

The history of inXile Entertainment

Finding their own path

inXile Entertainment was founded in 2002 by Brian Fargo, the longtime CEO of Interplay Productions (later Interplay Entertainment) The studio’s debut game was The Bard’s Tale, released in 2004. In the following years, inXile focused mainly on making puzzle games for various platforms, especially Nintendo consoles and mobile devices. Their next game, an action-RPG hybrid called Hunted: The Demon’s Forge, came out in 2011. After releasing the arcade game Choplifter HD in 2012, inXile Entertainment shifted its focus to complex RPGs funded through crowdfunding.

The age of crowdfunding

In April 2012, inXile launched a Kickstarter campaign for Wasteland 2, a sequel to the 1988 classic. The crowdfunding campaign was a success, raising over $2.9 million - well above the initial $900,000 goal. The game was finally released in September 2014, and despite some issues, it was warmly received by players.

In March 2013, the studio returned to Kickstarter to fund Torment: Tides of Numenera, the spiritual successor to the iconic Planescape: Torment. The campaign was a huge success, raising $1 million in just seven hours and nearly $4.2 million overall. The game launched in February 2017, but it soon became clear that in many ways it didn’t live up to its legendary predecessor, and its sales were disappointing.

In June 2015, the team kicked off another crowdfunding campaign. This time it was The Bard’s Tale IV: Barrows Deep, with players contributing $1.5 million to support its development. The game launched on PC on September 18, 2018, receiving fairly positive reviews. A year later, the game came to consoles (PlayStation 4 and Xbox One) along with a comprehensive Director’s Cut update.

The last crowdfunded game from inXile Entertainment was Wasteland 3. The game was announced in late September 2016, and just a few days later, on October 5, a crowdfunding campaign kicked off. The project was funded in just three days. However, players had to wait a long time for the game’s release. The game launched on August 28, 2020, and received very positive reviews.

Meanwhile, inXile Entertainment was also working on several smaller projects. This included The Mage’s Tale, a first-person action RPG made for virtual reality headsets. The game launched on PC in June 2017, and a year and a half later it came to PlayStation 4. The studio also oversaw The Bard’s Tale Trilogy (a remastered collection of the first three games in The Bard's Tale series) and Wasteland Remastered (a remaster of the iconic Wasteland by Krome Studios), and released The Bard’s Tale: Remastered and Resnarkled, a remaster of their debut game. In 2020, the team was also planning to release a VR shooter called Frostpoint VR: Proving Grounds.

Acquisition by Microsoft

In November 2018, Microsoft announced it had acquired inXile Entertainment (along with Obsidian Entertainment). Just over a year later, studio representatives revealed that the two teams had been working exceptionally well together. Microsoft’s role was mostly to provide "a ton of cash" and tell the developers to "do whatever they wanted", just "better than before". In September 2020, Fargo revealed that after the launch of Wasteland 3, his team had begun work on two unannounced projects. One of the projects was still in the very early stages, so players hoping for details would have to be patient.