Obsidian Entertainment

Obsidian Entertainment is a developer and publisher.

Obsidian Entertainment Webpage, Facebook

Obsidian Entertainment is an American development studio founded in 2003 by former members of Black Isle Studios. The company’s main office is in Irvine, California - the same site where its predecessor functioned for seven years. Feargus Urquhart, one of the co-founders of Obsidian Entertainment, serves as the company’s president. He is a Scottish native who started his career at Interplay Entertainment.

During its early years, Obsidian Entertainment gained recognition as a studio specializing in sequels, with its RPG expertise serving as a seal of quality for publishers. From 2003 to 2011, the studio worked on major franchises including Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Neverwinter Nights, Fallout, and Dungeon Siege. Eventually, Obsidian Entertainment began focusing on its own projects, including: Alpha Protocol: An Espionage RPG, South Park: The Stick of Truth, the Pillars of Eternity series, and Tyranny. Apart from the 2015 battle MMO Armored Warfare, the studio has focused almost entirely on RPGs. Obsidian Entertainment team members have also shared their experience with other studios, including inXile Entertainment and Allods Team.

The History of Obsidian Entertainment

The Legacy of BioWare and Black Isle Studios

Obsidian Entertainment was established in 2003 by Feargus Urquhart, Chris Avellone, Chris Parker, Darren Monahan, and Chris Jones, who had formed the core team of Black Isle Studios before its closure by Interplay Entertainment that same year. Key titles from the studio include Planescape: Torment, the Icewind Dale series, and the original Fallout games. The studio also collaborated with BioWare on the development of Baldur’s Gate and the original Neverwinter Nights. Due to financial difficulties, Interplay lost its license to produce Dungeons & Dragons games, which ultimately led to the closure of one of its most productive studios. Early name ideas for the new studio included Scorched Earth and Three Clown Software, but the founders ultimately settled on Obsidian Entertainment, because it was the name most closely associated with Black Isle Studios.

During the startup period, the founders - Parker, Urquhart, and Monahan - invested between $100,000 and $120,000 of their own funds, yet outside financial assistance from a major publisher was crucial for the studio’s official debut. The studio’s initial negotiations with Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, and Take-Two Interactive did not result in any agreements. In late 2003, LucasArts CEO Simon Jeffrey reached out to the studio with a proposal to collaborate on an action RPG set in the Star Wars universe. The team originally proposed a first-person action game emphasizing lightsaber duels, but the idea was rejected. In the end, Obsidian Entertainment developed the sequel to Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, benefiting from its earlier partnership with BioWare and familiarity with the game’s engine. Although the team had limited time - just 15 months - to produce the game, and the result showed some rough edges, Obsidian Entertainment’s debut still impressed both players and critics.

Following the launch of its first game, Obsidian Entertainment grew to nearly 30 employees, bringing in veterans from Black Isle Studios and other companies such as Blizzard Entertainment, Electronic Arts, Taldren, Totally Games, Treyarch, and Troika Games. Midway through 2005, the studio received an offer from Atari, which had secured the Dungeons & Dragons license from Interplay, to develop a follow-up to Neverwinter Nights. This time, the studio had the opportunity to perfect the game, while its team expanded once more to about 50 people. The success of 2006’s Neverwinter Nights 2 led Obsidian Entertainment to expand the game with two major add-ons: Mask of the Betrayer and Storm of Zehir. Meanwhile, the firm Disney Interactive commissioned the studio to create a third-person action game that would serve as a prequel to the fairy tale Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. After Disney Interactive’s management changed, the company revised its strategy, and the project - already in development under the working title Dwarves - was canceled.

The first original production and subsequent successful sequels

After launching Neverwinter Nights 2, Obsidian Entertainment was asked by Electronic Arts to develop a role-playing game that could compete with The Elder Scrolls series. Soon thereafter, Atari offered the studio the chance to bring back Baldur’s Gate, yet the project never began because of its huge budget. In the end, Obsidian Entertainment teamed up with SEGA to create the action RPG Aliens: Crucible, taking place within the world of the Alien film series. Even though the project was canceled, SEGA continued its partnership with the studio, resulting in the release of Obsidian Entertainment’s first original game, Alpha Protocol: The Espionage RPG, in 2010. Due to its mediocre reception, SEGA decided to discontinue support for the game soon after it launched. Ultimately, the two companies parted ways. In early 2010, the studio announced a collaboration with Red Eagle Games to create a game inspired by Robert Jordan’s renowned fantasy series The Wheel of Time. The partnership was ultimately terminated after it became clear the studio could not raise the needed funds.

While developing Alpha Protocol, Obsidian Entertainment was approached by Bethesda Softworks to create a Fallout spin-off based on Fallout 3 (2008). This decision, influenced by the team’s prior experience at Black Isle Studios on the original installments, turned out to be a success, with Fallout: New Vegas receiving exceptionally positive reviews, in many cases exceeding those of Fallout 3. During 2010–2011, the studio developed four major expansion packs for the game. In the meantime, however, at Square Enix's request, the studio began developing another sequel - Dungeon Siege III, released in 2011 and powered by the company's own Onyx Engine. As the first in the series to launch on consoles, the game simplified some of its classic mechanics, drawing criticism from hardcore fans. Nevertheless, in the same year, Obsidian developed and released an official expansion for the game, Treasures of the Sun.

In 2011, Obsidian Entertainment and Microsoft Studios started developing Stormlands, a third-person open-world action RPG meant to debut with Microsoft's upcoming console. Unfortunately, it was canceled a year later, causing short-term financial troubles and forcing the studio to lay off over twenty employees. Another Obsidian project, an RPG based on the cult animated series South Park, nearly shared the same outcome. It had been in development since 2009 in collaboration with South Park Digital Studios and the show's creators: Trey Parker and Matt Stone. The project began under Viacom but was later handed over to THQ. However, following THQ's bankruptcy, its future became uncertain. Fortunately, it was acquired by Ubisoft, and South Park: The Stick of Truth, released in 2014, proved to be a major commercial success. In the same year, inXile Entertainment launched Wasteland 2, a well-received game developed in part by Obsidian staff.

Breaking away from the sequel creator label

Over the years, Obsidian Entertainment has built a reputation as the go-to studio for developing sequels. It's only natural that the American developer would eventually aim to impress with a brand-new, original IP. At the same time, seeking freedom from the often conflicting demands of publishers, the studio chose a rapidly growing form of financing - crowdfunding through Kickstarter. The campaign was a major success, and so was Pillars of Eternity (first announced as Project Eternity), released in March 2015 - a clear nod to the traditional RPGs of Black Isle Studios. Released by Paradox Interactive, the game had two major DLCs and a full sequel after three years. Obsidian also partnered with Zero Radius Games to develop a board game titled Pillars of Eternity: Lords of the Eastern Reach.

Chris Avellone, one of Obsidian Entertainment's founding members, left the company in June 2015. Just two months later, Obsidian, alongside inXile Entertainment and Double Fine Productions, co-founded the crowdfunding platform Fig - a major funding source for the studio's later projects. In 2015, Obsidian expanded into the MMO space, supporting Allods Team in developing the MMORPG Skyforge and releasing its own title, Armored Warfare - the studio's first non-RPG project. Obsidian also made its mobile debut a year later, creating Pathfinder Adventures, based on the pen-and-paper Pathfinder Adventure Card Game. In the same year, the studio went back to its roots with the release of the classic RPG Tyranny. The new IP didn't top its predecessor in fame, but it got positive feedback and did well commercially.

In December 2017, Take-Two Interactive unveiled Private Division, a brand intended to help independent studios publish their work. One of the studios involved was Obsidian Entertainment, working on a then-unannounced RPG under the supervision of Tim Cain and Leonard Boyarsky, who created the original Fallout.

The last independent project and the transfer to Microsoft

In May 2018, Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire was released. Despite receiving positive reviews, the game failed to meet its expected commercial success. Facing serious financial difficulties, Obsidian Entertainment joined Microsoft in November 2018.

However, this did not affect the development of the game, which was created in collaboration with Private Division. In December of that year, at The Game Awards, the team announced The Outer Worlds - a first-person RPG widely seen by fans as a spiritual successor to the cult classic Fallout: New Vegas. The game came out on PC, PS4, and Xbox One on October 25th, 2019, and then hit Nintendo Switch in early 2020. Obsidian Entertainment's work received positive reviews, which helped drive strong sales. At November's X019 event, a new, slightly smaller project was announced: Grounded. This survival action game shrinks characters to the size of ants, tasking players with fighting for survival in a dangerous backyard in the American suburbs. The game was set to release on Xbox One and PC. On July 23rd, 2020, the developers announced that The Outer Worlds would receive its first major expansion, Peril on Gorgon. On the same day, the studio announced its next RPG, Avowed. The game was slated for PC and Xbox Series X, and while it was set in the universe of the Pillars of Eternity series, the action would be experienced from a first-person perspective. That element quickly made players think of The Elder Scrolls.

Meanwhile, on July 28th, 2020, Grounded entered Early Access. On August 1st, Obsidian Entertainment revealed that its small project had become a major success, attracting one million players within 48 hours of release. In March 2021, Obsidian announced The Outer Worlds: Murder on Eridanos, where players investigate the murder of Halcyon Helen, Rizzo Corporation's spokeswoman. The add-on emphasized detective-style gameplay, with players interviewing witnesses and collecting evidence. The DLC debuted on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on March 17th, 2021; like its predecessor, Murder on Eridanos was scheduled to arrive on Nintendo Switch at a later date. To the disappointment of many, Obsidian didn't reveal any new Avowed content at the Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase conference. Instead, Obsidian announced a new project: The Outer Worlds 2. They only had the title at the time, so no specifics were revealed. Similar to Avowed, The Outer Worlds 2 was intended for PC and Xbox Series X/S.

Before The Outer Worlds 2 and Avowed launched, another Obsidian Entertainment game came out. Although Pentiment, a medieval adventure game, was a much smaller project, it became one of the surprises of 2022. The game debuted on November 15th. The title garnered acclaim from both players and critics, with Steam reviews marked as "overwhelmingly positive" and Metacritic scores averaging 86–88/100 across platforms. Josh Sawyer, lead designer of Pentiment, stated shortly after release that the game wouldn't have been possible without Game Pass, which allowed the team to connect with a niche group of genre fans.

On September 27th, 2022, the full version of Grounded became available, after being in early access since July 2020. According to Steam, the game garnered "very positive" reviews from players, with industry ratings on Metacritic averaging 82-83/100 across platforms.

Over the following months, Obsidian Entertainment released several titles, including The Outer Worlds: Spacer's Choice Edition - a graphically enhanced and DLC-packed version of The Outer Worlds, developed with the Virtuos team and released in March 2023 - as well as Pentiment for PS4, PS5, and Nintendo Switch (February 2024) and Grounded for the same platforms (April 2024).

In early February 2025, John Gonzalez, lead writer of Fallout: New Vegas, rejoined the team and was named Creative Director. Shortly after, on February 18th, 2025, Avowed was released for PC and Xbox Series X/S. Obsidian Entertainment's work received "mostly positive" reviews on Steam and earned an average rating of 78-80/100 from industry media, depending on the platform. Although available on Game Pass since launch, the game attracted more than 19,000 concurrent players on Steam at its peak around release.