Obsidian Entertainment is in and amongst the headlines right now for its stellar work on Avowed, but it isn't stopping there. The Xbox studio plans to be around for 100 years or more, by sticking to what it knows and staying true to itself.
In a new talk at DICE 2025 (thanks, PC Gamer), Obsidian's VP of operations Marcus Morgan talked about this strategy, alongside why he's "serious" about the company lasting for a whole century. The gist of his message is that Obsidian plans to deliver games "not rushed, but often", and that the studio never gets ahead of itself in trying to build "super profitable" releases.
Morgan also touched on past success, and how the team has managed to consistently deliver throughout its 22-year history. Obsidian aims for its workforce to be "lean and invested", and in future it wants to have "the lowest turnover rate in the industry" - keeping its talent at the studio to build great games.
In a world where endless growth is constantly peddled as the only way forward, this sort of language is very refreshing to hear. The Xbox studio believes that "mild success" is enough, and that "not trying to grow aggressively, expand our team size, or make super profitable games" will keep it going for decades to come.
Are you as pleased as us to hear this sort of talk from Obsidian? Tell us what you think about it down below!
[source pcgamer.com]
Comments 15
Sounds good! Won't stop the misinformation the Devs of the "old" obsidian not being there anymore though.
That's a refreshing perspective. I respect it. Nothing wrong with releasing decent games semi-frequently that don't set the world on fire, but give fans something to look forward to every few years.
Endless growth and aggressive growth, along with absurd overspending, are literally the problems with the industry, but this is the only company I’ve ever heard that actually says so.
Amazing to hear someone with some sense!
As long as everyone is getting paid and there is a bit over for reinvestment then any extra is pure vanity and greed.
Cater to your audience, make the best games you can and everyone walks away happy.
Good, age old, sensible strategy.
Too many developers who have over extended in recent times are in all sorts of trouble recently.
Said it a thousand times. Obsidian are among Xbox's best studios. Their output is consistently very well paced and they're not afraid to try new things.
This is how to do business, not only in gaming but in general. Make some profits while also making your employees feel rewarded. Then they will not only want to stay, but additionally, they will work hard. Chasing growth only leads to hard cuts and embarrassment when a decline inevitably occurs. It's hard to bounce back from the hit that your reputation sustains after cutbacks and layoffs.
Chasing the mythical cash-cow, particularly with Live Service games, has been the undoing of many studios. It is far better to chase obtainable profits than overextend, fall short, and lay-off staff. Good for Obsidian and long live common sense. Not sure I'll be around in another 78 years plus to see if they achieve their goal of 100 years though...
Seems obvious when it's said out loud! Makes a lot of sense. They're making consistently profitable and well received games so just keep doing that.
Makes sense, and I am glad to hear it. However, we keep seeing that doing well is no guarantee of studio security under the bigger banner of EA, Ubi, Activision / Microsoft, etc.
I want to give Avowed a try, i think it’s a great looking world and some of the best graphics yet. I watched it on my 4k monitor and wow it looks really good. There’s a few things I’d like to see them patch and.i am sure they will. But it looks fun. I might dive in here soon!
Good to hear. Companies get too greedy and aggressive. They hire too many people and contractors, then let them go or fire them after games release.
Good to hear. Too many are concerned with growth and run into gestures at the current state of the industry
It was wild watching the companies who made a killing during the pandemic because you had the likes of Nintendo who recognised it was a weird blip, and stuff will go back to normal after and then you had the nutters like Netflix or Amazon who thought they could somehow keep that momentum going. "we did 'best ever' during the pandemic, this year we can do double 'best ever'"
So hard for studios to stick around but they deserve long tenure. Great writing, great graphics and fun games are all you can ask for. I'm looking forward to Avowed next week!
@abe_hikura Stadia, Luna, Netflix gaming. None of those companies inherently knew what it was to make games. Such a good comment there, Nintendo handled it pretty well imo too. They dropped the ball with Animal Crossing content but even their vanilla game was a freaking smash hit!
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