As reported by Windows Central, Obsidian CEO Feargus Urquhart revealed the extent of the studio’s enlargement because it was acquired by Microsoft in a latest interview with IGN. Since 2018, Obsidian has grown to almost 300 workers, which continues to be fairly lean within the triple-An area.
“When we got here on with XGS and Xbox , we had been about 170, 180 folks,” Urquhart informed IGN. “And by way of the course of the final 5 or 6 years, we have not solely grown the studio to about 285 folks, however we even have quite a lot of actually good co-dev companions with Heavy Iron and Beamdog.”
For comparability, this is how giant another main builders are:
- Bungie: 850
- CD Projekt Red: 615
- Larian: 470
- Bethesda Game Studios: 450+
- Insomniac: 450 (YouTube video cited by Wikipedia has since been eliminated)
- Naughty Dog: 400+
- Valve: 336
- Sony Santa Monica: 250
- BioWare: Fewer than 100 (down from over 200)
- ZA/UM: ~70
Looking at these numbers, I’d put Obsidian on the lighter finish of “midsize,” a welterweight studio. That’s one thing that makes its unimaginable productiveness in recent times all of the extra shocking. As recreation budgets enhance and five-plus-year growth cycles turn into the norm, Obsidian has launched three video games since 2020—Grounded, Pentiment, and now Avowed—with a fourth, The Outer Worlds 2, due by the top of the 12 months.
We’re not speaking Valve ranges of exerting extra trade affect than 10,000-person conglomerates like Ubisoft or EA, however Obsidian’s nonetheless a studio punching above its weight. Clearly, there’s one thing to be mentioned for the developer’s “100-year plan:” Assume every recreation will likely be a “delicate success” and never a gross sales record-breaker, and allocate time, cash, and workers accordingly. Obsidian’s video games do not push the envelope by way of graphics or simulation tech, however as an alternative impress by way of design, writing, and artwork course. In a latest Bloomberg interview, Avowed lead Carrie Patel quoted the workforce as consisting of 80 folks in 2021, or a few third of the studio.
The sober, restrained sense of scope Obsidian’s opted for in recent times stands in distinction with its wildly bold early video games like Knights of the Old Republic 2 or New Vegas, which tried to ship on visionary guarantees in plus or minus one-year growth cycles. They had been wonderful video games, however additionally they wound up screaming throughout the end line on hearth and with their wheels falling off, and the studio underwent layoffs with its doorways nearly closing for good within the early 2010s. Obsidian’s technique can also be an outlier within the video games trade proper now, with bigger groups requiring extra time and money to make video games that every must be a smash hit beneath menace of mass layoffs, whereas not essentially having the imaginative and prescient or promise to justify such investments within the first place. I really like luxurious triple-A extra as a lot as the subsequent man, however not all people goes to make Cyberpunk 2077 or Baldur’s Gate 3.
And Obsidian has confirmed that the video games ensuing from extra disciplined growth practices will not be an inferior product or a downgrade the place it counts. Pentiment and Avowed are amongst my favourite video games of latest years—sorry Grounded, not a survival man, however Fraser actually appreciated you—and I’ve actually loved them greater than many of the mega-budget fare on provide.
