Obsidian might not be safe at Xbox after all (Updated)

If you thought the Xbox layoff drama couldn’t get messier, add Obsidian to the pile. A new report from The Game Business claims the Avowed studio is talking to Microsoft to avoid getting shut down.

According to the report, Obsidian isn’t alone here. Double Fine, Ninja Theory, Compulsion Games, and Undead Labs are all said to be in the same boat, trying to strike deals to survive. Even Arkane Studios is reportedly at risk, with its game Blade possibly getting axed.

Then things got confusing. Jason Schreier came out and said the opposite, claiming Obsidian is not one of the at-risk studios and that Xbox plans to keep it. Nobody’s commented officially, so take both reports with a pinch of salt until Monday, when things are supposedly meant to become clearer.

Update: the story’s already flipped. Jason Schreier is now pushing back hard on the original report, saying Obsidian isn’t one of the at-risk studios at all. He’s confirmed that Obsidian isn’t negotiating to avoid a shutdown, and that Xbox is keeping the studio according to people close to the situation. He does note the full picture on the layoffs won’t be clear until Monday, so this saga isn’t done yet.

What’s interesting either way is the reason being floated for all this chaos. Christopher Dring says some teams feel they’re being punished for Call of Duty’s weak performance, and he doesn’t dance around it; he flat-out calls that “the reality.” He even argues that Obsidian’s games, like Avowed and The Outer Worlds 2, could’ve sold five times better and it still wouldn’t have made up for Call of Duty’s drop.

Layoffs are expected to start on July 6, so whatever the real story is here, it won’t stay a rumour much longer.

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