Obsidian director pushes back on studio identity claims after Xbox layoffs hit 25% of staff

The Outer Worlds 2 director Brandon Adler has fired back at online commentators declaring Obsidian Entertainment has lost its identity, calling them "cold take artists" spreading "an enormous amount of misinformation" — and he did it in the same week the studio said goodbye to roughly a quarter of its workforce.

Microsoft's July 6 layoffs were described by Xbox CEO Asha Sharma as "the most significant restructure" the company has ever undertaken, cutting 1,600 jobs immediately with another 1,600 still to come across the financial year. Obsidian was among the hardest hit, losing around 25% of its staff. Bloomberg subsequently reported that a planned Avowed sequel has been canceled, with the studio now pivoting to a new Fallout game led by Fallout: New Vegas director Josh Sawyer. Writing on LinkedIn, Adler addressed both the human cost and the narrative forming around the studio: "Not only have I had to say goodbye to some amazing game developers, but I've had to say goodbye to some of my best friends." He then turned his attention to the critics, arguing that "the people in lead or director roles are the same people that worked on games like The Outer Worlds, Pillars of Eternity, and New Vegas. Like, literally the same people. The through line from KotOR2 to our current games is pretty clear."

Adler is a 20-year Obsidian veteran who started as a QA tester on Neverwinter Nights 2 in 2006, worked his way up through associate producer roles on Alpha Protocol, New Vegas, and The Stick of Truth, then led production on Pillars of Eternity before serving as gameplay design director on Avowed. He's currently game director on The Outer Worlds 2 alongside Leonard Boyarsky, as well as an unannounced project. His career arc is itself an argument for the continuity he's defending — the same core of developers who built Obsidian's reputation are still steering its projects. The broader Xbox restructure also saw Ninja Theory and Undead Labs move to new ownership, while Double Fine and Compulsion Games became independent studios.

Adler closed his post with a pointed message: anyone "spouting off about Obsidian, running their mouths about who we are now vs. what we were then" has "zero insight into how a game is made and who contributed to our previous games." Community reaction has been largely sympathetic toward the laid-off developers, with attention now turning to what a Josh Sawyer-led Fallout game could look like — and whether Obsidian can deliver on that promise with a leaner team.