What you need to know
- Xbox studio Obsidian Entertainment is currently working on multiple projects, including fantasy RPG Avowed and a science-fiction sequel, The Outer Worlds 2.
- Speaking with Limit Break Network podcast, Obsidian Entertainment CEO Feargus Urquhart shared that work on The Outer Worlds 2 is “going really well.”
- Feargus added that Obsidian struggled early on with COVID, and that the studio considered canceling projects to focus entirely on Avowed, but was able to come together and find the right balance eventually.
Even if it’s a ways off, it sounds like another science-fiction Xbox role-playing game (RPG) is shaping up nicely.
Speaking with Tom Caswell on the newly-launched Limit Break Network podcast (thanks, @HazzadorGamin), Obsidian Entertainment CEO Feargus Urquhart explained that development on The Outer Worlds 2 is “going really well,” with the team coming together and figuring out how to support development simultaneously with multiple projects, including the studio’s upcoming fantasy RPG Avowed.
“I’ve actually been really impressed. We had a really hard time at the studio in COVID,” he says. Urquhart went on to share that Obsidian was having a very hard time in the early months of COVID figuring out how to handle different projects, including briefly considering just putting the entire studio on Avowed.
“I appreciate Microsoft and the teams and everybody and that we kinda said ‘No, we will get there. We will get there with all these games. Are they gonna be on the timelines that we originally thought? No. But we’re gonna get there,'” he says. “And I think that’s proven, right? Grounded turned out awesome, Pentiment turned out awesome, Avowed is gonna be great, Outer Worlds 2 is looking incredible.”
You can listen to the full podcast below, though you do need to be aware that it was recorded before Avowed was officially delayed to February 2025.
In the full podcast, Urquhart touches on several other topics, including the nature of the Fallout TV series giving the franchise a resurgence, Xbox studio closures, and more.
When will The Outer Worlds 2 launch?
The Outer Worlds first launched in 2019, giving players a solar system to explore and a story to progress in classic Obsidian role-playing game fashion, including options for double-crossing the different factions and corporations that dominated nearby life.
The Outer Worlds 2 was first announced at E3 2021 with a tongue-in-cheek trailer poking fun at how little work had actually been accomplished on the game so far. Since then, Obsidian has released co-op survival game Grounded and the truly unique medieval narrative game Pentiment, while the studio’s next big Xbox game, Avowed, is slated to launch on Feb. 18, 2025.
There’s been few updates on The Outer Worlds 2, bar Feargus’s comments, so it’s hard to gauge exactly when the game will arrive. Depending on the scope and level of improvements the team is aiming to implement, it’s certainly possible that we could see it arrive in 2026, but we’ll have a better idea of what to expect when we learn more.
Analysis: I will be eagerly waiting
Obsidian is a storied developer for good reason, and I’m eagerly looking forward to both The Outer Worlds 2. Hopefully we won’t be waiting too much longer for more information on the latter, but as someone that really enjoyed the first game, I’ll just remain excited for now.
In the meantime, I’m certainly also looking forward to Avowed, which is coming to Xbox Series X|S and Windows PC next year. Like all Xbox first-party games, it’s also launching day one in Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.
