Brandon Adler Rejects "Cold Take Artists" as Obsidian Takes On Fallout

Obsidian Entertainment game director Brandon Adler used a LinkedIn post to answer people questioning what his studio has become after a week of layoffs. Adler, who is directing an unannounced project and has spent 13 years at Obsidian, wrote that the hardest parts were saying goodbye to developers he counts as some of his best friends and watching outsiders spread misinformation about the studio's identity.

The post landed days after Microsoft cut 3200 jobs across Xbox, a round that reportedly cost Obsidian a quarter of its staff. Xbox has since moved the studio onto the Fallout series, and the New Fallout details that have surfaced point to a full entry rather than a remaster. Obsidian shipped Fallout: New Vegas in 2010, and the new game is reportedly led by Josh Sawyer, a designer central to that release.

Adler's main target was the claim that Obsidian is not the studio it used to be. He argued that the leads and directors on current games are the same people who made The Outer Worlds, Pillars of Eternity, and New Vegas, and drew a line straight back to KotOR2.

"Another difficult aspect is having to see a bunch of cold take artists coming out of the woodwork to talk about what Obsidian is or what it isn't."

— Brandon Adler

He accepted that the studio has changed over two decades but said its core has not.

"Is Obsidian the same as it was 20 years ago? No, of course not. Nothing stays the same. But the DNA at Obsidian is the same as it always was. The same DNA that created KotOR, New Vegas, NWN2, and Stick of Truth."

— Brandon Adler

I read Adler's argument as the one critics will struggle to answer, since Sawyer, a New Vegas lead, is reportedly the one now directing the new Fallout. A former colleague agreed in the replies.

"Anyone who has gotten to work with Obsidian knows how truly special the studio is."

— Deanne Adams

On the game itself, Windows Central editor Jez Corden gave the first outside read during a recent episode of The Xbox Reset podcast. Corden said the project is a mainline entry closer to the modern games, not isometric like the first two Fallout titles, and not a spin-off, tactics, or action game.

"I've heard that it's not isometric. It is like a real Fallout game, like the modern Fallout games. I've not heard it's like tactics. I've not heard it's a spin-off... I've heard this is a true core Fallout game."

— Jez Corden

Corden did not rule out that the game is the long-rumored Fallout 5, though he expects a titled release in the mold of New Vegas and floated Chicago as one possible setting. I'd take that Chicago line as a guess rather than a leak, since Obsidian has confirmed nothing about the setting, the platforms, or a release window.

The move to Fallout has come with cancellations. Bloomberg reported that Obsidian cancelled a sequel to 2025's Avowed and put The Outer Worlds 2 story DLC and Grounded 2 multiplayer support on hold. Former studio head Chris Avellone disputed part of that on X, saying Avowed 2 is still in development and being re-pitched, and that other work, including an unannounced Shadowrun game led by John Gonzalez, was paused rather than killed. Avellone has also said Obsidian pitched Bethesda on a Fallout years ago and was refused.

Bethesda has not confirmed whether Fallout 5 sits with Obsidian or stays with its own team, and reported remakes of Fallout 3 and New Vegas remain unverified. Adler ended his note by saying he is proud of the studio's history and excited about what it has become.

Read also, Obsidian reportedly cancelled Avowed 2 and moved to a new Fallout title in the wake of Microsoft's Xbox layoffs.