One of Microsoft’s plans is to gather a large number of studies to commission projects that provide exclusive experiences for users of its platforms. One of those recent acquisitions was Obsidian Entertainment and today the CEO of the company shared the reasons why the developer joined forces with Microsoft.
The developer who participated in Fallout New Vegas , Pilars of Eternity and who is currently working on The Outer Worlds explained in an interview with Game Informer the reasons that convinced them to be part of Xbox Game Studios.
The CEO of the company, Feargus Urquhart, confessed that much of the decision was due to economic issues, since to produce the games they develop is necessary financial stability, something they could find in Microsoft.
“As a company, we had to make a decision, when you’re administering one, it’s all about money. We have between 160 and 170 people, and we thought about this at the beginning of 2018: where are we going? How do we do it? If we want 40, 50, 60 or 70 million to make the next game, where do we get them from? And we go with distributors, and we have spoken with many of them over the years, but it is becoming more difficult as an independent developer, each time we are less: I think it is now one less, “explained the manager.
With this, in the study there were many doubts about the future of the games they do and what the viable alternatives would be. “So, there were several things we had to think about: did we change the company? Did we stop trying to make these huge RPGs? Did we do everything possible so that the distributors would finance us? Do we go and get an investment from a company? Or that they acquire us? And we started the year [2018] without really knowing what path to take, and, of course, it ended in the acquisition by Microsoft. But it was to be able to carry out what we proposed 15 years ago. “
Later, the director said he believes that Microsoft noticed them because of the long history they have – the studio was founded in 2003 – as well as the support of games they have in their portfolio.
It is expected that the fruits of these studies of the division of Xbox Game Studios begin to be harvested in the coming years and finally reveal new games that represent a solid proposal for the Xbox and Windows line.