Matt Booty, the Head of Microsoft Game Studios, announced that inXile Entertainment and Obsidian Entertainment are the two teams that will join the first-party roster. Considering the previous acquisitions revealed at E3 2018, the roster now amounts to twelve studios, or thirteen if you consider Microsoft Global Publishing.
inXile Entertainment recently released The Bard's Tale IV. Here's what Rosh wrote in his review:
Overall, The Bard’s Tale IV is a rare new game that feels just a little old. People who only care for the newest thing with the newest mechanics might not appreciate the cosy, slightly dusty tenderness of Bards Tale, but it does have this delightful feeling regardless. Even if you’ve never heard of the series, or played RPGs from the nineties, The Bard’s Tale IV: Barrows Deep is a special game not to be quickly dismissed.
Previous releases include Wasteland 2 and Torment: Tides of Numenera, as well as the Oculus Rift exclusive VR spin-off The Mage's Tale (launched in 2017).
Obsidian joining Microsoft Game Studios had been rumored a while ago and after the recent news of the underwhelming Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire sales, the deal seemed obvious.
In the past few years, they released South Park: The Stick of Truth with Ubisoft, Skyforge (co-developed with Allods Entertainment and published by My.com), Armored Warfare (co-developed with My.com, which also published the game), the crowdfunded Pillars of Eternity and Tyranny, published by Paradox Interactive.
Interestingly, several developers that currently work in one of these two companies have at some point been under the venerable Black Isle banner. However, it does not look like there are any plans to join the teams again under Microsoft Game Studios, as Matt Booty said they'll remain separate and fully independent from a creative standpoint, which suggests they'll work on their own projects instead.
What do you think of this deal?
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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