Gaming

Obsidian Keeps Its Creative Leadership Inside Bethesda, and the New Vegas Partnership Is Back for a New Fallout

By Omar aka Crypt0 · Sep 25, 2026

Sixteen years after Fallout New Vegas, the partnership is back. Xbox confirmed a restructuring on September 22 that places Obsidian Entertainment under Bethesda management, and Bethesda president Jill Braff moved fast to reassure the studio. In an internal memo published by IGN, Braff told Obsidian staff the move is primarily a change in reporting structure, and that the creative identity and strengths that make Obsidian distinct will remain at the core of the studio's work. CEO Feargus Urquhart and his leadership team continue to run the studio directly.

The memo's bigger reveal is what the two teams are building together. Braff confirmed that Obsidian and Bethesda Game Studios are collaborating on a new Fallout project, with early work already underway and more to share in the months ahead. Bethesda Game Studios keeps overall leadership of the franchise, while the combined teams build on a relationship that produced one of the most beloved RPGs ever made. For fans who have spent a decade and a half asking for a New Vegas style follow up, this is the closest thing to an answer the industry has ever given.

The context makes the reassurance matter more. Microsoft has spent 2026 reshaping Xbox around big franchises while cutting 268 roles across its studios in September, part of 3,200 positions announced in July. Obsidian felt the reset directly. A California filing listed 52 permanent layoffs at the company's Irvine location, and Bloomberg reported that a planned Avowed sequel and other unannounced projects were canceled. The studio still shipped Avowed, Grounded 2, and The Outer Worlds 2 within the past year, but the development priorities have clearly shifted toward the franchise led model Braff described.

That is the honest read on the memo. Obsidian keeps its management and its name on the door, and Bethesda keeps the keys to the franchise Obsidian is now helping to build. The memo stops short of promising the studio free rein over whatever comes next, and the named project list in Xbox's own memo is short, with Grounded continuing, and the new Fallout collaboration moves forward. But creative identity is a real asset, and Braff put it in writing that Obsidian's stays intact. In a year of studio closures and shrinking roadmaps, a publisher putting creative continuity in an official memo is worth noting.

For Fallout fans, the wait now has a shape. A new project exists, the two teams with the deepest history in the wasteland are building it together, and details arrive in the months ahead. For players who value what made Obsidian's games special, the memo is the strongest signal available that the studio's voice survives the reorganization. The wasteland is getting bigger, and the people who know it best are back at the map table.

Sources

• AllKeyShop on Obsidian retaining creative control
• Inven Global on the Bethesda memo and new Fallout project
• Push Square on Obsidian remaining distinct under Bethesda

New to crypto? Read the crypto glossary, browse frequent questions, read our story, or explore the story archive.