Obsidian Entertainment facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Obsidian Entertainment, Inc.

Type	Subsidiary
Industry	Video games
Founded	June 12, 2003; 22 years ago (2003-06-12)
Founders	Feargus Urquhart Chris Parker Chris Avellone Darren Monahan Chris Jones
Headquarters	Irvine, California , U.S.
Number of employees	200 (2019)
Parent	Xbox Game Studios (2018–present)

Obsidian Entertainment, Inc. is an American company that makes video games. It is based in Irvine, California. The company started in June 2003. It was founded by five friends: Feargus Urquhart, Chris Avellone, Chris Parker, Darren Monahan, and Chris Jones. They all used to work together at another game company called Black Isle Studios.

Obsidian Entertainment is known for making many popular games. Some of their early games were sequels to other famous games, like Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords and Neverwinter Nights 2. They also created their own original game called Alpha Protocol in 2010. Other well-known games they made include Fallout: New Vegas, Dungeon Siege III, and South Park: The Stick of Truth.

Over the years, Obsidian faced some tough times. Many of their game projects were canceled. This led to money problems for the company in 2012. To save the studio, they asked fans for help by using crowdfunding. This helped them make Pillars of Eternity, a successful role-playing game. After this, Obsidian started focusing more on creating their own original games.

In November 2018, Microsoft bought Obsidian Entertainment. Now, Obsidian is part of Xbox Game Studios. Some of their newer games are the survival game Grounded and the adventure game Pentiment. They are currently working on new games like Avowed and The Outer Worlds 2.

History of Obsidian Entertainment

Chris Avellone (top) and Feargus Urquhart (bottom) were two of the five founders of Obsidian.

How the Company Started (2003)

Obsidian Entertainment was founded on June 12, 2003. The five founders, Feargus Urquhart, Chris Avellone, Chris Parker, Darren Monahan, and Chris Jones, had worked together before. They were part of a company called Black Isle Studios. At Black Isle, they made popular role-playing games like Icewind Dale and Fallout 2. They also helped with games like Neverwinter Nights.

Even though their games were successful, their old company, Interplay Entertainment, had money problems. A big game project they were working on, Baldur's Gate III, was canceled. This made the team very unhappy. Feargus Urquhart decided it was time to leave and start a new company. He wanted to create a place where they could keep making great games.

When Obsidian started, they had only seven employees. The founders invested their own money to get the company going. They thought of different names for the company, like "Scorched Earth." But they finally chose "Obsidian Entertainment." They felt it sounded strong and was easy to remember.

To keep the company running, they needed more money. They talked to big game publishers like Electronic Arts and Ubisoft. They even pitched a Fallout-style game called Futureblight. But none of these early ideas turned into actual projects.

Making Sequels to Famous Games (2003–2008)

In late 2003, a company called LucasArts asked Obsidian to make a Star Wars game. Obsidian suggested some ideas, but LucasArts wanted them to create a sequel to a popular game called Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Obsidian knew how to work with the technology from the first game.

So, they started making Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords in October 2003. They had only 15 months to finish it. LucasArts wanted the game out quickly, so some parts had to be cut. The game also had some technical issues because there wasn't enough time to fix everything. Still, The Sith Lords was well-liked by critics. Later, fans even restored some of the cut features!

Obsidian wanted to work on many projects at once. This meant the company grew very fast. Soon, they had 20 employees, then 27. Many came from their old company, Black Isle, and others from different game studios.

Before The Sith Lords was even released, another company, Atari, asked Obsidian for help. Atari wanted a sequel to Neverwinter Nights. This became Neverwinter Nights 2. Development started in July 2005. Obsidian led the project, and the team grew to about 50 people. Atari gave them enough time to make the game. Neverwinter Nights 2 was also well-received by critics. They even released two expansion packs for it later.

During this time, Obsidian also tried to make a game for Disney. It was a prequel to Snow White and the Seven Dwarves called Dwarfs. It was an action game for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. But after about a year of work, Disney changed its plans, and the game was canceled. This was very disappointing for the team.

New Games and Licensed Titles (2009–2014)

As Neverwinter Nights 2 was finishing, Obsidian looked for new projects. Sega, another publisher, wanted them to make an action role-playing game based on the Alien movies. This game was called Aliens: Crucible. Obsidian worked on it, but Sega canceled it in early 2009 without even looking at their demo. Around the same time, a plan to revive Baldur's Gate III also fell through.

Even though Aliens: Crucible was canceled, Sega still wanted to work with Obsidian. This time, they asked for a new game idea. Obsidian came up with a "spy RPG" concept, which Sega liked. This game became Alpha Protocol. Making Alpha Protocol was hard. The team wasn't sure what kind of game it should be, and Sega also made slow decisions. This caused many delays. The game took four years to develop and was released in June 2010.

Alpha Protocol got mixed reviews and didn't sell very well. But many fans loved it and wanted a sequel. Obsidian's boss, Feargus Urquhart, said they hoped to make Alpha Protocol 2 and do better. However, Sega owned the rights, so it was difficult.

At the same time, Obsidian was also working on Fallout: New Vegas. This was a big deal because some of Obsidian's founders had worked on the original Fallout games. Bethesda Softworks, who owned Fallout, asked Obsidian to make a new game in the series. Obsidian listened to fans and added more important roles for the different groups in the game. New Vegas was released in October 2010 and got great reviews. Some even said it was better than Fallout 3!

Like The Sith Lords, New Vegas had some bugs and glitches when it first came out. Players sometimes had trouble playing because of crashes. Obsidian learned a lot from this experience. They improved how they tested games to make sure future titles had fewer problems. These improvements helped with their next game, Dungeon Siege III, which came out in 2011. It was the first game to use Obsidian's own game engine, called Onyx.

In 2011, Obsidian started working on a big open-world game called Stormlands for Microsoft. But Microsoft canceled it in 2012, which meant Obsidian had to let go of some employees. Obsidian tried to turn Stormlands into another game called Fallen and pitched it to other publishers, but it didn't work out. However, the ideas from Fallen later helped create their game Tyranny.

In 2009, Obsidian got a call from the creators of South Park. They thought it was a prank! But it was real, and Obsidian started developing South Park: The Stick of Truth. They worked closely with the South Park creators to make sure the game looked just like the TV show. The game's publisher, THQ, went bankrupt, which worried Obsidian. Luckily, Ubisoft bought the game, and South Park: The Stick of Truth was released in March 2014.

Obsidian also helped another game company, inXile Entertainment, with their game Wasteland 2. The two companies shared their technology, showing how game developers can help each other.

Money Troubles and Pillars of Eternity (2014–2018)

Even after finishing South Park: The Stick of Truth, Obsidian was in a difficult financial spot. They missed out on a bonus for Fallout: New Vegas because its review score was just one point shy of what Bethesda required. The company was running out of money.

Adam Brennecke, a producer at Obsidian, said they were close to going bankrupt. That's when Kickstarter, a crowdfunding website, became popular. Josh Sawyer, the director of New Vegas, suggested they use Kickstarter to fund a new game. Some people at Obsidian were unsure, but then another game, Double Fine Adventure, had huge success on Kickstarter.

This convinced Obsidian to try. They decided to make a game they had always wanted: a game similar to Baldur's Gate. They launched a Kickstarter campaign for Pillars of Eternity in September 2012. They asked for $1.1 million. Their campaign was a massive success, raising $4 million! This broke the previous Kickstarter record.

Pillars of Eternity was released in March 2015 and was very popular with critics. Obsidian also made an expansion pack for it called The White March. They even helped create a board game based on Pillars of Eternity.

In June 2015, co-founder Chris Avellone left Obsidian. In August 2015, Obsidian helped launch a new crowdfunding website called Fig. This platform focuses only on video games and lets fans invest in games. Obsidian plans to use Fig for future crowdfunding.

In March 2016, Obsidian announced a new game called Tyranny. It's an isometric RPG set in a world where evil has already won. The game was released in 2016.

On January 27, 2017, Obsidian announced Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire. They used Fig again to raise money for it, and it reached its funding goal in less than a day! The game was released in May 2018. In February 2017, Obsidian also stopped working on the tank game Armored Warfare, letting the publisher finish it.

Joining Microsoft (2018–Present)

On November 10, 2018, a big announcement was made: Microsoft bought Obsidian Entertainment! This meant Obsidian became part of Microsoft Studios (now called Xbox Game Studios).

After joining Microsoft, Obsidian announced a new game called The Outer Worlds in December 2018. It's an action role-playing game set in a future where big companies are colonizing alien planets. The game came out in October 2019.

In November 2019, Obsidian announced Grounded, a survival game where you play as tiny characters the size of an ant. In July 2020, they revealed a new role-playing game called Avowed. In 2021, they also announced The Outer Worlds 2.

In 2022, Obsidian released Pentiment, an adventure game with a unique art style. It was directed by Josh Sawyer, who also directed Fallout: New Vegas.

How Obsidian Makes Games

Obsidian became famous for making sequels to well-known game series. These include Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Neverwinter Nights, and Fallout. Feargus Urquhart has said that making sequels is fun because they get to "play in someone else's world." They can explore and expand on ideas from the original games.

The company also found that making licensed games (games based on existing movies or books) was often easier. But Obsidian always wanted to create their own original games. This allows them to have more creative freedom and not be limited by other companies. After their success with Pillars of Eternity, they focused more on their own ideas.

Before Microsoft bought them, Obsidian was an independent company. They believed they needed to adapt quickly to changes in the game world. While they mostly focused on role-playing games with strong characters, they were also willing to try smaller projects in different genres. For example, they worked on the tank game Armored Warfare.

There's even a fun fact: Obsidian made a special "dungeon crawler" game about their five founders. It's in an arcade cabinet inside their office!

Games by Obsidian Entertainment

Canceled Games

See also

In Spanish: Obsidian Entertainment para niños