Obsidian Entertainment is reportedly steering its resources toward a new installment in the Fallout franchise, a pivot that would reportedly push a follow-up to Avowed and several other unrevealed projects to the back burner. The claim comes from a Bloomberg report, which frames the move as a significant change in direction for the studio behind Grounded, The Outer Worlds, and Avowed. Bloomberg's sourcing does not clarify whether the game in development is a numbered Fallout 5 or another off-shoot project along the lines of the acclaimed Fallout: New Vegas, leaving the scope of Obsidian's next Fallout effort an open question for now.
Sawyer Reportedly Tapped to Lead
According to the report, Obsidian design director Josh Sawyer will head up the new Fallout title. Sawyer's resume already includes directing Fallout: New Vegas as well as Pentiment, giving him a track record with the series and with the studio's original IP alike. Bloomberg also indicates Sawyer had been steering a different in-house RPG that reportedly shared some DNA with Fallout before staff moved him onto this new assignment instead. The broader Fallout 5 project is said to have gotten internal approval roughly a year ago, though no studio or director had been publicly tied to it at that point. Obsidian boss Feargus Urquhart had already signaled the studio's appetite for another crack at the franchise back in 2023. Since Bethesda holds the reins on Fallout as a franchise, the publisher is expected to stay involved in overseeing however this next project takes shape.
A Pivot That Follows Major Layoffs
The reported change in Obsidian's roadmap lands just after the studio was swept up in a fresh round of Xbox layoffs, with reports indicating as much as a quarter of its staff was let go by Microsoft this week. The cuts are tied to a wider restructuring effort at Xbox spearheaded by division head Asha Sharma, part of a plan expected to eliminate roughly 3,200 positions across the company over the coming year. Sharma has maintained that titles Xbox has already announced publicly are safe from cancellation, but said projects that hadn't been revealed yet are fair game for being scrapped. Taken together with the reported Obsidian shakeup, the moves paint a picture of Xbox narrowing its bets toward proven, high-profile properties, with Fallout squarely among them.
Fallout's Momentum Elsewhere
The renewed push into Fallout games would coincide with other signs of life for the franchise beyond Obsidian. Unconfirmed chatter has circulated about a remake of Fallout 3 being in development somewhere at Bethesda or its partners, though nothing has been made official on that front. On the entertainment side, the Fallout television adaptation on Prime Video just landed ten Emmy nominations for its second season, underscoring how much cultural traction the property currently carries outside of gaming. None of this has been confirmed directly by Obsidian, Bethesda, or Microsoft, so for now the shift toward a new Fallout project—and the shelving of Avowed's sequel—remains a reported development rather than an announced plan; 1vX will update this story if the companies weigh in.
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