Obsidian has ‘a full universe of lore’ for future Outer Worlds games

Obsidian is “absolutely interested” in fleshing out The Outer Worlds with future games, following public support from the studio’s new owner Microsoft, the game’s narrative designer has said.

Microsoft acquired Obsidian in late 2018 and its first-party games boss recently said he hopes The Outer Worlds grows into an “enduring franchise” for Xbox.

Speaking to VGC in August, the game’s narrative designer, Megan Starks said it feels “really awesome” to receive such strong support from the new parent company, and revealed Obsidian already has “a full universe of lore” with which to build potential future games.

“They’ve come to talk to the studio and it seems like Microsoft is super invested and really supportive, which for a developer like me feels really awesome,” she said. “It’s really exciting at the studio right now.”

Asked if Obsidian is aligned with Xbox’s hopes to grow Outer Worlds into an enduring franchise, Starks said: “I guess it depends on if people like the game, but we would absolutely be interested in plans like it, yeah. I really enjoyed making this game so I would like to work on it a while longer. But I think first our focus is polishing up this game and getting it out the door!

“The nice thing is, since the game is from the co-creators of the original Fallout IP, they just have notes and notes… we already have a full universe of lore, which is really nice.”

The Outer Worlds, which won the Game Critics E3 2019 award for Best Original Game, is being co-directed by original Fallout creators Tim Cain and Leonard Boyarsky.

Speaking to Game Informer in August, Xbox’s first-party boss Matt Booty indicated that the platform holder has aspirations for Outer Worlds beyond its debut release and said he thinks it is the “kind of game” that would benefit from being Xbox exclusive.

“From what we’ve seen of Outer Worlds, my hope is that that’s something we can build and that it really becomes an enduring franchise and it really starts to grow and we can help expand that,” he said.

“I think that it’s a great universe they’ve created and I think about what are the things that you need for a franchise to kind of bear weight? Like what can it withstand? Is it a narrative, is it a set of characters, is it a universe that’s big enough that you could start to add onto it?

“That’s what I love about what Halo has created. It can support all kinds of novels and fiction.”

The Outer Worlds will release for Xbox One, PC and PS4 in October. You can pre-order those versions of the game now on Amazon or Game UK.