Obsidian isn’t making Outer Worlds 3 but will work on more games in the Avowed universe, despite ‘disappointing’ sales

Obsidian Entetainment has no plans to make The Outer Worlds 3,  but will make more games in the Avowed world, despite the recent entries for both series underperforming financially.

In a Bloomberg interview with Obsidian head Fergus Urquhart, it’s implied that Grounded 2 was “a big hit” for the studio but neither The Outer Worlds 2 nor Avowed met sales expectations.

While the article doesn’t directly quote Urquharty stating that both games sold less than expected, it claims that both games had “disappointing results”, then quotes Urquhart as saying the results of each game made the studio “think a lot about how much we put into the games, how much we spend on them, how long they take”.

Urquhart also explained that both games were in development for more than six years, and his role is to cut that down to three or four years per game going forward.

Later in the article, it’s confirmed that while Obsidian is working on added content for The Outer Worlds 2 (and Grounded 2), as well as other entirely new games, there are no plans to make The Outer Worlds 3.

The studio does, however, plan to “keep making games in the Avowed universe”, the article states. This doesn’t necessarily mean Avowed 2 – it should be noted that Avowed was set in the same universe as Pillars of Eternity.

Obsidian’s studio design director Josh Sawyer also addressed the fact that Obsidian released three games last year, stating that it wasn’t deliberate and wasn’t necessarily a good thing despite Xbox hailing it as the “year of Obsidian”.

Noting that the release of three games meant the studio’s support teams were stretched thin, Sawyer said: “Spacing those releases helps the company manage its resources and not burn everybody out. It’s not good to release three games in the same year. It’s the result of things going wrong.”

Avowed is coming to PlayStation 5 on February 17, alongside an anniversary update for the Xbox and PC versions which includes a New Game Plus mode, new races, new weapon types, a Photo Mode and more (all of which will also be in the PS5 version).

VGC’s Avowed review called the game “a solid, entertaining RPG that neatly fills a gap”, praising its “entertaining script, satisfying combat and impressively detailed environments”.

“The inability to clean up side quests after the main story is beaten can be frustrating, but take your time with it and enjoy everything it has to offer, and you’ll find plenty of memorable moments,” we wrote.