Outer Worlds 2 is looking "incredible", says Obsidian boss, but they did consider "throwing the whole team on Avowed"
"We had a really hard time at the studio during Covid."
Satirical space RPG sequel The Outer Worlds 2 was announced back in 2021. Since then, we've heard nary a peep about it, with developers Obsidian focusing on Pillars Of Eternity successor Avowed and their ace survival game Grounded, which left early access in September 2022. According to Obsidian's studio head Feargus Urquhart, the project is rubbing along nicely. But it was not ever thus: during the opening years of the Covid pandemic, there was apparently "talk of 'do we stop Outer Worlds 2 and just throw the whole team on Avowed'."
That's from a new, hour-long interview with Limit Break Network, in which Urquhart talks about this year's Xbox studio closures and layoffs, the trick to retaining talent, the influence of Baldur's Gate 3, and (as is mandatory for an Obsidian interview nowadays) the pipedream of making sequels for Alpha Protocol and Fallout: New Vegas.
"It's going really well," Urquhart said of Outer Worlds 2. "And it's always easy for us to say that, because that's what we should say, when asked the question, but it actually is. I'm really impressed with the team." While Avowed remains the priority, of course, Obsidian have apparently built "a pretty good wall - not a wall, it's a semi-porous membrane" between that project and Outer Worlds 2 in terms of managing creative input and resources. I am inevitably picturing a web of mucus dividing the office, with Spacer's Choice branding on one side and mushroom bears on the other.
"Luckily, the lead programmer is the same lead programmer, Leonard Boyarsky is the same creative director, Brandon Adler's game director, Matt Singh was a tester on Fallout: New Vegas, and he's the head of gameplay and content," Urquhart added. "So we were very lucky that we have a lot of people on that game that get it, that worked on the first one and worked with us for a very long time."
Nonetheless, it sounds like it was touch and go for Outer Worlds 2 during the pandemic lockdowns. "We had a really hard time at the studio during Covid," Urquhart said. "We got acquired [in 2018], and we were figuring out how to be acquired, and then Covid happens, and we're trying to get Outer Worlds done, and we're trying to get the DLC done, and we're trying to move Avowed forward, and we want to start again on Outer Worlds 2, get Outer Worlds 2 moving, and Grounded moving, and Josh [Sawyer] is working on Pentiment...
"There's just all this stuff happening, and to be honest, we were kind of a crappy developer for about a year and a half," he went on. "There was talk of 'do we stop Outer Worlds 2 and just throw the whole team on Avowed'. There was talk of 'well, should you do that?', because Grounded wasn't in Early Access yet during some of these conversations." (The implication here, I think, is that Obsidian also thought about reassigning Outer Worlds 2 personnel to Grounded.)
Ultimately, Obsidian decided to stay the course, while embracing the prospect of delays (Avowed was recently pushed back to 2025, albeit seemingly to avoid a "busy period" on Microsoft's Game Pass service). "We kind of said: no, we will get there," Urquhart recalled. "We will get there with all these games. Are they going to be on the timelines that we originally thought? No. But we're going to get there and I think that's been proven now.
"Grounded turned out awesome. Pentiment turned out awesome. Avowed is going to be great. Outer Worlds 2 is looking incredible. And then we have a base now, of everything we've now done with Avowed and Outer Worlds 2, with how we use Unreal Engine and all the tools that we've been developing for years and years, to go off and make the whole next generation of games."
It's worth considering these thoughts alongside Urquhart's comments earlier in the interview about the dark art of juggling several projects. Amongst other things, he highlights the importance of "working with" third-party tools such as Unreal Engine rather than trying to create too much bespoke technology.
I wasn't that keen on the first Outer Worlds: I found its chortling satirical elements self-indulgent, and its RPG design too familiar. But I share Alice Bee's (RPS in peace) view that "it could have been great, if it had taken a few more risks". Hopefully, Outer Worlds 2 will bring it home. As for Avowed, I'm mixed on what I've seen of that too, but I've been thinking lately that it's been a while since I last fireballed a mushroom bear. Fingers crossed it sticks the landing as well.