Just yesterday, we learned that Bethesda is taking control of Obsidian Entertainment amid all of the Xbox reshuffles – but not everyone is sure it's a good move.
Baldur's Gate 3 and Larian Studios publishing director Michael "Cromwelp" Douse is one such person, stepping forward to share his concerns of the management handover on Twitter.
"I can't imagine what it must feel like to have independent agency and then, suddenly enough, find yourself working *under* a competitor," he writes. "I can't imagine that feels great." I suppose his take makes sense, but commenters don't necessarily agree.
One person points out that the two studios aren't necessarily "competitors" anymore, so to speak, as they've both been under the wing of Xbox for some time now, prompting Douse to respond.
"Putting aside the fact I was referring to a time prior to the sale, the fact that you think two entities under the umbrella of one parent company can't be competitors tells me you've never had a corporate job," he replies – and that does check out, as they certainly can be.
I can't imagine what it must feel like to have independent agency and then, suddenly enough, find yourself working *under* a competitor. I can't imagine that feels great. https://t.co/vHgDBqUgw1September 22, 2026
But, again, it's important to note that both Bethesda and Obsidian have been working together for a while now. Two months ago, they unveiled their mysterious, collaborative new Fallout game – although we're not quite sure what it is just yet.
At that point, Bethesda said Fallout 5 is in pre-production and unveiled both Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas remasters, so it could be any of these… or perhaps something else altogether.
Only time will tell, I suppose, but, again, Douse's worries here aren't out of place at all. The industry is suffering quite a difficult time. After all, Microsoft's plans to cut 3,200 employees at Xbox hit both Bethesda and Obsidian previously, with the latter reportedly seeing around 25% of its studio impacted.
Following 1,600 redundancies from earlier this year, another 268 layoffs of that total 3,200 were announced yesterday. You know, the same time that news of Bethesda's new management over Obsidian dropped – so, yeah… it's not really a strange time to have a bit of anxiety about it all.
Searching for some new games to keep on your radar? Browse through our roundup of all the upcoming Bethesda games to look forward to.
