By Nelson Schneider - 10/02/22 at 03:42 PM CT
Microsoft has been on a buying spree of videogame development studios since at least 2018, when they spent time at E3 touting their enhanced ability to produce great first-party games through the acquisition of new studios. I personally didn’t feel particularly excited about these earlier acquisitions, as the studios in question were never on my radar to begin with. However, when Microsoft reassembled the scattered remnants of Interplay under one roof again and bought-out Tim Schafer’s Double-Fine Productions, I started to care, because those studios actually made games I have enjoyed – or at least attempted to enjoy – in the past.
In 2020, when most of the world was laser-focused on the COVID-19 pandemic, Microsoft was ramping up the scale of its studio acquisitions, purchasing the videogame holding company, Zenimax Media, almost exclusively for access to Bethesda Softworks and id Software – the “Skyrim” and “DOOM” people. Now, in late 2022, Microsoft is mere breaths away from acquiring one of the Big Three members of the Gaming Triumvirate of Evil, with the aim of finally cementing itself in the gaming ecosystem as more than the company that makes Windows, Office, and LOL Xbox.
Unfortunately, in spite of acquiring all of these studios over the course of the past few years, Microsoft doesn’t appear to be doing much of anything with them! In the case of the studios I personally care about – Double-Fine, inXile, and Obsidian – their most recent releases are still things they developed independently, and merely pushed out the door under existing contracts after their respective Microsoft acquisitions. And out of these three studios of personal interest, only Obsidian actually has new irons in the fire that we know about. Unfortunately, “Absolved,” an Action game that takes place in the same Chris Avellone universe as the ‘Pillars of Eternity’ series, looks absolutely banal, while “The Outer Worlds 2” would have to do something drastically different/better than the first “The Outer Worlds” in order to get me back on board.
Here’s a short list of games I wish were currently announced as in-development by Microsoft’s vast stable of studios, but, sadly, aren’t.
Double Fine
“Psychonauts 3”: While “Psychonauts 2” did just come out last year, and just last month received physical console releases, it would be nice to know whether the series will keep going, or if it’s going to fall into a decades-long torpor again.
“The Cave 2”: Double-Fine is known for quirky, weird Adventure games. While none of the MJ Crew really like point-and-click Adventures anymore, we couldn’t deny that we had a great time with the multi-player experience in “The Cave.” It would be reassuring to know that Schafer’s team is working on another cooperative, narrative Adventure, even if it won’t be ready for a while.
“Iron Brigade 2”: Microsoft especially owes the gaming world another crack at the Mechs x Tower Defense gameplay of “Iron Brigade,” primarily because their terrible Games for Windows Live DRM nearly killed the project.
inXile
“Wasteland 4”: InXile is rapidly rising to the top of my list of great Western development studios, and “Wasteland 3” is a big part of why. Former InterPlay head, Brian Fargo, managed to recapture the magic that made ‘Fallout’ a renowned IP, and channeled it into the dead-and-desiccated husk of the ‘Wasteland’ IP. While it took some time to refresh gamers’ collective memories, since the original “Wasteland” was incredibly old, exclusive to the PC platform, and played by only a few people overall, with “Wasteland 3,” the IP manages to stand on its own as a ‘Fallout’ competitor that gets everything right. So the fact that we don’t have an announcement of a 4th ‘Wasteland’ game is disappointing.
“The Bard’s Tale 5”: Like “Wasteland 3,” “The Bard’s Tale 4” managed to take an old, forgotten, and TERRIBLE IP and make it into something both modern and amazing. With the most recent release in this series, inXile managed to create one of the best Dungeon Crawlers in recent memory, even out-doing Almost Human’s ‘Legend of Grimrock’ series (which has, itself, been dormant since 2014!). We need to know that ‘The Bard’s Tale’ isn’t going to go into hibernation again, since the current formula is good enough to power a new trilogy, at the least.
“Torment 3”: While doing another PlaneScape game is obviously out of the question due to inXile no longer having access to the D&D license… and Wizards of the Coast’s ambivalence about the current state of PlaneScape in general, inXile proved that it’s entirely possible to make a great ‘weird’ RPG without that particular setting. “Torment: Tides of Numenera” took the psychological mystery from “PlaneScape: Torment” and plopped it into Monte Cook’s Numenera setting, to great result. With many more years of practice with modern development tools and a fat Microsoft budget, I could easily see another ‘Torment’ game making waves in RPG-loving circles. It wouldn’t even have to be in the Numenera setting, as there are gobs of ‘weird’ Fantasy worlds out there whose authors would love the opportunity to write a cRPG script. Heck, even Wizards of the Coast just released a 5th Edition revision of Spelljammer, if Daddy Microsoft wanted to open up the Licensing Wallet.
Obsidian
Pathfinder Adventure Paths: When it comes down to it, I have never actually been all that big a fan of Obsidian Entertainment’s work. Even when they were still Black Isle, cranking-out ‘Icewind Dale’ games, I found their approach to RPG development far less enjoyable than BioWare’s. Somewhere in the excitement of new Infinity Engine-style cRPGs being released, though, I kinda forgot about that. However, the fact that neither of the two ‘Pillars of Eternity’ games, nor “Tyranny” was worthy of a ‘Great’ or ‘Glorious’ rating reminded me. Of course, there is another cRPG developer out there that I actively hate, and that’s Owlcat Games. It would thus be a pleasant surprise – and almost guaranteed upgrade – if Microsoft were able to use its clout and reputation to ‘convince’ (using big bags with cartoon dollar signs printed on them) Paizo to pull the Pathfinder license from Owlcat and give it to Obsidian. Obsidian has, after all, developed one Pathfinder project already: the official adaptation of Paizo’s ill-fated Pathfinder Adventure Card Game (which hasn’t received any new releases since 2019).
