Redundancies reported at Obsidian

By Fred Dutton Published 26 April, 2011

Fallout: New Vegas dev sheds staff.

P45s are reportedly being handed at Fallout: New Vegas developer Obsidian Entertainment, with senior staff among those made redundant.

The scale of the job cuts is as yet unclear but a number of staff have Tweeted that they received their marching orders from the California-based studio earlier today.

As collated in a forum post on the developer's website, it seems that redundancies include producer Akil Hooper, associate producer Theresa Treadwell and art director Joe Sanabria.

"11 years, nearly a dozen shipped titles, Designer, Lead, Producer. 1 cancelled game, survived 7 layoffs, 8th got me. Not a bad track record," read Hooper's Tweet.

Founded in 2003, Obsidian's credits include Alpha Protocol, Neverwinter Knights 2 and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords. Its next release is Dungeon Siege 3 for Square Enix on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, due in June.

Picture of Fred.

About Fred Dutton

Fred Dutton is Eurogamer's US news editor, based in Washington DC.

Read more articles from Fred by visiting the Fred Dutton archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (24) Latest comment 1 year ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • BlinkeredAxis #1 1 year ago

    Don't sack everyone guys! New Vegas had bugs, but is still a great game.

    The moment that sherriff guy started rotating on his chair, lifted until his head was in the ceiling, than completed his dialogue without noticing anything wrong was one of my favourite game moments ever.

    Not worth sacking someone for :(

  • Goodfella #2 1 year ago

    Not exactly a great CV though and Alpha Protocol was shit.

  • Ultrasoundwave #3 1 year ago

    Alpha Protocol and Fallout : New Vegas are two of the best games this generation.

    / Fact

  • ChthonicEcho #4 1 year ago

    Of all companies, didn't expect Obsidian to be affected by 'redundancies'. Their titles may not be AAA hits, but they are all above average.

    I'm not a big fan of them, but this is still a shame. Under Bethesda's wing, I sort of figured they would instead prosper.
    Edited by ChthonicEcho at 26/04/11 @ 20:18

  • tachometer #5 1 year ago

    Still havn't forgiven them for the horrible ending to KOTOR2

  • coomber #6 1 year ago

    Ultrasoundwave: Correct.

    Sorry to see people lose their jobs. Here's hoping Obsidian's fortunes get better.

  • bad09 #7 1 year ago

    Alpha Protocol certainly wasn't shit. Unpolished and flawed you bet, but absolutely not shit.

  • RandyKleen #8 1 year ago

    Good, they are a terrible developer.

  • timewarp87 #9 1 year ago

    They should be disbanded for not making Alpha Protocol 2. And Sega should cease trading aswell!

  • looy1 #10 1 year ago

    I second (third?) the Alpha Protocol praise, immensely fun game that was held back by some unpolished aspects. Still hoping for a sequel ...

    Still , wishing good luck to all those who lost there jobs

  • coomber #11 1 year ago

    They should be disbanded for not making Alpha Protocol 2. And Sega should cease trading aswell!

    Obsidian would love to make AP2 - and I'd love to buy it!

  • BBIAJ #12 1 year ago

    @timewarp87:

    It's SEGA, not Obsidian, that don't want an Alpha Protocol 2.

    If they (SEGA), hold the IP, then go after them, not Obsidian.

  • gjgjg #13 1 year ago

    another casualty in a booming market... ruthless

  • brigadier #14 1 year ago

    Wait... I thought New Vegas was a financial success? :-/

  • Daeltaja #15 1 year ago

    Really sad to hear this. This sort of hits close to the bone for me for some reason.. Always been a fan of them and regardless of Alpha Protocol's poor sales, I thought they were solid as a rock. Usually it's the QA's or Artists to go, it's rare that senior staff get shown the door..

    Also, didn't New Vegas ship close to 5 mill?

    /Sad face

  • timewarp87 #16 1 year ago

    Ok Re-hire everyone in Obsidian and take Sega into the boardroom. They can bring 2 people with them

  • Vortex808 #17 1 year ago

    Alpha Protocol was very nearly a great game. Just needed a bit more polish. One of my favourite recent games. Fallout new vegas was good, but had a few issues too, but not surprising given it's scope.

    I'm sorry to hear about the job losses.

  • kosigan #18 1 year ago

    8 rounds of layoffs in 11 years? That doesn't sound like a company that's got much of a long-term future. :(

  • Kerome #19 1 year ago

    Doh. Never good to see gaming folk get laid off... Hope they find a good home in the Happy Casual Hunting Grounds.

  • actionfitz #20 1 year ago

    "Its next release is Dungeon Siege 3 for Square Enix on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, due in June."

    fucking games industry...
    where it's perfectly acceptable to lay off staff just as their work on your new game is finished, just in time to avoid pesky royalties and bonuses.
    Bad Squeenix is Bad.

  • asho #21 1 year ago

    Iv played over 100 xbox 360 games and Alpha Protocol was my favourite by far.

  • StooMonster #22 1 year ago

    Thanks for creating best selling F:NV and getting DS3 ready to go out the door ... here's your pink slip (P45 equivalent).

    Games industry is harsh.

  • BonzoBanana #23 1 year ago

    It seems the developers who spend serious time developing games even top sellers have tight margins. The annoying thing is my favourite type of game is open sandbox type games with lots of content like Fallout 3. This maybe the end of the era of large epic games bought about by Nintendo and IOS who seem to thrive on games that are appealling but only for a short period of time.

    In some ways playability is getting more focused but I like to wander around game worlds and set my own pace and just enjoy the atmosphere the game world creates. Wander over a hill top for the first time to see what is there. Not really keen on the dumbing down of the game industry. I only have a casual interest in games aimed at casual gamers.

  • milki-tea #24 1 year ago

    alpha protocol was better than ANY other spy game ever created, and fallout new vegas was better than fallout 3....and they sacked staff...no justice in the world!!!