Obsidian's CEO would love to make another Fallout, but there's another Xbox IP he'd like a crack at ...

Shadowrun Trilogy Keyart
The Shadowrun Trilogy is a neat remaster of developer Harebrained Schemes' games. (Image credit: Paradox Interactive)

What you need to know

  • Obsidian Entertainment CEO Feargus Urquhart spoke with the Hit the Limit Break podcast about a number of topics, including other Xbox-owned IP he'd like to work on. 
  • Urquhart noted that he'd be interested in making a Shadowrun game, saying that it's a "super cool" world to explore. 
  • Obsidian Entertainment is currently working on fantasy role-playing game Avowed and a spacefaring adventure, The Outer Worlds 2.

Xbox developer Obsidian Entertainment already has a number of projects in the works, but there's one other Xbox IP that CEO Feargus Urquhart would like to explore. 

During an interview with Tom Caswell on the new Hit the Limit Break podcast, Urquhart was asked if there was a non-Fallout Xbox IP that he'd like to see Obsidian work on. Urquhart immediately responded with Shadowrun, noting that he'd asked to see the list of IP Microsoft owned shortly after Obsidian was purchased and added to Xbox Game Studios.

"I love Shadowrun. I think it's super cool," he says, adding that "If you had to pin me down on one, yes, Shadowrun is the one. I bought the book when it first came out, I probably own four of the six editions, I think it's a super cool IP."

You can check out the full podcast below:

“We were a crappy developer”: Obsidian studio head Feargus Urquhart on state of gaming industry - YouTube “We were a crappy developer”: Obsidian studio head Feargus Urquhart on state of gaming industry - YouTube
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During the podcast, Urquhart also touches on a number of other topics, including the nature of Fallout's resurgence thanks to the Prime Video TV series, how development on The Outer Worlds 2 is going, and more. 

Shadowrun has a complicated history

Shadowrun first began life as a pen-and-paper role-playing game, with the first edition launching back in 1989. Shadowrun is a cross between cyberpunk dystopia and dark fantasy, with powerful corporations and gangs wielding magic as elves and dwarves are born into the world.

Developed by FASA, several editions followed, with the pen-and-paper rights transferring to WizKids, a company that was then acquired by Topps, which now licenses the rights to Catalyst Game Labs (CGL). 

Meanwhile, the digital rights for video and computer games were spun out alongside FASA Interactive, which was acquired by Microsoft in 2000 and then closed in 2007. Since then, Microsoft has licensed the video game rights to developer Harebrained Schemes, which has launched a number of role-playing games and expansions set in the Shadowrun universe. The team's games were updated and made available across Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, PlayStation, and Windows PC back in 2022. 

Shadowrun Trilogy

Shadowrun Trilogy

Harebrained Schemes' three Shadowrun games are all available in one nifty package. Survive and thrive at the intersections of magic and technology, as powerful corporations seek to dominate a world filled with elves, dwarves, and fantasy.

Buy from: GOG

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Analysis: Absolutely

I know Obsidian Entertainment is hard at work on Avowed and The Outer Worlds 2 — with the former title now being scheduled to launch in February 2025 — but Shadowrun would absolutely be a perfect fit for one of the studio's teams. Maybe this was just wishful thinking, but I hope Urquhart's inclinations prove true and we get to see what a dark, cyberpunk world filled with magic could look like under the talent of Obsidian and the resources of Xbox Game Studios.

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Samuel Tolbert
Freelance Writer

Samuel Tolbert is a freelance writer covering gaming news, previews, reviews, interviews and different aspects of the gaming industry, specifically focusing on Xbox and PC gaming on Windows Central. You can find him on Twitter @SamuelTolbert.