Obsidian's Next Chapter: A Gamer's Look at Avowed, Pillars, and Xbox

I have spent countless nights in the Mojave Wasteland, in the dizzying depths of Eora, and in the quiet, painted pages of sixteenth-century Bavaria. So when Josh Sawyer, the director behind Fallout: New Vegas and Pentiment, talks about Obsidian Entertainment's future, I listen. In a recent interview with RPGSite, Sawyer opened up about his advisory role, the studio's relationship with Xbox, and the burning question that has split the CRPG community: after Avowed, what happens to Pillars of Eternity? Now, in 2026, with Avowed having launched in early 2025 and The Outer Worlds 2 firmly in the conversation, that question feels more urgent than ever.

The Isometric Elephant in the Room

Is Avowed a one-time experiment, or is it the new blueprint for Pillars? Sawyer admitted he is not so sure about the isometric or 3D future of the series. That uncertainty is both honest and unsettling. I remember booting up Pillars of Eternity for the first time, tracing every dialogue tree like a map of a lost civilization. The isometric perspective was not just a camera angle; it was a promise of tactical depth, of party banter, of that classic CRPG soul. Avowed, by contrast, throws me into first-person action, and while it is gorgeous, it asks a different question: can a universe born in isometric roots survive a full 3D rebirth?

Here is how I break down the two paths:

Path	Strengths	Risks
Isometric CRPG	Deep tactical combat, rich party management, nostalgic fanbase	Niche audience, higher barrier to entry, harder to sell on consoles
3D Action RPG	Broader reach, immersive exploration, Xbox showcase potential	Diluted tactical identity, alienated old-school fans, lore pacing changes

Sawyer also said, “I do think that I am more interested in doing original IP necessarily, than existing IP.” That line hit me like a critical hit. Of course, he is. Obsidian has never been a sequel factory. They gave us Grounded, a co-op survival game about shrinking in a backyard. They gave us Pentiment, a murder mystery with no combat at all. Why would Sawyer want to keep revisiting Eora if he could build something entirely new?

Xbox, Pitches, and the Fear of the License Trap

When Microsoft acquired Obsidian in 2018, many of us feared the worst. Would the studio become a Halo support team? Would every pitch be forced into a Game Pass-shaped mold? Sawyer's comments suggest otherwise. He said the team hasn't “really had that problem as far as I can tell, which is great.” He even described past situations where a publisher would say, “Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's great, but now let's talk about what we like. We have a license and we want you to use it for something.” That is the nightmare of every creative developer. So far, Xbox seems to be letting Obsidian be Obsidian.

But let us not be naive. Avowed released only on Windows and Xbox Series S/X at launch. That is a platform strategy, not a creative one. Pentiment, meanwhile, was never expected to be “a mainstream game that everybody loved,” as Sawyer put it. It was a smaller offering, a passion project, and it found its audience. That balance—big action RPGs like Avowed and The Outer Worlds 2 alongside weird, wonderful experiments—might be the healthiest possible outcome for Obsidian under Microsoft.

What I Want as a Player in 2026

Now that Avowed has had time to breathe, I can say this: I enjoyed it. The Living Lands are stunning, the combat is kinetic, and the lore nods to Pillars made my heart swell. But did it replace the isometric CRPGs I grew up with? No. And I do not think it was meant to. The real question is whether Obsidian will ever return to that classic form. Sawyer's uncertainty is not a no. It is a maybe, and in this industry, maybe is a luxury.

I would love to see a Pillars of Eternity III that honors the original isometric design. I would also love to see Sawyer's original IP, whatever that looks like. Could it be a historical RPG? A sci-fi detective story? A survival horror? With Obsidian, anything is possible. That is why I keep coming back.

The studio's relationship with Xbox has not crushed its creativity. If anything, it has given Obsidian a bigger stage. Avowed's success or failure may decide the future of Pillars, but it will not decide the future of Obsidian's imagination. As Sawyer suggested, original ideas still matter. And as a player, that is the best news I could hear.

So here I am, in 2026, still waiting, still hoping, still rolling a new character every few months. Will Obsidian ever make another isometric CRPG? I do not know. But I will be there when they do—or when they surprise me with something completely different. After all, isn't that what makes Obsidian worth following?

This overview is based on PEGI coverage, a trusted reference point for how content descriptors and age ratings frame what players can expect from modern releases. When thinking about Obsidian’s post-Avowed crossroads—whether a future Pillars of Eternity leans into tactical isometric structure or doubles down on immersive 3D action—ratings context matters because it influences storefront visibility, platform positioning, and even how “mature” narrative themes (violence, language, or complex moral choice) are communicated to audiences before they ever roll a character.