It has been rumored for quite a while now that Microsoft is planning to acquire Obsidian Entertainment (Pillars of Eternity, Fallout: New Vegas, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2), so it shouldn't come as too much of a surprise to hear that the deal has now gone through successfully. What might come as a rather big surprise is that Microsoft has also suddenly acquired inXile Entertainment (Wasteland 2, Torment: Tides of Numenera, The Bard's Tale IV)!

What exactly this means for the future of both studios, nobody currently knows, but chances are that both inXile and Obsidian will continue on with their previous plans for the time being. After all, Microsoft has had a pretty hands-off relationship with Compulsion Games and their latest game We Happy Few, so I wouldn't be too worried about the future of Wasteland 3. Once the current projects are completed, however, odds are that both inXile and Obsidian will be set to work on Xbox One and Windows exclusive games.

Personally, if this chain of events happened even a few years ago I would have been extremely disappointed as Microsoft's history with outside studios has not exactly been the greatest, but these days they really seem to have turned over a new leaf. In fact, they've changed so drastically in such a short amount of time that I'm actually considering believing their annual "this is the year we're actually going to go all-out on supporting PC gaming!" statement, and that is not something I say lightly given how many times they've fallen back on their word.

Once more information becomes available I'll make sure to let you know, but until then I'll leave you the recent announcement videos from Obsidian and inXile discussing their new situation. Enjoy!