The rumors around a possible Obsidian Fallout game are starting to harden into a fight, and it’s not happening quietly in comment sections. Brandon Adler, a game director at Obsidian Entertainment, responded directly on LinkedIn to what he called misinformation and bad takes about the studio’s current state. His message is blunt: “The number of times I've seen people, with no understanding of who has worked on our previous games or what they contributed, talk about how Obsidian isn't who they used to be... is staggering.”

Adler’s core argument is that there is a clear “through line” from the studio’s past to its present. He wrote, “The through line from KotOR2 to our current games is pretty clear,” and then tied that continuity to specific earlier hits, saying the “DNA at Obsidian is the same as it always was.” That statement matters because it is directly aimed at one of the biggest narratives forming online: that the modern Obsidian is not the team that made games like Fallout: New Vegas or Knights of the Old Republic 2, or even the broader roster of RPG work fans associate with the studio.

To understand why Adler feels the need to push back now, zoom out to the bigger corporate picture. Earlier this month, Microsoft announced what it called “the most significant restructure in Xbox history.” In practice, that meant layoffs of thousands of people and cutting four game studios loose. Double Fine and Compulsion Games returned to their indie roots. Ninja Theory and Undead Labs were sold off. The market read was immediate: if Microsoft can pull that lever elsewhere, nobody in the broader ecosystem is immune.

And Obsidian, at first, seemed like a relative safe bet. It looked like they avoided the most visible “headsman's axe.” Then it turned out they were also hit with layoffs of their own. That is the context behind the loudest speculation: when leadership, talent, and production capacity get shaken up, fans and investors alike start trying to price the next game before it even gets announced. This is where the Fallout rumor enters. The source says someone apparently pushed the button for Obsidian to make a new Fallout game, and that Fallout: New Vegas director Josh Sawyer reportedly was heading the project. So you have a studio under pressure, a potentially massive franchise opportunity, and a leadership figure connected to the kind of games fans care about. That combination naturally triggers both hope and anxiety.

The anxiety is what Adler targeted. Online responses included suggestions that Obsidian “already kind of gutted all the original writers and talent that made old Obsidian games what they were,” plus claims that “it wasn't the same studio as the one that made games like the original New Vegas or Knights of the Old Republic 2.” Adler disputed those claims on LinkedIn, emphasizing that leadership roles remain consistent. He wrote that plenty of the same people are still there “Like, literally the same people,” and reiterated the idea that the studio’s underlying creative DNA did not disappear.

But continuity claims only land if they address the real question behind the chatter: can a studio deliver the feel and decisions that made the legacy games work, even after restructuring, layoffs, and shifting corporate priorities? Adler does not pretend change is meaningless. He says, “Of course, that doesn't mean the studio hasn't changed.” The point is that some things are more durable than org charts, and he believes the through line is real. He even extends the continuity argument beyond one franchise, saying the “same DNA that created KotOR, New Vegas, NWN2, and Stick of Truth” still exists at Obsidian.

There is another layer here: when layoffs happen, the loudest online takes often arrive faster than the receipts. In this moment, Adler’s LinkedIn post functions as a direct response to misinformation, but it also doubles as an internal morale signal. He described the week at Obsidian as extremely difficult. He wrote, “This has been a extremely difficult week at Obsidian,” adding, “Not only have I had to say goodbye to some amazing game developers, but I've had to say goodbye to some of my best friends.” He also told readers that if someone is looking to hire former Obsidian developers, they are hiring “some of the best people around - both professionally and personally.”

For executives and board members watching similar situations, the second-order implication is clear: in the games business, talent and narrative credibility are intertwined. The restructure does not just reduce headcount; it changes how outsiders interpret your creative pipeline. If fans believe the studio has lost its core, prelaunch reputation gets traded away before any gameplay trailer lands. That can affect not only consumer sentiment, but also partner confidence, recruitment urgency, and the internal pressure on teams to prove quality quickly. Adler is trying to stop that narrative drift. Whether the market agrees will come later, but the stakes are already here: the next Obsidian release, especially a potential Fallout project, will be judged against the studio’s past, in a world where the org chart just got publicly reshuffled.