The team behind the Halo games were able to lend a helping hand on The Outer Worlds 2 to improve its gunplay. Xbox owns a lot of video game studios, some of which are homegrown such as 343 Industries (now known as Halo Studios) and The Coalition while others were bought and paid for like Ninja Theory and Bethesda. Xbox went on a big buying spree over the last decade, swallowing up major video game developers and publishers in a sort of arms race against Sony. PlayStation had a strong first-party line-up on the PS4 generation and it showed the disparity between PlayStation and Xbox, prompting Xbox to try and find proven talent with beloved IP.
One of its smartest purchases was Obsidian Entertainment, an RPG developer known for Fallout: New Vegas, Pillars of Eternity, and more. The developer was the right size for an acquisition meaning not big enough to anger too many people, but also sizable enough to draw some eyes toward Xbox’s first-party ambitions. Obsidian put out Avowed earlier this year to a decent reception from fans and critics, praising it as a nice companion to something like The Elder Scrolls series and now, the studio is gearing up for the release of The Outer Worlds 2 this fall.
The Outer Worlds 2‘s Combat Was Improved by Halo Studios
The Outer Worlds was a 2019 game that was a nice mid-sized RPG. It wasn’t so big that you’d spend hundreds of hours trying to complete everything, it was just a nice experience that gave you something to do for a couple of weeks. It had a great tone, strong writing, and a fun world to explore, prompting excitement for a potential sequel. However, the gunplay was a bit cookie cutter, as that’s not really where Obsidian historically operates. For The Outer Worlds 2, Obsidian utilized its colleagues at other Xbox studios to figure out how to strengthen the game.
Game director Brandon Adler told The Guardian (via Rebs Gaming on Twitter) that it looked at other shooters to improve its gunplay and even spoke to the team over at Halo Studios who provided constructive feedback on how to make the game better. To their credit, The Guardian writer Alyssa Mercante noted that the game’s combat felt a lot better and the difference wasn’t minor in the slightest.
“We did a full breakdown on Destiny, because we love how that felt,” said Adler. “We also talked to the Halo folks … They gave us a huge list of stuff and said, ‘You guys should target this … you should add that to your weapon configurations.’”
The Outer Worlds 2 is looking like it will be a promising 2025 release and help fill out a pretty strong year for Xbox, something necessary since it is an $80 release. If combat is improved, it could end up being one of the best shooters or RPGs of the year as well as the first game was already pretty strong in other departments. The jury is still out on this one, but it’s good to see Obsidian making the most of its resources under a massive umbrella like Xbox.
The Outer Worlds 2 will release for Xbox Series X|S, PS5, and PC on October 29th, 2025.
