Obsidian Is Moving Under Bethesda — Here’s What It Means for Grounded 2
Obsidian is moving under Bethesda as part of a wider reorganisation of Xbox’s first-party studios, but the clearest message for Grounded 2 players is that development is continuing.
Xbox announced the change on September 22, saying Bethesda would “expand its remit to include Obsidian”. In the same announcement, Xbox specifically said Obsidian would continue its current projects, including Grounded.
That distinction matters. This isn’t Bethesda acquiring Obsidian — Microsoft already owns both companies — and Xbox hasn’t announced a change of developer or publisher for Grounded 2. It’s an internal restructuring of how its studios report and are grouped.
A subsequent internal Bethesda memo gives us a better idea of what that means in practice.
According to reporting that reproduced a memo from Bethesda president Jill Braff, Obsidian will now report to her, while Feargus Urquhart and the existing Obsidian leadership team remain in charge of the studio. Braff described the move as primarily a reporting-structure change and said Obsidian’s creative identity would remain intact.
Perhaps the most relevant line for Grounded 2 is that Bethesda is not asking its teams to reset their existing plans or change what they are currently working on.
For a game still in active development, that is useful reassurance.
Grounded 2 remains in Early Access/Game Preview, with Obsidian continuing to develop the game alongside Eidos-Montréal. The restructuring announcement does not change the current version of the game or replace its existing roadmap, and nothing announced so far indicates that Bethesda is taking direct creative control of Grounded 2.
It also doesn’t give us a new release date or make any individual roadmap milestone more certain. The next major Grounded 2 update is still scheduled for Fall 2026, but its exact release date and final version number have not been announced.
The Bethesda move is part of a much larger Xbox reorganisation. Activision is also taking responsibility for Rare and World’s Edge, while Playground Games and Turn 10 are being brought together around the Forza and Fable franchises. Xbox also announced 268 job cuts across parts of its first-party organisation.
For Obsidian, though, the information released so far points more towards a change in corporate oversight than a reset of the studio itself.
The thing to watch now is whether Bethesda’s expanded role produces any practical changes for Grounded 2 — particularly around publishing, production support or the way Obsidian works with other Xbox studios. So far, neither Xbox nor Obsidian has announced any such change.
For Grounded 2 players, the position remains straightforward: development continues, Obsidian’s existing leadership remains in place, and there is currently no evidence that the Bethesda restructuring has altered the game’s roadmap.