Reports are circling around the web regarding an imminently/closed deal between Microsoft and Obsidian Entertainment, developers of Fallout: New Vegas and, more recently, the Pillars of Eternity series. Microsoft has been on a roll with its investment in games studios, bringing numerous big development houses (such as Playground Games, Ninja Theory, Undead Labs) to their fold and putting together new internal studios (The Initiative, for one).

Should the deal go through, Obsidian Entertainment would bring a wealth of new RPG games development experience to the Microsoft Game Studios umbrella - with a specific focus on PC gaming. At the same time, Obsidian Entertainment themselves would have access to resources and tools that would otherwise never be available for them - and have we said this is Microsoft's coffers and resources we're talking about? Even though Phil Spencer is often seen as a magnanimous leader of Microsoft's entertainment division, Obsidian could find themselves working on some specific projects for Microsoft, instead of pursuing their own IPs/new IP ideas. Or that could not materialize at all, and the studio be given free reign (as much as there can be in these things) for their own creativity.Asked for comment, Microsoft and Obsidian representatives had this to say:

"We do not comment on rumors or speculation." -Microsoft

While Obsidian actually answered in a meaningful, mystery-settling way for some existential questions some readers might have:

"Unfortunately, we don't comment on rumours or speculation other than to say that the Rumors album by Fleetwood Mac still holds up." -Obsidian Entertainment