There are some publishers that get a little invasive when they purchase a game studio. Activision is certainly one of them. EA has a long history of injecting their corporate culture into studios and then driving them to extinction. And then there’s Microsoft.

Microsoft is certainly a larger publisher with a lot of studios under its belt, and at times it certainly seemed like they’d be just as bad as Activision or EA, but lately they’ve turned out to be the good guys of the gaming industry. Pro-consumer policies like cross-play, backward compatibility, and transparency are all hallmarks of Microsoft and Xbox these days, and it turns out that those friendly policies aren’t just for customers, but also for their own employees.

Take Obsidian. The darling RPG-centric studio was acquired back in November of 2018 and then went on to release both The Outer Worlds and Grounded. And as it turns out, Microsoft was very hands-off in both games’ development, according to Obsidian’s Adam Brennecke.

"Microsoft's been amazing at keeping that culture of the studio intact,” said the Grounded director in a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz. “We just have more resources at our disposal to make even better games."

Obsidian has managed to maintain a small studio culture despite growing to over 190 employees in recent years. So even as Microsoft pumps cash into Obsidian to help it grow, the freedom to do what they want let's them keep everything small--a useful thing for making a game about shrinking kids.

RELATED: Grounded: How To Upgrade Insect Axe To Level 2

"It's amazing that the founders of Obsidian are still in the trenches with us making stuff,” Brennecke added. “I can go to Feargus [Urquhart, co-founder]'s office. Of course, I can't do that right now. I can call him up on the phone at any time and just have a discussion with him about anything."

Grounded
via Steam
Grounded

The team that made Grounded is only about 14 people, but they’re all Obsidian veterans with tons of game-making experience. Brennecke thinks that the small size not only helps to make their team more cohesive but also lets them respond to challenges and make changes far quicker than a larger dev team could.

Grounded is still in Early Access but has already gained over 1 million players on Steam and Xbox Game Pass. If you’re looking to get small, check out our beginner’s guide to help get you started.

Source: GamesIndustry.biz

NEXT: Alien Invasion Defense Game Project: ELITE Has Arrived