In 2012, Obsidian Entertainment almost fell apart. The independent game studio had just suffered a major blow—the cancellation of a big-budget role-playing game they were developing with Microsoft—and they were struggling to make ends meet in the midst of an uncertain, transitional gaming industry.
in March of 2012, Microsoft cancelled the RPG they’d contracted Obsidian to make for their new Xbox, which was then called Durango. Obsidian was calling the game Stormlands, according to a source, and they’d designed it to be one of the Xbox One’s premiere RPGs, but Microsoft axed it during a final greenlight meeting.