A Glimpse into the Future: John Gonzalez’s Return to Obsidian and What It Means for Gaming
John Gonzalez, the primary writer behind Fallout: New Vegas and Horizon: Zero Dawn, has declared his comeback to Obsidian Entertainment after spending 14 years in various roles outside the company—yet, as he indicates, this is not to develop Fallout: New Vegas 2.
Gonzalez initially joined Obsidian in 2008, following a two-year tenure as lead writer at Ubisoft. He stayed with Obsidian for just over two years, but his influence as the “lead story guy” on the beloved Fallout: New Vegas was significant. He was responsible for its quests and “most of” the dialogue, introducing memorable characters such as Mr. House and Yes Man.
Subsequently, Gonzalez spent two and a half years at Monolith Productions, where he served as the lead writer for the renowned Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor. In 2016, he transitioned to Guerrilla Games, where he worked as the narrative director for the highly acclaimed Horizon: Zero Dawn and its sequel. Since then, he has been involved in a series of smaller projects, including his “final video game novel,” God Mode, and now he has returned to familiar territory.
Gonzalez shared his return to Obsidian Entertainment in a brief post on LinkedIn, and his updated profile confirms he has officially joined as the studio’s new creative director. As for what he will be working on, that remains unclear aside from vague hints about “exciting times.” However, Gonzalez did clarify with a brief note, stating, “No, it’s not Fallout: New Vegas 2.”
Undoubtedly, “exciting times” at Obsidian presents an enticing prospect given the studio’s long history of exceptional titles, including The Outer Worlds, Grounded, and Pentiment. Avowed and The Outer Worlds 2 are next on the agenda for the studio, but it seems unlikely that Gonzalez will have significant involvement with those, as the first is set to release in three weeks and the latter this year. All of this indicates he has been brought in to contribute to Obsidian’s next project.
The remaining question is whether Gonzalez’s effort to quash the Fallout: New Vegas 2 speculation is genuine or a clever bit of misdirection.