Inxile Entertainment, the Microsoft first-party development studio behind 2020’s squad-based role-playing gameWasteland 3,has had a productive past few months. First, its post-apocalyptic isometric RPG passed the notablemilestone of reaching one million players. Then the title earned a Game Awards 2020 nomination for Best Role Playing Game. And the company’s 20-player virtual reality game,Frostpoint VR,launched in December.
Now Inxile seems to be ramping up its team for development of the “wonderful new” RPG the company’sCEO Brian Fargo tweeted about back in September 2020. A number of job listings have been posted for Inxile’s California studio, as well as a couple of openings at its Louisiana location. The company is looking for artists, animators, designers, engineers, and tools programmers of varying specialties, including gameplay design, facial animation, and lighting.
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Digging more deeply into the job descriptions reveals that the new hires will be working on a next-generation AAA first-person RPGdeveloped using Unreal Engine 5. While not much else can be gleaned from the job listings, the available art director role specifies that the position will help “bring an extraordinary new world to life.” The distinction that the project will be a first-person title and take place in a new setting confirms that the game is notWasteland 3.
In 2002, Interplay founder Brian Fargo left that company to start Inxile Entertainment, bringing with him a number of experienced developers who had worked on the originalWastelandand games from theFalloutseries.Inxile later releasedWasteland 2in 2014and a remastered version of the first game in early 2020.
In 2018, both Inxile andObsidian Entertainmentwere acquired by Microsoft to join the conglomerate of first-party Xbox development studios. Along with the purchase of Bethesda in September 2020, which owns the licensing rights to theFalloutfranchise, Microsoft now oversees three game companies that have been directly involved with theFalloutseries.
While it’s safe to assume that Inxile’s current first-person RPG will not be aFallouttitle, considering that the game’s setting is described as being a “new world,” the possibilities engendered by these three experienced companies coming together beneath the Microsoft umbrella is exciting, to say the least.
Wasteland 3is available on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
