Obsidian will remain a “distinct” Obsidian with their own “creative identity and strengths”, despite no longer operating independently of fellow Xbox-owned RPG makers Bethesda. That’s according to Jill Braff, president of Bethesda and Microsoft’s casual games division, in a memo sent to staff at the former following this week’s layoffs and reorganising of studios at Xbox.

“Obsidian has extraordinary creative talent, deep expertise, and a long history of creating memorable games and experiences,” the exec wrote in the memo, which has been published by IGN. “I’m looking forward to working more closely with them. Today’s announcement is primarily a change in reporting structure. The creative identity and strengths that make Obsidian distinct will remain at the core of their studio and work.

“[CEO] Feargus [Urquhart] and the Obsidian leadership team will continue to lead Obsidian, with the studio reporting to me. Bethesda Game Studios will continue to lead the Fallout franchise. Together, the teams will build on their longstanding relationship and the early work already underway on a new Fallout project, with more to share in the months ahead. This structure supports the franchise-led model we’ve been strengthening while keeping accountability for both the studio and the franchise clear.”

Braff added that this isn’t a case of the company “resetting [their] roadmap or asking teams to change what they’re focused on”, and that they’ll instead “take the time to understand how teams can best support one another, and where closer partnership can benefit our players and fans”.

To be fair, that switch in focus already happened for at least some of Obsidian’s remaining devs prior to this week’s cuts, with them being put to work on that new Fallout game helmed by New Vegas director Josh Sawyer. Obsidian’s own RPG series, The Outer Worlds and Avowed, look to have gone thoroughly on the backburner as part of the shift.

It’s very difficult to see how Xbox can have and eat the cake Braff describes. The distinct identity the exec celebrates in the memo exists because of Obsidian’s previous independence. If they can’t work on their own unique game series without the boss of another game studio with its own long-established creative identity perched atop them, it’s more likely they’ll morph into a collaborator, simply supporting Bethesda’s series. That second outcome would better fit the mould Xbox are adopting, in which they’re rallying around a small number of well-established big hitter game series.

At best, enough of that distinct Obsidian identity is allowed to be retained that the Fallout game the studio have in the works is as much of a yin to Bethesda’s wasteland-crafting yang as New Vegas was all those years ago. But even then, there doesn’t seem like there’ll be room to play to other strengths and creative strong points to foster series that could be part of the next generation of RPG hits. If swings on The Outer Worlds and Avowed appear unlikely, we’re almost certainly not getting another esoteric, small-scale RPG like Pentiment. Fallout and The Elder Scrolls didn’t build their vast reputations and mass appeal overnight. There’s also more pressure on both series now than ever before: Xbox appear to be enshrining them saviours that will carry the wider company wherever their bosses decide they want them to go.

To torture a Fallout metaphor a bit, a town previously just within NCR or Legion-controlled territory simply won’t be as free if either faction stations a garrison right in the middle of it. This could prove preferable for the town in terms of being a place where residents can get on with living and working in ways their rulers approve of, but – especially over time – the price paid for that will be a dilution of their established cultural identity and opportunity to benefit from leeway to do as they please.

Obsidian can’t remain the same old “distinct” Obsidian if Xbox don’t trust them enough let them remain in their own distinct corner of the corporate structure, rather than heavy-handedly annexing them into a larger RPG-making nation that already has its own identity.