The way people talk like here it would seem like another forced vivendi-ubisoft takeover....

But it's not. Obsidian is not being forced to oblige. It's their choice. And their choice should be respected, whether they say yes or no. But no, they HAVE TO ASK US FANS FIRST! HOW DARE THEY!?

If Sony acquired obsidian, people would be cheering and celebrating (completely ignoring the fact they themselves has closed half a dozen studios in the last decade as well), only because it's exclusive to their console of choice now.

I do get that they aren't really linked to Microsoft and usually what Sony buys does but I'm not really buying that reason. If that were the case than shouldn't the gaming public be mad Sony bought the rights for something like Spider-Man? It's the same situation as Microsoft buying a studio they aren't associated with only they bought a game not a studio. And it's not like Microsoft was the only option for ninja theory, obsidian etc etc. They were "free agents" so to speak and chose to join Microsoft for whatever reason. There was nothing stopping Sony, EA etc etc from putting in offers, and maybe they did and got outbid. 

But... Obsidian currently work with Take-Two on some secret RPG.

It won't help to improve the quality of their first-party output. 

Microsoft thinks everything can be done as long as you throw enough money at it. Developer-wise they're just not very good, most of their games receive poor to mixed reviews.

actually yes

"Phil Harrison’s vision for all of his studios in Europe was now for service-based games. That’s what he thought was the future of games."

this is from the story about how lionhead closed, but its clear they wanted their games to be service based, and that applied to rare games as well. the writing is on the wall. 

also

"But according to Kotaku UK's sources, the project -- initially pitched as a "medium-scale game, a AA game""

thats more evidence that MS didnt want big budgets on these games

link

https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/274665/Why_Lionhead_sank_beneath_the_weight_of_Fable_Legends.php

Be careful, soon papa Phil might take over your microwaves as well.

Hope it isn't true. I quite like Obsidian, and I actually want to buy their games in the future, ones that aren't locked to a console store, let alone the crappy Windows 10 store.

Leave them be.

Too late, Bethesda already did that with Skyrim.

Yeah its crazy how the community works on here. They would much rather Sony buy them out where than they become solely exclusive to PS devices and nothing more, locking away cross play and the only way to play it is on PS console, yet MS a company who offers variety in terms of features and venues is considered a bad industry move. Heck if Sony brought Obsidian I would expect QTE based RPGs. Yet lets hate on MS.

Gamers need to make up there minds here, they cry about MS not having any games yet cry when they do something about it. Its actually so sad it makes me laugh.

Where does it state that MS didn't give Rare creative freedom?

EDITED: Okay I thought you were talking about Sea of Thieves. We all know Fable sucked after 2, MS tried to turn Lion Head around by changing them unfortunately it was too late and there last 3 games were a disaster which led to the doors closing. That's obvious.

because the core of those complaints arent that they are microsoft games, but how microsoft handles their studios and franchises.

- Rare was butchered, and people still complain about this dev till this day.

- Lionhead was basically forced to work on games they didnt want to make, and when the end result was bad, MS closed them. MS's decisions were the one who led them down that path

- Black Tusk, now The Coalition, was made to drop its new IP and to be a gears Machine. heck they literally made them come out and say that they are a "gears studio". its clear there is a lack of creative freedom

- Bungie was practically forced out of MS for the lack of creative freedom and choices. they lost their best first party studio because they didnt let them make anything but halo. that would be as big as Sony losing naughty dog.

- Phantom dust devs, Darkside games, was forced to close after MS constant meddling in their development. MS basically screwed them over and kept demanding more and more from them, without willing to add more to the budget. the end result was it was cancelled and the studio closed

- Scalebound died a slow and painfull death

- Crackdown 3 might have the same fate as scalebound. even if it didnt, it still went through development hell. and it was even announced before they had a developer to work on it!

- at the start of the gen MS announced they had 5 brand new studios to create the future of MS's games. only one of those studios ever released a game (black tusk/the coalition). MS Victoria was one of those devs that got closed. 

- Quantum Break was announced alongside the xbox one announcement. which was infamous for its focus on "TV". and guess what, QB had a "tv show" plugged in a video game somehow, the end product was not too good. and while this isnt nearly as bad as the previous mentions its just another indication of MS middling in the games and doing what they want instead of letting a dev make the game they want to make. 

anyhow, take a look at that list and realize that without the rare example, these are ALL just from THIS GEN. heck even rare (and lionhead) were forced to make service based games. of course you can come up with the argument that Sony and Nintendo closed some studios this gen and had some blunders. but MS had no where near the success that those publishers have had, further indicating that there is indeed a problem with how Microsoft mismanages its studios, thus a realistic and founded fear for the fans of obsidian about the well being of the studio and fears that it might be butchered or forced to be a shadow of its self, like many other MS studios have been made to do.