Obsidian Entertainment is an American video game developer based in Irvine, California, best known for story-driven role-playing games such as Fallout: New Vegas, Pillars of Eternity and The Outer Worlds. Founded in June 2003 by five veterans of Black Isle Studios, it has been part of Microsoft‘s Xbox Game Studios since 2018.[1]
Company History
Obsidian was founded on 12 June 2003 by Feargus Urquhart, Chris Avellone, Chris Parker, Darren Monahan and Chris Jones. All five had worked at Black Isle Studios, the role-playing division of Interplay, which was closed in December of the same year.[2] Interplay’s financial problems had already cost it the licence for Dungeons & Dragons games, and Urquhart concluded that staying was no longer a realistic option.[1]
The studio’s first game was Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II – The Sith Lords (2004), a sequel to a BioWare game set in the Star Wars universe. Neverwinter Nights 2 followed in 2006, and Alpha Protocol, published by Sega, became its first original title.[2] In 2010 it released Fallout: New Vegas, an entry in the Fallout series that remains one of its best-known games.[1]
In 2012 Obsidian turned to its fans for funding: a Kickstarter campaign for Project Eternity raised about $4 million, and the game was released as Pillars of Eternity in 2015.[1] Microsoft announced it was acquiring Obsidian, alongside inXile Entertainment, at its X018 event in Mexico City in November 2018.[3] Since then the studio has released The Outer Worlds (2019), Grounded, Pentiment (2022), Avowed (2025) and The Outer Worlds 2 (2025).[1] Its own website lists Grounded 2 among its current games.[4]
Design and History
The mark in this archive is a single-colour wordmark. “OBSIDIAN” is set in heavy capitals whose edges are rough and slightly chipped, as if cut from stone. Below it, the word “entertainment” runs in small, widely spaced lowercase letters between two thin horizontal rules that match the width of the main word.
Obsidian has not published the name of the designer or the date this version was introduced, and we found no reliable record of either. Logo Index therefore lists neither. The studio’s games often carry their own logos, but this wordmark is the one used for the company itself.
Meaning and Symbolism
The founders chose the name from a short list that also included “Scorched Earth” and “Three Clown Software”. They picked Obsidian because it sounded strong and memorable, and because it echoed the name of their former studio, Black Isle.[1]
Obsidian is a black volcanic glass that breaks into sharp, uneven edges, and the logo’s rough letterforms suggest that material. This reading is ours; the studio has not explained the design. The weathered, carved look also suits a developer known for fantasy and post-apocalyptic worlds.
Typography and Design
The logo works through contrast in scale. The large, dense capitals carry the name, while the light, spaced-out “entertainment” line acts almost like a caption underneath. The two rules frame that smaller word and lock the two lines into one compact block, which helps the mark sit cleanly on game boxes, title screens and credits.
Because it uses only black, the logo depends on texture rather than colour for its character. That makes it easy to reproduce in reverse, in white on dark game menus and backgrounds.
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