The Outer Worlds 2 could include multiplayer features

There are indications that The Outer Worlds 2 may feature multiplayer elements. This unofficial information about the upcoming game represents a potentially significant addition to what fans can expect from Obsidian Entertainment in the near future.

The studio, owned by the Microsoft Corporation, is currently pursuing multiple projects, two of which have already been announced: Avowed and The Outer Worlds 2. A job listing in April 2023 also hinted that Obsidian is currently working on another game powered by the Unity engine.

The hint that The Outer Worlds 2 may include multiplayer elements comes from another open position within the company, which Obsidian posted earlier this week. Although the job listing does not mention the name of The Outer Worlds sequel specifically, it states that the studio is seeking an experienced network programmer to assist with the development of "multiplayer gameplay systems using the Unreal Engine." This description suggests that the job listing is unrelated to the aforementioned Unity project and indirectly rules out any connection to Avowed, which is powered by Unreal Engine 5.

Although Avowed was initially envisioned as a cooperative role-playing game, Obsidian abandoned the multiplayer aspects during development, as revealed in the company's 20th-anniversary documentary in early August. Ignoring the rather unlikely scenario that Obsidian, a studio with fewer than 300 employees, is currently working on four or more projects, this newly emerged job listing suggests that The Outer Worlds 2 will feature some form of multiplayer functionality.

Although not immediately apparent, this implication also aligns with a recent report suggesting that The Outer Worlds 2 may potentially be released for PlayStation. Prior to this leak, it was expected that the upcoming title, given Obsidian's current affiliation with Xbox Game Studios, would not reach Sony's ecosystem. However, multiplayer games have proven to be partially exempt from Microsoft's policy of withholding first-party content from its strongest competitor. The most prominent example of this phenomenon this year was the Call of Duty deal that Sony struck with Microsoft in July.

And while the tech giant undoubtedly had a financial interest in realizing this agreement as part of its efforts to finalize the pending acquisition of Activision Blizzard, the company was merely continuing its historical tendency to prioritize accessibility over exclusivity in multiplayer games. The same ambition likely influenced the company's decision to offer Fallout 76 for free to PlayStation Plus subscribers in January. Therefore, it could well contribute to The Outer Worlds 2 becoming cross-platform, provided that the upcoming game does indeed include multiplayer elements.

The Outer Worlds 2 is currently in development.