{"id":849813,"date":"2025-05-20T20:12:06","date_gmt":"2025-05-21T01:12:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/20\/avowed-game-director-departs-obsidian-joins-netflixs-gaming-team\/"},"modified":"2025-05-20T20:12:06","modified_gmt":"2025-05-21T01:12:06","slug":"avowed-game-director-departs-obsidian-joins-netflixs-gaming-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/20\/avowed-game-director-departs-obsidian-joins-netflixs-gaming-team\/","title":{"rendered":"Avowed game director departs Obsidian, joins Netflix&#8217;s gaming team"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Entertainment <\/p>\n<div data-component=\"article-header\">\n<div id=\"main-content\">\n<p>Now part of Oxenfree studio.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<figure>\n  <img  loading=\"eager\" alt=\"Entertainment Composite image showing Avowed artwork on the left and a close-up of an Oxenfree 2 character on the right.\" src-full=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/avowed-oxenfree.jpg?width=1920&#038;height=1920&#038;fit=bounds&#038;quality=70&#038;format=jpg&#038;auto=webp\" width=\"690\" height=\"388\" fetchpriority=\"high\"><figcaption>\n          <span>Image credit: <cite>Eurogamer<\/cite><\/span><br \/>\n        <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-component=\"article-content\">\n<p>\nCarrie Patel, who served as game director on this year&#8217;s acclaimed fantasy action-RPG <a data-keyword=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/avowed\">Avowed<\/a>, has confirmed her departure from Obsidian Entertainment after nearly 12 years with the studio and announced a new role at Netflix.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nPatel, who was very much the face of Avowed throughout its development, shared the news in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/carrie-patel-80003aa\/\">brief update on LinkedIn<\/a>, revealing she&#8217;s now working within Netflix&#8217;s gaming division, having joined Oxenfree developer Night School Studio as a game director.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nShe offered no further clue as to what she&#8217;ll be working on at Night School in her update, but the Oxenfree and Afterparty studio has an impressive track record, despite its limited output since being <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/netflix-acquires-oxenfree-developer-night-school-studio\">acquired by Netflix in 2021<\/a>. It released Oxenfree 2: Lost Signals in 2023 but nothing else until <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/the-new-netflix-black-mirror-series-has-another-bandersnatch-like-gaming-crossover-moment-but-you-might-not-even-notice-it\">Black Mirror tie-in Thronglets<\/a> arrived earlier this year &#8211; a release that followed an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/netflix-culls-staff-at-oxenfree-developer-night-school-studio\">unspecified number of layoffs at Night School<\/a> in March.\n<\/p>\n<figure>\n<div>\n<a aria-label=\"Avowed Review: One of This Year\u2019s Most Pleasant Surprises\" data-platform=\"youtube\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/equGBZBUjVg?autoplay=1\" onclick=\"((e) => { e.preventDefault(); e.currentTarget.closest(&#8216;.video_wrapper&#8217;).innerHTML = e.currentTarget.querySelector(&#8216;template&#8217;).innerHTML; enableElements(); })(event)&#8221; title=&#8221;Click to play video from YouTube&#8221;><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Entertainment Cover image for YouTube video\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/equGBZBUjVg\/hqdefault.jpg\"><span>Avowed Review: One of This Year\u2019s Most Pleasant Surprises<\/span><br \/>\n<template><br \/>\n<iframe allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/equGBZBUjVg?autoplay=1\" frameborder=\"0\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/equGBZBUjVg?autoplay=1\" title=\"Avowed Review: One of This Year\u2019s Most Pleasant Surprises\"><br \/>\n<\/iframe> <\/template><br \/>\n<\/a>\n<\/div><figcaption>&#8220;One of this year&#8217;s most pleasant surprises&#8221;, we called Avowed.<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=equGBZBUjVg\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Watch on YouTube<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\nNetflix&#8217;s gaming strategy has taken some dramatic shifts in direction since the streaming service&#8217;s first tentative steps back in 2021. After an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/former-halo-infinite-creative-head-joseph-staten-joins-netflix-games\">initial focus on mobile titles<\/a>, it seemed ready to stride into the world of AAA console gaming in 2023, even <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/netflix-acquires-oxenfree-developer-night-school-studio\">hitting up longtime Halo creative lead Joseph Staten<\/a>, <a data-keyword=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/overwatch\">Overwatch<\/a> executive producer Chacko Sonny, and God of War art director Rafael Grassetti to found a new development team.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nHowever, Netflix <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/netflix-closes-aaa-internal-studio-led-by-halo-creative-head-joseph-staten\">quietly closed the studio late last year<\/a>, and is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/netflix-games-boss-says-consoles-not-the-future-as-streamer-looks-to-phone-controlled-party-games\">reportedly now focusing on<\/a> narrative and transmedia projects, on big mainstream IP, on being a destination for families, and on party games played on TVs using mobile phones as a controller. That does, of course, still leave room for Night Studio &#8211; and Patel &#8211; to continue making the kind of games it does best.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nAs for Avowed, prior to Patel&#8217;s departure from Obsidian, she suggested it <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/avowed-director-hints-at-a-future-for-the-franchise\">wasn&#8217;t a one-and-done effort<\/a>. &#8220;Now that we&#8217;ve built this wonderful world, and also built this team strength and muscle memory around the content and gameplay in this world,&#8221; she explained, &#8220;I&#8217;d love to see us do more with it.&#8221; Next up for Obsidian, though, is <a data-keyword=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/the-outer-worlds\">The Outer Worlds<\/a> 2. It&#8217;s due later this year, with a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/xbox-announces-june-showcase-event-reveals-game-getting-this-years-big-spotlight\">special developer deep dive set to air on 8th June<\/a> following the Xbox Games Showcase.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/avowed-game-director-carrie-patel-departs-obsidian-joins-netflixs-gaming-team\" class=\"button purchase\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read More<\/a><br \/>\n Matt Wales<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Now part of Oxenfree studio. Image credit: Eurogamer Carrie Patel, who served as game director on this year&#8217;s acclaimed fantasy action-RPG Avowed, has confirmed her departure from Obsidian Entertainment after nearly 12 years with the studio and announced a new role at Netflix. Patel, who was very much the face of Avowed throughout its development<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":849814,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[120658,891,1798],"tags":[120657,7216],"class_list":{"0":"post-849813","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-avowed","8":"category-director","9":"category-entertainment","10":"tag-avowed","11":"tag-director"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=849813"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849813\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/849814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=849813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=849813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=849813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}