Avowed game director leaves Obsidian Entertainment for Netflix's Night School Studio

Screenshot of Avowed showing the companion Kai battling a xaurip.
Carrie Patel previously worked on multiple Obsidian games, including Pillars of Eternity and Avowed. (Image credit: Xbox Game Studios)

There's a bit of a shake-up at Xbox's Obsidian Entertainment, as Avowed game director Carrie Patel shared on Tuesday (thanks, Insider Gaming) via LinkedIn that she's left Obsidian, and is now a game director at Netflix-owned Night School Studio.

Patel worked at Obsidian Entertainment for 12 years, contributing to games like Pillars of Eternity and The Outer Worlds as a narrative designer. Patel also wrote worked as a writer on Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire and as narrative design lead on The Outer World's Peril on Gorgon DLC.

All this led to Patel taking the reins of Avowed as game director, with the game launching back in February earlier this year.

Netflix acquired Night School Studio in 2021 as part of the streaming giant's push into gaming. Night School Studio is known for its narrative-focused titles such as Oxenfree, Afterparty, and Oxenfree 2.

Netflix's push also saw the company found a AAA-focused studio, hiring developers that worked on franchises like Halo and God of War. Last year, Netflix shuttered this AAA studio without the team ever having announced a project.

Cuts at Netflix's gaming division continued in 2025, with a number of staff laid off from Night School Studio.

Looking ahead for Obsidian Entertainment, the studio is slated to launch The Outer Worlds 2 at some point later in 2025. The team on Avowed is also continuing to provide updates, bringing requested features like photo mode and more.

Earlier in the year, Obsidian Entertainment CEO Feargus Urquhart noted that the studio had grown significantly under Microsoft, going from around 170 developers when first acquired in 2018 to 285 team members in 2025.

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Samuel Tolbert
Freelance Writer

Samuel Tolbert is a freelance writer covering gaming news, previews, reviews, interviews and different aspects of the gaming industry, specifically focusing on Xbox and PC gaming on Windows Central. You can find him on Bluesky ‪@samueltolbert.bsky.social‬.

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