Whether or not we’ll be getting any more Avowed somewhere along the line is still very much up in the air. But if we do, it seems it won’t be under the leadership of Carrie Patel. In a quick post Patel shared on LinkedIn, the game developer shared that she’s “starting a new position as game director” at the team behind Oxenfree, Night School Studio. Patel mentioned literally zero details outside of what her new role is, so it’s not even clear why she left Obsidian.
This’ll likely have been in the works for a little while, as Night School were specifically looking for a game director in March. As a reminder, Avowed only came out this February. It also paints a slightly confusing picture for Night School themself. Earlier this year it was reported that an unspecified number of workers were being laid off.
Things have been a bit quiet at the developer since they released Oxenfree 2: Lost Signals back in 2023, having not made anything original since then either. They did make a Black Mirror tie-in game called Thronglets, a game featured in the most recent season of the anthology show (in case you forgot, Netflix bought the studio way back in 2021).
Here’s hoping Patel and co. get to make something original again. Netflix’s approach to gaming has been a bit all over the place, ranging from mobile titles, to AAA, but none of it has worked in the way the streamer has found success with film and TV. Their main AAA studio, Team Blue, which included Overwatch, Halo, and God of War talent, was shut down last year, so more than anything I hope the same fate doesn’t await Night School anywhere down the line.