Almost immediately in The Outer Worlds 2, the player receives news of a corporate shake-up: Auntie Cleo and Spacer’s Choice, two of the in-game retail brands, have merged to form Auntie’s Choice. Less a chain of stores and more a feudal power, Auntie’s Choice manages its employees – serfs, really – with the cruelty of the balance sheet, its military business far more important than the faux-cheery public-facing purveyor of somewhat-useful crap customers can’t get from anyone else.
The fictional business news parallels real-world business news. Right before developer Obsidian Entertainment began work on The Outer Worlds 2 in 2019, the studi …