By Lonex Louisdor
We had a fantastic opportunity to interview Marcus Morgan VP of Operations at Obsidian Entertainment and Executive Producer of Grounded 2. He gives us a brief look at one of Obsidian’s most popular IP, from a small experimental project to one of Microsoft’s most popular cooperative experiences.
The Origins of Grounded and Its Pandemic Launch
We asked about the origin of Grounded and how the team came to the idea, Marcus said:
“In terms of what led us to make the first game come, it was a little bit of an experiment and kind of a thought process: what can we bring to the survival game genre? [The team] were looking at other early access games, specifically survival games—games like The Forest and Subnautica. What if we took some of our kind of skills, narratives, and RPG design and we applied that to the survival space? I think that could be a really cool idea. So that’s where it started.”
The game has been incredibly successful. Marcus spoke to the original Grounded’s successful launch, noting, “24 hours later we had a million people playing, and then 3 months later, we had 5 million people.” At the core of that success, he believes “a little bit of it being launched during the course of the pandemic and being a game about being outside with your friends” had a significant impact on its initial success.
When asked how he expects the second game to elevate the experience, he noted:
“Tens of millions of players now that have played Grounded 1, bigger than we ever could have imagined, and we knew that people’s expectations would be pretty high. The big thing that we wanted to deliver on Grounded 2 was the buggies and the mount system. The number one requested feature was “we really want to ride the bugs”
Verticality, New Biomes, and the Mount System
Obsidian realized the original map wasn’t designed for mounts, so they built Grounded 2 from the ground up with mounts as a core pillar. Mounts are integrated into combat, gathering, crafting, and traversal. The team carefully balanced world scale, traversal time, and spaces where mounts are intentionally restricted. Though they consider different designs for internal and external spaces, he wanted to point out that Grounded 2 will be approximately three times the size of the first Grounded game.
This team serves the community well, as a few of the biggest community requests have been achieved. Bringing the game to other platforms and providing mounts were some of the top entries on the players’ Wishlist. Now, people have moved on to ask for flying mounts because verticality is a feature that returns in Grounded 2. Though they did say that flying mounts are not on the roadmap, they are announcing amphibious buggies mounts that can dive deep underwater.
Fear, Tension & Survival Atmosphere
Obsidian loves to add a little scary to their games, and the Grounded series is no exception. When adventuring late at night and hearing the pitter patter of the bugs, Grounded can be a little scary. Obsidian believes in “having a tablespoon of terror”; nighttime, darkness, and creature encounters are designed to create tension without overwhelming players. Comparing it to a roller coaster he says “You gotta have that moment at the top where your heart drops… then you hit the loop and you’re having a good time”
Who doesn’t love a good crossover? We asked Obsidian if they would be open to additional IP integration from their other IPs into Grounded 2. Grounded 1 had a few easter eggs for those who fully explored the yard; Battle Toads, Honey I shrunk the kids, Dungeons and Dragons, the Dead Teen Club, etc. But what’s important to Obsidian is if they introduce something like that to their world, it needs to make sense and authentic to the game. They emphasize staying true to the brand rather than forcing IP tie-ins.
Player Agency and Expanded Character Archetypes
Grounded 2 expands the soft-class system from the first game. Players can still mix and match, but the sequel introduces clearer archetypes supported by armor sets, weapon sets, active & passive mutations. This allows players to lean into fantasy roles like rogue, warrior, mage, etc., while still adapting to survival challenges.
Easter Eggs and Authentic IP Integration
Who doesn’t love a good crossover? We asked Obsidian if they would be open to additional IP integration from their other properties into Grounded 2. The first Grounded had a few easter eggs for those who fully explored the yard, referencing Battletoads, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, Dungeons & Dragons, the Dead Teen Club, and more.
However, what is important to Obsidian is that if they introduce something like that to their world, it needs to make sense and be authentic to the game. They emphasize staying true to the brand rather than forcing corporate IP tie-ins.
Conclusion: What to Expect from Grounded 2
Grounded 2 is a bigger, more ambitious, more systemic evolution of the first game. built around mounts, expanded verticality, deeper survival tension, and clearer player archetypes. The team is committed to keeping the charm, fear, and freedom that made the first game a hit while increasing the visual fidelity while on Unreal Engine 5. Grounded 2 is currently in early access on Xbox and PC and will launch in 1.0 in 2027 on Xbox Series S|X, Game Pass, PC, and PlayStation 5.
Editor’s Note on Audio Quality: The audio for this interview didn’t turn out as well as we were hoping. We have put the audio version out because we feel it’s worth listening to, but please excuse the poor audio quality.
