Obsidian wants to keep the original Grounded alive for as long as there are still gamers wanting to experience it. In recent past, we've seen major games be ignored or even shut down to push players onto their shinier sequel, but it seems Obsidian doesn't want to give players that bittersweet feeling of being forced to move on.
Speaking with Eurogamer, Obsidian executive producer Marcus Morrigan spoke about game preservation and keeping Grounded 1 alive. "We actually have this strong passion to ensure our games can stand the test of time and keep updating through history," he said. "There's a strong desire on our side to make sure that our games are preserved."
"Are we going to be doing content and these story expansions to Grounded 1? No, that's the continuation of Grounded 2. But even as recently as April we released our [update] 1.4.7 to Grounded 1, so there's a maintenance and a desire that that game will always exist. So we'll keep that up; it's not going anywhere if people still want to play Grounded 1 as well."
This isn't just guff from Obsidian, either, as Morrigan pointed to earlier this year when the developer released a surprise patch for Pillars of Eternity, ten years after its initial release. For story content, additional features, and improved gameplay, Grounded 2 is the place to go, but if you've got a fondness for the original game, Obsidian wants to cater to that, too.
Grounded 2 launches in early access on Xbox and PC on the 29th of July.