In a new interview with PCGamesN, Brian Hines, a senior designer on The Outer Worlds, discusses the studio's stance on crunch culture.

"Obsidian is not a crunch studio, which is one of the things that keeps people staying there for a long time," Hines says.

"There really hasn't been a crunch or a death march or anything like that with the studio for quite a long time, as far as I can remember anyway," Hines continues. "That's definitely one of the things that as a studio we're very committed to, we'd rather cut something than try and get people to not have a life outside of the industry."

Over the past couple of months, crunch culture has been a big topic in video game development. Both current and former employees of developers such as Naughty Dog and Rockstar Games have commented on working conditions and the long hours required to finish their titles. While Obsidian doesn't want to go down that path, Hines mentions that there have been times where they have to put in extra time in order to meet deadlines, but it only lasts "for a week or so" and it's up to the employees if they want to do that.

Recently, Dualshockers' own Brandon Doerrer got a chance to play The Outer Worlds and explore the game's world. Additionally, a new 43-minute gameplay video was released. With all the content shown off, The Outer Worlds has easily become one of my most anticipated games of the year.

The Outer Worlds launches on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. Additionally, the game was announced for the  Nintendo Switch, but no specific date has been revealed. The game is available for preorder on Amazon now.