inXile Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer and a studio within Xbox Game Studios. It is located in Tustin, California, and focuses on creating role-playing games. The company was started in 2002 by Brian Fargo, who co-founded Interplay. inXile created games such as The Bard's Tale and Hunted: The Demon's Forge. It also made games for platforms like Flash and iOS, including Fantastic Contraption, during its first ten years. In 2014, the studio released Wasteland 2, a post-apocalyptic game, after a successful Kickstarter campaign. Because the game was well-received, the studio raised a record $4 million on Kickstarter to develop Torment: Tides of Numenera, a game inspired by Interplay's Planescape: Torment. In 2018, Microsoft bought the studio, and it became part of Xbox Game Studios. At that time, the studio was working on Wasteland 3, which it released in 2020. Currently, inXile is developing Clockwork Revolution for Windows and Xbox Series X/S.

History

inXile Entertainment was founded on October 26, 2002, by Brian Fargo in Newport Beach, California.

In an interview with Joystiq, inXile's President Matthew Findley explained the company's history: "I worked with Brian Fargo at Interplay for many years, and we both left Interplay at the same time. We wanted to stay in video games, so starting a company seemed like a good idea. He worked at Interplay for 20 years, and I was there for 13. When we first started, we felt like we were in exile, so we made fake cards with a fake company name to have something to use at E3. Before we chose the name 'inXile,' Brian wrote 'Leader in exile' on the cards. People found the cards funny, and we kept saying 'in exile' so often that we decided to create a new word. That is how 'inXile' was born."

In May 2008, inXile announced the creation of SparkWorkz, an online business division focused on user-generated content. The division used inXile's experience with the game Line Rider as a foundation for the venture. David Heeley, a former Microsoft executive, was hired to manage the division.

In April 2012, inXile launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund Wasteland 2, the sequel to Interplay's Wasteland, with most of the original team involved. The campaign raised more than 300% of its goal of $900,000, totaling $2,933,252. In March 2013, inXile returned to Kickstarter to fund Torment: Tides of Numenera. The campaign broke the record for the fastest Kickstarter drive to reach $1 million, achieving that amount in seven hours and two minutes.

During the Wasteland 2 Kickstarter campaign, Brian Fargo created the Kicking it Forward program. This program pledged that inXile Entertainment would use 5% of post-launch net profits to support future Kickstarter projects.

In October 2015, inXile opened a second studio, inXile New Orleans, based in New Orleans. The Newport Beach office was moved to Tustin by January 2021.

In November 2018, Microsoft Studios announced it was in the final stages of acquiring inXile, as well as Obsidian Entertainment, another studio known for role-playing games. According to Fargo, Microsoft's business development executive, Noah Musler, who had previous ties to the studio, approached inXile in April 2018 to discuss the acquisition. Fargo believed the acquisition would help the studio create games closer to AAA quality, bridging the gap between independent development and high-budget games.

In June 2023, inXile unveiled its new game, Clockwork Revolution, during the Xbox Games Showcase 2023.