Well, in that
long ass RPG Codex thread where Avellone shat all over Obsidian and then some he hinted at something big coming up so this rumor is probably true.
Aside from having a massive boner for Feargus, it also kinda explains why he shat on them as excessively as he did. He likely knows they will be absorbed by Microsoft so why hold back anymore?
Or maybe he was hoping to shatter the pending deal by describing Obsidian as a shithole cesspool so Feargus, Parker & co. would not be able to cash in.
If the sellout to MS is true then Avellone must be royally pissed off as an ex-co-owner to watch his nemesis Feargus rake in the millions while he gets zilch.
It would be sort of sad if a PoE 3 (I mean, a real one w/o Windows store, MTX, consolitis and timed Xbox exclusivity) would never happen but I'll live.
With Owlcat Games (Pathfinder Kingmaker) there might be a worthy replacement for Obsidian (in terms of everything including massive bug festivities) getting into gear as we speak.