According to a Twitter post, Production Manager of Obsidian Entertainment Dan Maas' LinkedIn page holds the clue as to when The Outer Worlds 2 entered production. Considering the announcement trailer for Obsidian's sequel came during E3 2021, it seemed a little early to be hearing about a sequel so don't expect to be playing it anytime soon.
Twitter user FaizShaikh7681 zeroed in on Maas' LinkedIn page and made the discovery that The Outer Worlds 2 has been in production since September 2019, one month before the release of the original game on October 25, 2019. This would make sense with the timing of the The Outer Worlds 2's announcement during E3 2021, putting it at around two years of production with only a CG trailer to its name.
This is surprising as in addition to all of its current in-development games, the developer put out two DLC stories for The Outer Worlds after its launch. The Twitter post then claims that the title will then be released in the ballpark of late 2023 or early 2024. That seems like a far way away and would put the total development of the game at around four to four and-a-half years.
Four years seems a tad long considering the original was estimated to have taken at most three years to make. However, the first Outer Worlds was reportedly cut short due to time constraints (hence its 25 hour completion rate), as the game is on the shorter side for an RPG, especially one similar to Bethesda's own Fallout series. It is entirely possible however that Obsidian is looking to make a much longer and meatier RPG this time around and is taking the time to do so. After all, a 4-5 year development cycle is pretty par for the course these days when it comes to AAA game production.
Currently, Obsidian is spinning numerous plates as it is hard at work on The Outer Worlds 2, the first-person fantasy RPG Avowed, an investigative RPG set during 16th century Europe tentatively called Pentiment similar in style to Disco Elysium, and finally updates on its survival game Grounded. That's a lot to be handling at one time, but Obisidian's track record is nothing if not high-quality, so confidence in the studio is warranted. The Outer Worlds was a critical darling at the time of its release, so there is no doubt that Obsidian taking a longer time to produce a sequel is a good thing in the long run.
The Outer Worlds 2 is currently in development.