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SEC filing reveals Obsidian working on Tyranny DLC & unannounced game

Sinatar

Official GAF Bottom Feeder
So part of having your games be up for investment with Fig means that you have to file some information with the SEC, information that is available for others to read. Some folks over at the RPG Codex found some juicy nuggets in said filings.

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Obsidian currently has four games in development: Pillars of Eternity II; Tyranny DLC; Pathfinder: Adventures; and an unannounced title with a major publisher. Fig, DRIL and Obsidian are of the view that Obsidian is sufficiently staffed to handle the development of all these games. Obsidian employs approximately 175 full-time employees, including development personnel specializing in design, animation, 3D art, audio engineering, production, writing, programming and concept art. From time to time, Obsidian works with contractors for specialized work relating to game development, such as quality assurance.

So we got Tyranny DLC/expansion coming and the unannounced game has to be the thing that Tim Cain and Leonard Boyarsky are working on (possibly a Vampire Bloodlines follow up).

Over the fourteen years since its founding, Obsidian has had four projects in the process of development cancelled prior to their release. These projects were cancelled due to various reasons, including in one case the inability to secure completion funding; in another case concern by the publisher over marketability arising after the pre-production phase was completed; in another case concern that the product budget was going to grow to a level that was not justifiable in light of sales projections; and in another case the publisher’s decision that the product would not fit within its portfolio. Two of these cancellations resulted in Obsidian failing to cover its costs, while the other two cancellations did not. In connection with the two most recent of these cancellations, Obsidian responded in part by reducing its headcount, in December 2016 and in March 2012.

4 cancelled games over their existance. Aliens RPG, Stormlands, Dwarves (the Snow White RPG), not sure what the 4th game was. Perhaps the Wheel of Time game they were working on for Red Eagle games, but my understanding is that that project never really got started.

Also noteworthy that they have 175 full time employees, with their work on Armored Warfare coming to an end they are going to need to find a new project pronto.
 
I believe they confirmed in some streams recently that they aren't working on a Vampire game currently. However it's possible that it could be something in the world of darkness, or a totally new IP. It could even be star wars with EA for all we know. I'm excited for whatever it is.
 

Some Nobody

Junior Member
Man, trying to read the full info at RPG Codex...that place does *not* look fun.

Anyway, I hope this is a legit major project for them. They deserve to have leeway to make great AAA projects like Horizon, Zelda, or The Witcher like others have.
 
Another random possibility is that they're working on Deus Ex now that Eidos Montreal has something else on their plate. They originally were going to do "Human Revolution 2", but then Montreal ended up doing it because Eidos needed all their internal teams working on things.

Low probability, but non-zero.

I'm trying to find the interview where they said they weren't working on Vampire. I know it was fairly recent, I want to say either in Tyranny release marketing or Deadfire stuff recently, but I just can't track it down.
 
I believe they confirmed in some streams recently that they aren't working on a Vampire game currently. However it's possible that it could be something in the world of darkness, or a totally new IP. It could even be star wars with EA for all we know. I'm excited for whatever it is.
If that's the case, I really want an AP spiritual successor if not sequel then.
 

Neptonic

Member
Another random possibility is that they're working on Deus Ex now that Eidos Montreal has something else on their plate. They originally were going to do "Human Revolution 2", but then Montreal ended up doing it because Eidos needed all their internal teams working on things.

Low probability, but non-zero.
I hate this possibility exists and will never be real.
 

jryeje29

Member
Even though I know it isn't happening after the broken relationship from new Vegas, I would love to see the guys at Obsidian work on another fallout where they get the time they need and the updated engine from fallout 4 (we know they wouldn't get a new one before bethesda), in the shirt time they have they created an amazing game and if live some more in my life.
 

jryeje29

Member
I'd like to see Obsidian take on the Space Opera RPG now that Mass Effect is effectively Gears of War with dialogue.

That would be awesome too even though I love mass effect which I'm sensing you might not. It's just be nice to have more of the like and competition is healthy for everyone.
 

Sinatar

Official GAF Bottom Feeder
Even though I know it isn't happening after the broken relationship from new Vegas, I would love to see the guys at Obsidian work on another fallout where they get the time they need and the updated engine from fallout 4 (we know they wouldn't get a new one before bethesda), in the shirt time they have they created an amazing game and if live some more in my life.

It's insane that they managed to make something as fantastic as New Vegas with only 18 months of dev time. Imagine what they'd do with a full development cycle/budget.
 
Going in with the zero percent chance that they get to do an Elder Scrolls game. I'd love to have a game in the series that has excellent quest design and writing to its already excellent lore.

But alas...
 

Some Nobody

Junior Member
I'd like to see Obsidian take on the Space Opera RPG now that Mass Effect is effectively Gears of War with dialogue.

Hopefully this isn't true, but yeah I would love to play something like an Obsidian space opera RPG. There isn't nearly enough competition in that space IMO.
 

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
It's an Unreal Engine 4 game judging by their job listings, so you shouldn't guess things like Fallout or Elder Scrolls.
 

Anno

Member
This is what they've described as Leonard's "dream game," right? Or where did that saying come from?

Those are some interesting revenue numbers for POE as well. I wouldn't have thought that WM did that well.
 

wrowa

Member
Another random possibility is that they're working on Deus Ex now that Eidos Montreal has something else on their plate. They originally were going to do "Human Revolution 2", but then Montreal ended up doing it because Eidos needed all their internal teams working on things.

Huh. Pretty surprised SE was willing to outsource a Deus Ex follow-up, considering Human Revolution was rather successful.
 

Taruranto

Member
Tyranny DLC was pretty much expected given how the game ends (and I don't think it sold badly) but, meh 'cause the game kinda sucked.
 

jayu26

Member
How do we convince Bethesda to premenantly make Obsidian the developers of Fallout franchise? Bethesda can work on Elder Scrolls and their new IP, just have Obsidian working on Fallout.
 
It's an Unreal Engine 4 game judging by their job listings, so you shouldn't guess things like Fallout or Elder Scrolls.

FOUND IT

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73cYTlul9vM&feature=youtu.be&t=1350

As of late 2016, confirmed that nobody is working on Vampire at obsidian.

Older interview:

http://www.gamepressure.com/e.asp?ID=712

Mentions that Leonard and Tim are working on "something entirely new". Probably Unreal 4 project related.

https://twitter.com/jesawyer/status/825004808998252544

Again, they're cooking up "something new".

This implies that the most likely situation is that they're working on a new IP, although strictly speaking it could just be an IP that they've never worked with before.
 
The Deus Ex idea is too good to be true. Fucking hell if it is though. Hnnnng!

I hope they're seeing this! We need a spy rpg asap! Please!!!!!!!!!!!

Totally! Alpha Protocol was one of the cult gems from last gen. I'd want to see Avellone back again though and that's unlikely unfortunately even though he's now freelance.
 
Huh. Pretty surprised SE was willing to outsource a Deus Ex follow-up, considering Human Revolution was rather successful.


E-M switched from Deus Ex to Thief for the start of this generation. Had Thief been really successful, they might have launched straight into a sequel, with Deus Ex duties falling to Obsidian. Since Thief wasn't a breakout hit, they switched to Deus themselves instead.

That's not 100% confirmed, but that's the best-guess based on what we do know for sure (which is that Human Revolution 2 was on Obsidian's plate at some point, but got cancelled and EM did it instead).

Edit:

The timelines may not totally line up now that I look at it. The decision to have EM handle Deus might have been made prior to Thief releasing, since that would only give a 2.5 year dev time to Mankind Divided. Unsure!
 
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