Zap Rowsdower
Banned
Because they have a tendency to fuck them over in some way. (i.e. Lucas Arts and KOTOR 2, Sega and Alpha Protocol, Microsoft and Stormlands, etc.)
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Obsidian Entertainment no longer working on Armored Warfare (also more layoffs?)
- Thread starter TacticalHotdog
- Start date
I don't know if you can entirely blame publishers for what seems to be issues with Obsidian management. I like their games, but they don't seem to work too well with big publishers.
https://youtu.be/vVe88DexG2w
SpiceMelange
Member
Hey Obsidian, if you're reading this topic (lol) open some channels with Wizards of the Coast (they seem interested in digital avenues again) and pitch a DnD 5e modular tabletop adventure game. I'd be ALLLLLL over it!
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=230198783&postcount=177
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=230198783&postcount=177
Huge Succeeded
Banned
why can't obsidian catch a break man
fuck
Dude, that would consume my life. And thank you for linking TaleSpire, I'm gonna follow the shit out of that.
fuck
Dude, that would consume my life. And thank you for linking TaleSpire, I'm gonna follow the shit out of that.
This might have some weight if Obsidian wasn't basically the last man standing of independent studios after hundreds of them closed during the exact same situations during the 7th gen.
I think it speaks more to the quality of Obsidian leadership that they have lasted this long when everyone else around them either went tits up or was bought out.
Jesus, my heart could no take it if the studio shuttered. They are the last good old school cRPG devs left.
Agreed. There is clearly some mismanagement there, but they fact that their door remains open is quite impressive.
Agreed. There is clearly some mismanagement there, but they fact that their door remains open is quite impressive.
GrantDaNasty
Member
A studio like Obsidian isn't long for this world sadly unless they're owned by a publisher (but even that's no guarantee they wouldn't get shut-down, just look at EA's record), they have a very similar issue to Double Fine where they are currently way too big to not be a subsidiary, and both are located in California, where I imagine the average wage and cost of doing business is high enough to where they're scrounging for more work.
Obsidian have some of the finest talent in this industry, it's a shame that Studio has never gotten their widespread acclaim recognized by the big names in the industry.
Obsidian have some of the finest talent in this industry, it's a shame that Studio has never gotten their widespread acclaim recognized by the big names in the industry.
Basileus777
Member
I largely agree, the AAA model is not sustainable for them. They need to try to transition to a Double Fine sort of structure if they want to survive. Though even then I don't think they can keep their current size. And they'll still need to find another partner because Paradox isn't going to support that many projects from them.
Zap Rowsdower
Banned
Yeah its this. Feargus Urquhart kept the ship afloat for all this time. It really is the fault of the publishers that screwed them. People tend to be a bit skeptical about that statement when it turns out devs like Double Fine were always rather mismanaged, but Obsidian really did just get screwed constantly. Just read up on KOTOR 2's development and realize we're lucky were got what we did considering how LucasArts treated them.
disappeared
Banned
Oh my god!
disappeared
Banned
I mean in the future. Those doors are closed, I think.
Yeah, if only those IPs still existed somehow...
Edit: Why do you think the doors are closed?
GrantDaNasty
Member
They've already worked on a FALLOUT title and the sequel to KOTOR. Unless you're talking about a brand new series in some established IP, just seems like working on follow-ups doesn't work out all that well for Obsidian.
New Vegas, South Park, and Alpha Protocol all went through similar as well.
New Vegas being as good as it is despite the hellacious development cycle (absurdly short, AND bethesda during late development cut months off) is really an astounding statement to the quality of what Obsidian does. They made the best RPG of that generation in like 16 months. Insanity, really.
Those games are the most successful they've ever made and a big part of their reputation, so I don't know why you'd think that would be a poor choice.
I like Obsidian games, but they have had way too many issues with way too many pubs to just completely hand-waive away all responsibility of Obsidian's management for the various failed and unrealized projects.
From what I have read, they seem to have issues sticking to target budgets and timelines on many of their projects.
This project always seemed sketchy though.
From what I have read, they seem to have issues sticking to target budgets and timelines on many of their projects.
This project always seemed sketchy though.
From what I've read about that in an interview with Kotaku, Obsidian kinda screwed up there too not getting their kotor 2 dev cycle extension they were given on paper, but that's a business lesson for dealing with executives who might change their mind.
http://kotaku.com/5968952/the-knigh...e-some-of-the-coolest-role-playing-games-ever
KingdomHeartsFan
Member
Dam I hope Obsidian will be okay after this.
AcademicSaucer
Member
Someone please save Obsidian
EA is trending away from singleplayer games; if they were interested in a KOTOR3 I think they'd just have Bioware make it.
I thought the consensus was that Bethesda wasn't interested in Obsidian anymore? I recall that Obsidian was unhappy with aspects of that relationship as well; losing the Metacritic bonus due to poor QA on Bethesda's part, etc.
Obsidian's management seems to constantly find its company in terrible business positions.
Is it desperation, or incompetence?
People seem to thinks it's that Obsidian is perpetually getting fucked over, but after the 3rd or 4th or 5th situation that gets added to the list, can we really call it bad luck, anymore?
I love this studio dearly. I greatly fear the course in which they are headed.
Is it desperation, or incompetence?
People seem to thinks it's that Obsidian is perpetually getting fucked over, but after the 3rd or 4th or 5th situation that gets added to the list, can we really call it bad luck, anymore?
I love this studio dearly. I greatly fear the course in which they are headed.
I think they're big enough to be ambitious but not big enough to dictate their own fate. They haven't had a smash hit or something incredibly lucrative that they own to give them that cushion they need.
Armored Warfare had some brilliant bits to it for being a clone of WoT. It had some of the best F2P PVE content out there, for starters.
EA should pick them up to work on KOTOR3 or something along those lines. Maybe a Fallout 4 spinoff for Bethesda to hold fans over between games.
I'm a little confused... didn't we know from months ago that Obsidian wasn't going to be working on Armored Warfare much longer? And that they already had layoffs because of this?
Edit: Obsidian lays off some Armored Warfare devs as project moves to Moscow
That was in December. Is this something new?
Edit: Obsidian lays off some Armored Warfare devs as project moves to Moscow
That was in December. Is this something new?
Square hasn't fucked them over, but it is a little peculiar that Square hasn't worked with them since.
No, it's not bad luck. It's just the way the industry is and has been since the mid 2000s.
As I pointed out in an earlier post, if it was just Obsidian how do you explain the independent studio genocide that happened during the 7th gen? I mean who's left, really? Platinum, Avalanche, Obsidian, Techland, Insomniac, and Remedy are really the only guys I can think of who still make these types of games while remaining independent, and PG, Remedy, and Obsidian are struggling atm. This vs the hundreds of like studios that were around leading up to the 7th gen.
Obsidian just gets more attention both because they make great games that people love and they're miraculously still standing around to tell the tales at all. The sad thing is that there are hundreds of these stories from thousands of other devs that you've never heard about because they weren't Obsidian.
Really wouldn't be surprised to see a massive downsizing soon.
I'd love for nothing more than Obisdian to get a major budget again, but I don't see those days coming. They've burned through so many publishers at this point: MS, Bethesda, Sega doesn't fund studios anymore, Squeenix
Didn't South Park do really well?
I'd love for nothing more than Obisdian to get a major budget again, but I don't see those days coming. They've burned through so many publishers at this point: MS, Bethesda, Sega doesn't fund studios anymore, Squeenix
Didn't South Park do really well?
Lord of Castamere
Member
An rpg set during Lukes run as a Jedi Master could work. Essentially a reboot to Jedi Knight, to make it fit into the new canon.
Also, Fallout: San Diego. It needs to happen.
Sadly, I have a pit in my stomach cause by the fear that we may not get an Obsidian game on the current generation.
SpiceMelange
Member
Basileus777
Member
Ubisoft doesn't fund out projects anymore. The point of their whole AAA(A)+ get up is having a thousand people on call to pump games out whenever they need them to.
The only reason they were on it to begin with was because it started out at THQ. If it was an Ubi joint from the get go they would have assigned it to a floor of their montreal building and been done with it.
disappeared
Banned
Ew.
I don't like them either but it's not like there are a ton of options left!
Basileus777
Member
It had a pretty checkered development history and Obsidian was pretty expendable when it comes to making a sequel. That's the risk of making a licensed game whose main selling point is its writing that came from out of studio.
I dunno, EA is still funding a huge singleplayer centric Star Wars action adventure game from the creators of Uncharted. That must mean something. I agree that Bioware would be the producing studio for KotOR, but they're also pretty busy these days. Obsidian would never be a first choice studio for anyone who owns a big franchise, but as a backup studio making something when other studios are busy? I can see it.
Same with Bethesda. If they need a fill between major Bethsoft games, I still think they'll find Obsidian a better partner than almost any other independent studio they can find out there.
The thing is with bethesda now is that they really don't have "gaps" anymore to fill. New Vegas was an oddball case because it happened in the middle of Bethesda's explosion where they wanted something out but didn't have the manpower to do it themselves.
Nowadays Bethesda has like what, 8 or 9 major AAA level studios around the world? Lack of manpower to pump out titles is never going to be a problem they face ever again I would think. Worst comes to worst they can pawn off a Fallout spin off on one(!) of the Arkane studios if they need to and save the money vs getting obsidian to do it.
I doubt EA would be willing. You already said yourself that they have big singleplay Star Wars games coming. If for some reason they want to attack the specific niche of "Star Wars RPG" they'd probably just get BioWare Austin to put SWTOR on hold.
I also want to say Bethesda would turn to Arkane for a Fallout spin off if they needed it for some reason.
AkelisRain
Member
I don't want to imagine a world without Obsidian.
You're unlikely to get a world without Obsidian, but Obsidian is a 200+ person studio, and just combining the teams from Eternity and Tyranny would only keep around 50 or so of them employed.