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[Axial]

Good for him I guess. Still would love to see him work on something as awesome as Fallout 2 was.

 

[Sir_Crocodile]

He's made comments about inXile recently. I wish I could remember the interview but I just read it in the last week.

I agree that it doesn't make much sense on the surface.

I think he wanted to make Van Buren with them some day? But that seemed far-far-away talk

 

[epmode]

I think he wanted to make Van Buren with them some day?

Yes, that was the article. I posted a link on the last page.

I really hope he's not done with videogames.

 

[Nirolak]

Clearly he's joining King!

More seriously, some guesses:
1.) Full time freelancing
2.) Denius-Sams Gaming Academy at the University of Texas at Austin
3.) Switching to novel writing

 

[Jibbajabbawockky]

Well this sucks. Even if his visible contributions to Obsidian games haven't been as notable since probably New Vegas, he still seems like the face of Obsidian to me.


I'd hope he doesn't leave gaming altogether since he's a super talented guy. At the same time, I don't really know why he'd go to another small/mid sized developer like inXile where he'd presumably have less sway. Its not like he was some middling guy at Obsidian. Which kind of leaves it at a big publisher/developer offering him gobs of money or maybe doing something that gives him even more freedom than he had at Obsidian, I guess.

 

[Jon of the Wired]

They do have a pipeline of working on games they want to work on though - Wasteland 2 -> Torment -> The Bard's Tale 4
That might be pretty enticing. I don't know what obsidian's plans future plans are though. Are they going back to kickstarter or doing more for-hire work?

If there was some passion project he wanted to work on that would only require an inXile sized budget then he could just do it at Obsidian. They're in relatively good shape now. Unless there's some internal politics going on at Obsidian that we're not privy to, it's hard to imagine what new opportunities moving to inXile would open up.

 

[duckroll]

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-06-09-chris-avellone-leaves-obsidian-entertainment

UPDATE: Chris Avellone confirmed his departure from Obsidian in an email to me.

"It is true, Bertie," he wrote, "and many well wishes to the folks at Obsidian. On the future, I'm off to pursue new projects, but I can't say anything more at this time beyond life is short, and the ideas keep growing."

Sounds like he's still in the industry.

 

[kai3345]

2.) Denius-Sams Gaming Academy at the University of Texas at Austin

I'll be so salty if this happens, I just graduated from UT. Taking a game design class from the gawd would have been incredible.

 

[Prine]

Go to BioWare, help them out Chris

 

[Metroidvania]

Well......shit

Hope he ends up somewhere cool.

Spoiler

Still holding out for KOTOR 3

edit: Though I'm curious what prompted this. IIRC, he wasn't super-involved in Pillars, maybe looking for something to sink his teeth into?

 

[oceanskie]

It would be pretty wild to play a Bethesda game with a handful of Avellone-written

Spoiler

good

characters and the rest as we are used to.

They could make it a plot point, like only a handful of people in the world actually have a soul or something.

lol

 

[Interfectum]

I just don't get what he couldn't do at Obsidian that he's going to do elsewhere... unless he's moving to a much bigger studio. I'm calling it: Amazon.

 

[Madrugador]

I always knew he would end up in Hogwarts.

Spoiler

Good luck Chris.

 

[Count of Monte Sawed-Off]

Go to BioWare, help them out Chris

I wouldn't be against this, Bioware really needs some help.

 

[JDSN]

It would be pretty wild to play a Bethesda game with a handful of Avellone-written

Spoiler

good

characters and the rest as we are used to.

They could make it a plot point, like only a handful of people in the world actually have a soul or something.

That explains Cass on New Vegas.

 

[LiK]

Probably got hired into some big position, I guess.

 

[Xater]

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-06-09-chris-avellone-leaves-obsidian-entertainment



Sounds like he's still in the industry.

Also sounds like he might be going for something bigger than Obsidian.

 

[CecilRousso]

Go to BioWare, help them out Chris

No, please no.

Bioware's problem are so much more then just the writing.

 

[Jibbajabbawockky]

Go to BioWare, help them out Chris

I would be... ok with this? Granted, modern BioWare's issues go far deeper than the quality of their writing. But that is a problem. Probably one that not even Avellone could fix but it would be interesting to see him be able to be a lead at a studio like BioWare that has a "AAA" budget.

Then again, I'd probably want to see him try his hand at another "AAA" budget Fallout first.

 

[AuthenticM]

I hope he's going to Bethesda so he can work on the next Elder Scrolls.

 

[Interfectum]

Bioware is awful. They'd do more harm to Avellone than Avellone would do good for them.

 

[Valnen]

No, please no.

Bioware's problem are so much more then just the writing.

Bioware has a pretty big fanbase that likes the way things currently are, for one.

 

[Pooya]

Bethesda paying up obviously, good get!

 

[The Technomancer]

I wouldn't be against this, Bioware really needs some help.

But are they ready to hear it? Are they ready for the man who will walk into their meeting room, grab the white board that says "Protagonist = inducted into some kind of powerful peacekeeping order?", and throw it to the ground?

 

[Eusis]

Avellone is clearly leaving Obsidian to pursue his life-long dream of being a professional Kickstarter stretch goal.

So that is the secret $5 million Bloodstained stretch goal. Awful lot just to have an Igavania with great writing at last though.

 

[Dinda]

I hope EA offered him a lead role at Bioware for Knights of the old Republic 3.

Or Bethesda at a new Studio developing Fallout: New van Buren

 

[Nairume]

Unless there's some internal politics going on at Obsidian that we're not privy to, it's hard to imagine what new opportunities moving to inXile would open up.

While budget stuff wouldn't change, I imagine inXile being a smaller company that doesn't (yet) need to take on contract work to keep afloat (which Obsidian seemingly does) may make them more appealing, despite it being an apparent downgrade from what he has at Obsidian.

 

[Turin Turambar]

Nooooooooooooooooooooooo

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

God dammit, never thought this would happen, ever. Really curious what he wants to do next.

Imagine if he has been hired by Cd Projekt!

 

[O.DOGG]

I kind of had a feeling that may be happening at some point. He wasn't featured in the Eternity documentary, which was surprising for Obsidian's creative director (and a Kickstarter goal!). Still, surprising and somewhat sad news.

 

[LiquidSolid]

This sucks for Obsidian but it wasn't really the biggest surprise with all the projects he's been contributing to over the last couple of years. I really hope he just goes full time freelancer and contributes to as many games as possible. Tying him down to Bethesda or Bioware's mediocre games would be a downgrade.

 

[Katamori]

I ok with this, as long as he stays in the industry.

 

[dude]

This is too bad, but I wish him well on his next projects.

I also think Obsidian has enough talent to carry on even without Avellone.

 

[Ralemont]

Bioware has a pretty big fanbase that likes the way things currently are, for one.

Well, aside from the lack of KOTOR 3.

Bioware is awful. They'd do more harm to Avellone than Avellone would do good for them.

BioWare is fine, but they don't make the kind of games Chris would want to make anymore, which is one of many reasons such a pairing is far-fetched.

 

[Imp the Dimp]

RIP Obsidian

He hasn't been overly involved in any of Obsidian's recent games if I'm not mistaken and they still deliver writing on another level. While he is an absolute legend among video game writers, Obsidian's got quite a few of them. New Vegas was superbly written for instance with Fenstermaker in the lead. Their talent pool is still unmatched among WRPG devs, let's not kid ourselves.

 

[Labadal]

That's a shame. I like their games games with him having a role the most.

 

[Fine Ham Abounds]

I'm trying to wrap my brain around what opportunity could be better than the deal he had at Obsidian.

I'm thinking a change of venue or direction is the real impetus, as I would imagine he could have stayed at Obsidian for life if he wanted to.

 

[robotrock]

Wow. Hope he does something awesome.

 

[TharpDaddy]

Damn, curious to see where he ends up. Never thought he'd leave Obsidian.

He and Kojima will found a new studio together.

 

[Tenebrous]

This is really shocking. I'll always be interested in what the guy does next - Fingers crossed he stays in the industry (but not Bethesda or Bioware).

Damn, curious to see where he ends up. Never thought he'd leave Obsidian.

He and Kojima will found a new studio together.

Kojima's storytelling with Avellone's writing extended to 10,000 pages in a CRPG? That would be barmy, haha.

 

[Acosta]

That's a bummer... I can't understand this.

Hopefully he lands on InXile or any other studio where he can be lead. We need more videogames written by him.

 

[jesu]

Maybe he'll be on someones stage at E3 to announce something...

 

[CecilRousso]

Bioware has a pretty big fanbase that likes the way things currently are, for one.

Sure, no doubt. But I'm not one of them, and want him to work elsewhere.

 

[Zabant]

That tweet gives me the impression he's going into teaching.

 

[BrokenFiction]

Brian Fargo has been kinda sassy in his Twitter stream about it. Wonder if he's going to inXile?

 

[Fantastapotamus]

No
Who will now write my good RPG stories? Who? WHO?

It would be pretty wild to play a Bethesda game with a handful of Avellone-written

Spoiler

good

characters and the rest as we are used to.

They could make it a plot point, like only a handful of people in the world actually have a soul or something.

I....I actually want to see this now. I would be hilarious.

 

[Caronte]

Pretty sure Druckmann is responsible for this.

 

[Corto]

Bethesda.

 

[SerRodrik]

What are the odds that he ends up as a stretch goal on Obsidian's next kickstarter?

 

[mclem]

Clearly he's joining King!

Lengthy Prose Saga

 

[Sijil]

cRPG's are less without him, really heartbreaking, hope he finished his contributions to Numenera and PoE expansions. Man this sucks, unless he ends up at InXile then all is well. Going to peak around RPGCodex to see the reaction, he has a large following there.