Company News Feargus Urquhart talks about the decline of AAA and the future of Obsidian at KRI 2013

[Duraframe300]

^ Not having cutbacks and having company growth might be exactly why Feargus felt they had to take on some shitty MMO consultation job.

I find it amazing that people go to such extends to defend Obsidian, they will actually argue that hey took on a god damn russian MMO because they wanted to.

Literary nothing of what you said made any sense

1. How am I defending them? Wouldn't it be worse according to Codex standards if they took this job because they wanted to? So how the fuck am I defending Obsidian here?

2. Your argument would ONLY make sense if they didn't have a full workload already. But THEY DO! Feargus even STATED that he has 18 MONTHS to look for a new contract after they got the next-gen one.

18 Months

So unless time got compressed somewhere along the way that argument is a load of shit.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/02/15/obsidians-urquhart-on-the-future-of-rpgs/

I have about 18 months right now to get that next big thing signed up.

 

[Cosmic Misogynerd]

Obsidian apologists are really amazing.

 

[Duraframe300]

Obsidian apologists are really amazing.

I know its trolling at this point. Still...

I do not get how I am an *apologist* in this. What the hell am I even apologizing for? If anything I'm accusing. (Even if I don't actually care that they took this contract. Whatever makes them happy.)

I mean what is worse (for the Codex)?

1 - A Obsidian that took of their own free will a MMO contract.
2 - A Obsidian that was cornered into taking this contract.

I don't know about you guys, but I'm leaning on 1.

(Nevermind that there's actually zero evidence for 2 and all the evidence we have points to 1)

 

[Cosmic Misogynerd]

Why do you have this urge to correct everyone who post about Obsidian's motivations? You seem to be very invested in setting things "straight" with respect of Obsidian actions, in a very unnerving way.

 

[Duraframe300]

Why do you have this urge to correct everyone who post about Obsidian's motivations? You seem to be very invested in setting things "straight" with respect of Obsidian actions, in a very unnerving way.

I do. I'm actually interested in a general way in this. Not just Obsidian (though, naturally it ends up being mostly there since its the topic I'm mostly engaged in) Though, I'll only set straight if its really going against facts. (Which this was)

In this case I was especially agitated, because I made people here aware of this video in the first place. Seeing then people interpret shit into it was unnerving too.

Otherwise I just argue and mostly even back down (If I'm in the wrong, which is actually pretty often).

Same reason I hate gaming journalism

 

[Turjan]

That Skyforge MMO looks like an abomination. Isn't it natural to assume that someone would have to use a whip to make you touch that shit?

 

[Excidium]

That Skyforge MMO looks like an abomination. Isn't it natural to assume that someone would have to use a whip to make you touch that shit?

They need the money so they can stay afloat to make an awesome RPG someday, don't judge please.

 

[Cosmic Misogynerd]

That Skyforge MMO looks like an abomination. Isn't it natural to assume that someone would have to use a whip to make you touch that shit?

They need the money so they can stay afloat to make an awesome RPG someday, don't judge please.

 

[Turjan]

That Skyforge MMO looks like an abomination. Isn't it natural to assume that someone would have to use a whip to make you touch that shit?

They need the money so they can stay afloat to make an awesome RPG someday, don't judge please.

I don't judge. Dearth of money can be a very powerful whip. It still looks like prostitution.

 

[Western]

^ Not having cutbacks and having company growth might be exactly why Feargus felt they had to take on some shitty MMO consultation job.

I find it amazing that people go to such extends to defend Obsidian, they will actually argue that hey took on a god damn russian MMO because they wanted to.

The only reason I can think they'd want to do this is that they're thinking of eventually going into the MMO business themselves and this is a low risk way of getting their feet wet.

Maybe that's not so crazy, if they're looking at alternate markets like tablets surely Mmorpgs must've crossed their minds as well.

 

[Duraframe300]

The only reason I can think they'd want to do this is that they're thinking of eventually going into the MMO business themselves and this is a low risk way of getting their feet wet.

Maybe that's not so crazy, if they're looking at alternate markets like tablets surely Mmorpgs must've crossed their minds as well.

That's what I'm thinking. They actually talked about F2P a few years ago (2010) and even mentioned MMO's in the process. At that point they didn't want to do it, because the WOW craze was still in and they didn't want to just make a WOW clone.

This is a low-risk venture providing experience and money. Things will probably get more clear when we hear about Obisdian's actual responsabilites regarding Skyforge.

 

[Scruffy]

• The biggest news from the presentation is the announcement that Obsidian's Onyx engine will be scrapped.

https://twitter.com/ChrisAvellone/status/120945809519947776

 

[Rake]

SP:TSoT

 

[Duraframe300]

• The biggest news from the presentation is the announcement that Obsidian's Onyx engine will be scrapped.

https://twitter.com/ChrisAvellone/status/120945809519947776

Yeah, that was their plan 2011. (Where they also still had that Microsoft exclusive rocking)

It's 2013 and after they discovered Unity.

SP:TSOT is going to be (presumably) their last game on the engine.

 

[Rake]

• The biggest news from the presentation is the announcement that Obsidian's Onyx engine will be scrapped.

https://twitter.com/ChrisAvellone/status/120945809519947776

Yeah, that was their plan 2011. (Where they also still had that Microsoft exclusive rocking)

It's 2013 and after they discovered Unity.

SP:TSOT is going to be (presumably) their last game on the engine.

I don't know about that. They said the game already looks like a TV episode. If it's succesfull they could make the sequel in the same engine and noone would cry "outdated".

 

[Scruffy]

Yeah, that was their plan 2011.

October 2011. A year and a half seems very little time for such a drastic change, imo.

 

[Infinitron]

October 2011. A year and a half seems very little time for such a drastic change, imo.

Uh, what if I told you were going to get a crowdfunded Wasteland and PS:T sequel back in October 2011?

Drastic changes have in fact occurred.

 

[Arkeus]

Yeah, that was their plan 2011.

October 2011. A year and a half seems very little time for such a drastic change, imo.

This is why i think that they have been VERY surprised at the quality of Unity.

 

[Scruffy]

October 2011. A year and a half seems very little time for such a drastic change, imo.

Uh, what if I told you were going to get a crowdfunded Wasteland and PS:T sequel back in October 2011?

Drastic changes have in fact occurred.

But their layoffs and the cancellation of that “next gen project” happened before the crowdfunding. October they say, more rpgs with our own engine, march they lay off people and cancel stuff. The crowdfunding didn’t come until September. Just saying, it seems like… some stuff wasn’t properly planned/managed, maybe?

 

[Scruffy]

Yeah, that was their plan 2011.

October 2011. A year and a half seems very little time for such a drastic change, imo.

This is why i think that they have been VERY surprised at the quality of Unity.

or that too, sure, why not. Still, doesn't talk too well of their own programming skills, does it. well, let's just hope we get future good games, instead of the same plot over and over with slightly different characters.

 

[Duraframe300]

Yeah, that was their plan 2011.

October 2011. A year and a half seems very little time for such a drastic change, imo.

No, its really not. The crowdfunding movement in 2012 and the introduction of the next-gen did shake the business up drastically. Making severe business changes in that timeframe is very probable.

Also the cancellation.


In the end a lot of money was wasted on Onyx since 2006? with no proper return, add to that other misgivings....

This was news to me, but it’s not too surprising. I had the sense that engine development on Dungeon Siege 3 was a significant investment, and if that game had been made with something like Unity, we may have had more resources to devote to the game itself. (And the stretched resources on DS3 were a big part of the reason for its shortcomings.)

So, it didn't come out of nowhere. In the end it was a hard business decision to make. Taking what they got most out of (Tools) and leaving behind what didn't pay off (engine).


Edit: And anyway, Feargus stated as Obsidian future plans to stop the engine development and focus on their tools. This is a thing that is happening.

 

[Scruffy]

Yeah, that was their plan 2011.

October 2011. A year and a half seems very little time for such a drastic change, imo.

No, its really not. The crowdfunding movement in 2012 and the introduction of the next-gen did shake the business up drastically. Making severe business changes in that timeframe is very probable.

Also the cancellation.


In the end a lot of money was wasted on Onyx since 2006? with no proper return, add to that other misgivings....

This was news to me, but it’s not too surprising. I had the sense that engine development on Dungeon Siege 3 was a significant investment, and if that game had been made with something like Unity, we may have had more resources to devote to the game itself. (And the stretched resources on DS3 were a big part of the reason for its shortcomings.)

So, it didn't come out of nowhere. In the end it was a hard business decision to make. Taking what they got most out of (Tools) and leaving behind what didn't pay off (engine).


Edit: And anyway, Feargus stated as Obsidian future plans to stop the engine development and focus on their tools. This is a thing that is happening.

i guess we'll see in a year and a half.

 

[KidBoogie]

well at least there'll be a coherent story to go along with the kill 30 spaceborg quests

 

[Duraframe300]

I don't know about that. They said the game already looks like a TV episode. If it's succesfull they could make the sequel in the same engine and noone would cry "outdated".

Yeah, but that train would also eventually stop come next generation if they stopped engine development.

I didn't even mention third-party middleware that's in the engine and the reason they chose Unity for Eternity.

 

[Cosmic Misogynerd]