Obsidian and inXile acquired by Microsoft

[Roguey]

I'm not sure if they have ever done any market research of any kind in a systematic way.

They did patch in telemetry, but way too late, like literally last November. They patched in telemetry into Tyranny just a few months before then. Bioware had this telemetry business figured out in Dragon Age: Origins on day one, though the results of that data gave us Dragon Age II.

 

[Fenix]

Why are bugs a valid reason to leave a bad review when "the entire game is not what I wanted" isn't?

Because they like the game, and so bugs infuriate them. Bugs infuriates them because game matter something.

Probably big hype around PoE made them unsure that game is bad - after all, everybody talking about it, prising it.
It was enough not to bother with negative rewiev but enough to not buy next game.
That mean hype traine affected game negatively - in a way.

 

[santino27]

Why did the people who felt betrayed by POE1's broken promises not leave a negative review? People leave negative reviews all the time. Pathfinder Kingmaker is still "Mixed" despite fulfilling the "BG spiritual successor" promise better than POE1. Is it because of the bugs? Why are bugs a valid reason to leave a bad review when "the entire game is not what I wanted" isn't?

I don't think most people felt betrayed. People tend to leave reviews if they have strong feelings. I think for a lot of people, POE just left them feeling eh.

 

[Neanderthal]

Yeah Poe were pretty much mediocrity personified for me, felt a bit miffed that I'd shelled out a fair wodge o cash for Kickstarter based on pitch that they chose to "interpret" differently in the end product but I just shrugged and moved on.

Last chance blown really, but plenty of other entertainment on offer.

 

[Jason Liang]

1) BG1vsBG2 to PoE1vsPoE2 is an apples to oranges comparison. 20 years ago, Baldur's Gate was an AAA game. It was not niche, and it did not have to compete with the vast array of gaming software that exists today... 20 years ago we didn't have Fortnites, MOBAs, huge amounts of AAA games, etc, competing for our time. 20 years ago Baldur's Gate was THE SHIT, it appeared in the front covers of most gaming magazines of the time... People bought BG2 in droves because for most PC gaming magazines it was GOTY.

Bullshit. What really happened was Diablo steamrolled over Baldur's Gate and Diablo 2 steamrolled over Baldur's Gate 2.

[Diablo 2]'s global sales reached 1 million copies after two weeks, and 2 million after one and a half months. Domestically, it sold 790,285 units and earned $41.05 million by the end of October 2000, according to PC Data. Its sales during 2000 alone reached 2.75 million globally; 33% of these copies were sold outside the United States, with South Korea making up the largest international market.

In the United States, Baldur's Gate II sold 199,914 copies and earned $9.2 million by the end of 2000.

 

[Fairfax]

Sure, there’s less of it, but what’s there is often written in the style of twitter or text messages.

Or tumblr:

 

[Ismaul]

I was going to get the PoE2 bundle once it was out and affordable. You know, just to see what made Roxxor cuck out. But seeing this, maybe I won't.

 

[Tenebris]

That's one of the more tame quotes too.

 

[Quillon]

The way I see it, when the Kickstarter era of RPGs began, there were two goals:

1) Reintroduce oldschool game design concepts that had been abandoned, most notably turn-based and tactical combat.

2) Create a larger, more diverse ecosystem of medium-sized RPG developers that are not beholden to publishers.

The second goal is a failure, but the first one is a success! That's the difference between what's happening now and what happened in the 2000s. The big publishers are taking over again, but "turn-based combat" isn't a curse word anymore. That's a good thing, and it means the Kickstarter era wasn't a complete waste.

First goal was already achieved through nu-Xcoms and Firaxis has't done it through KS.

Second goal wasn't their goal; the goal was having a chance to make something(hence the name: kickstarter ) whether old or new concepts without publisher influence or dependence.

Their goal was or should have been to kickstart a first game and if successful, build on that success themselves with a sequel or a different game with better production values but few could accomplish it, instead most abused it or tried to abuse it by going back to KS again and again till people lost faith on the whole ordeal.

Give me a reason why someone should play Deadfire? What did developers want people to say about the game? "Oh man, it's just like PoE but with a ship!"?

Wow, no redeemable qualities in Deadfire? If one can find 1 reason to play AoD, he can find 50 reasons to play Deadfire.

Even on codex most people agree that Deadfire is objectively better than its prequel so the reason/s of its shocking levels of under-performance in sales is most probably something else then how good the game is and we've been discussing what those reasons might be in other threads already; like disappointing first game(despite its sales), market saturation, not enough marketing etc. I think the first 2 of these is the biggest reasons.

 

[Alienman]

Will the last DLC for POE II have a Microsoft logo in the splash now?

 

[Ismaul]

Even on codex most people agree that Deadfire is objectively better than its prequel

You mean those that played it. Which if we go by sale numbers, might only be 10% of those that played the first.

 

[Quillon]

Even on codex most people agree that Deadfire is objectively better than its prequel

You mean those that played it. Which if we go by sale numbers, might only be 10% of those that played the first.

Why that is so is the issue. People didn't even wanna try it.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Give me a reason why someone should play Deadfire? What did developers want people to say about the game? "Oh man, it's just like PoE but with a ship!"?

Wow, no redeemable qualities in Deadfire? If one can find 1 reason to play AoD, he can find 50 reasons to play Deadfire.

I wasn't implying that AoD is a better game or comparing it (or any other game) to Deadfire in any way. The main problem with Deadfire is not the game itself but PoE and 2 expansions. You have to really fucking love it to want more of it, meaning only the diehard fans would buy the sequel. Sure, the mechanics are "objectively better" and the party members and many dialogues are objectively worse (often cringe-worthy), but overall the game doesn't give players who kinda liked a reason to go for another ride. It's as simple as that. The market has nothing to do with it unless you think that everyone else is still busy playing D:OS2.

 

[Ismaul]

Why that is so is the issue. People didn't even wanna try it.

Really the blame should all go to Darth Roxor and his review. The PoE1 one. He killed the dream.

Also he made me buy ELEX the fucker. After that, who's gonna believe his dickslurping PoE2 review, eh? It's all about ethics in game journalism.


(I'm actually firing up ELEX right now, just to see how bitterly I can be disappointed despite having no expectations, y'know?)

 

[Quillon]

The main problem with Deadfire is not the game itself but PoE and 2 expansions. You have to really fucking love it to want more of it, meaning only the diehard fans would buy the sequel.

So we agree on this. What could they have done with PoE 2 differently to significantly improve its sales then?

Market has something to with it IMO. f.i. I wasn't even expecting them to make PoE2 right after PoE1. There was a mmorpg.com interview with Josh and I was almost certain they were working on something different when he said that they are starting to make another game. The Market(tm) already got PoE1 + Expansions + Tyranny from Obs in quick succession and I was thinking it wasn't hungry yet for another isometric fantasy game from Obs cos I wasn't. I played the game cos I'm prolly too attached at this point with discussing Obs most days on here but most people ain't like me. So timing of it might be wrong/too early which is connected to The Market(tm).

 

[santino27]

I was going to get the PoE2 bundle once it was out and affordable. You know, just to see what made Roxxor cuck out. But seeing this, maybe I won't.

Most of the companion dialogue is next-level horrendous... exactly what you'd expect from young writers who have been raised and taught to insert themselves in their prose. And the main plot sucks. But there's still value to the game, in terms of combat, exploration, and itemization, imo.

 

[TemplarGR]

It wasn't. People who liked it left positive reviews, rating etc, and those who don't - mostly didn't bother to do that.

What the fuck? It is generally accepted that most people who voice their opinions on something are complaining because generally being bothered by something is a bigger motivator to just go login somewhere and leave a review, than just liking a game.

If you play a game and like it, you just go on with your life, if you buy a game and you think it crashed your hopes and dreams and wasted your money, you visit every place on the internet and complain about it and go on a hate crusade...

So you claim that this general rule got inverted for PoE specifically? Perhaps the earth is flat for PoE too?

 

[Kyl Von Kull]

It wasn't. People who liked it left positive reviews, rating etc, and those who don't - mostly didn't bother to do that.

What the fuck? It is generally accepted that most people who voice their opinions on something are complaining because generally being bothered by something is a bigger motivator to just go login somewhere and leave a review, than just liking a game.

If you play a game and like it, you just go on with your life, if you buy a game and you think it crashed your hopes and dreams and wasted your money, you visit every place on the internet and complain about it and go on a hate crusade...

So you claim that this general rule got inverted for PoE specifically? Perhaps the earth is flat for PoE too?

Clearly not that many people hate POE with so much passion. My guess is that a lot of them feel a mild sense of disappointment and disinterest. They’re not angry, they’re apathetic. Which explains why they neither left reviews nor bought the sequel.

 

[TemplarGR]

Clearly not that many people hate POE with so much passion. My guess is that a lot of them feel a mild sense of disappointment and disinterest. They’re not angry, they’re apathetic. Which explains why they neither left reviews nor bought the sequel.

PoE was made for hardcore Infinite Engine fans. Those fans who frequent this forum. You realize that hardcore crpg fans who expected the crpg messiah would equal "mildly dissappointing" to "treason", right?

PoE was meant to be the spiritual Baldur's Gate 3 we didn't get. It had a lot of hype behind it. You think hardcore fans wouldn't express their disdain after the crashing of their hopes and dreams?

You are delusional.

 

[Bester]

Game press really did a disservice to Obshitian, praising Poe1 to high heaven, while it was a mediocre piece of shot.

I get a sense that there was this feeling in the PC gamers audience "i've never played baldur's gate cause it's an OLD GAME, but I've heard so much good things about it, and now we have pillars 1, so let's buy that! i want to be a hardcore gamer!". And IE games lovers wanted it too, desperately.

Of course, having played poe1, absolutely nobody wanted to come back to that shit. And if anything, poe1 did a disservice to anyone who's going to release isometric RPGs.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

It's adorable to read pages upon pages of people talking about some vicious, widespread backlash against PoE1, and yet never showing any evidence that it actually exists.

 

[Mustawd]

Clearly not that many people hate POE with so much passion. My guess is that a lot of them feel a mild sense of disappointment and disinterest. They’re not angry, they’re apathetic. Which explains why they neither left reviews nor bought the sequel.

PoE was made for hardcore Infinite Engine fans. Those fans who frequent this forum. You realize that hardcore crpg fans who expected the crpg messiah would equal "mildly dissappointing" to "treason", right?

PoE was meant to be the spiritual Baldur's Gate 3 we didn't get. It had a lot of hype behind it. You think hardcore fans wouldn't express their disdain after the crashing of their hopes and dreams?

You are delusional.

Of course they did. They’re just clearly not the majority if people who bought and/or kickstarted PoE.

 

[Mustawd]

Game press really did a disservice to Obshitian, praising Poe1 to high heaven, while it was a mediocre piece of shot.

I get a sense that there was this feeling in the PC gamers audience "i've never played baldur's gate cause it's an OLD GAME, but I've heard so much good things about it, and now we have pillars 1, so let's buy that! i want to be a hardcore gamer!". And IE games lovers wanted it too, desperately.

Of course, having played poe1, absolutely nobody wanted to come back to that shit. And if anything, poe1 did a disservice to anyone who's going to release isometric RPGs.

This.

If you want an example of casual PoE reaction look at Angry Joe. Praised it and showered it with nostalgia love when it came out. And PoE2? A review? A mini review? Nada. Cuz nobody cares.

 

[TemplarGR]

Of course they did. They’re just clearly not the majority if people who bought and/or kickstarted PoE.

OKKKEEEEYYYYYYYY

So let me get this straight: You are claiming that the people who wanted a sequel to Baldur's gate were the *MINORITY* of people who kickstarted Pillars of Eternity?

Stand still, i have a bridge in Brooklyn i am looking to sell.

 

[Mustawd]

Of course they did. They’re just clearly not the majority if people who bought and/or kickstarted PoE.

OKKKEEEEYYYYYYYY

So let me get this straight: You are claiming that the people who wanted a sequel to Baldur's gate were the *MINORITY* of people who kickstarted Pillars of Eternity?

Stand still, i have a bridge in Brooklyn i am looking to sell.

trend
/trend/
noun

1. 
   
2. a fashion.
   "the latest trends in modern dance"
   synonyms: fashion, vogue, style, mode, craze, mania, rage;

fad
/fad/
noun

1. an intense and widely shared enthusiasm for something, especially one that is short-lived and without basis in the object's qualities; a craze.

What about this do you find so implausible?