Development Info Feargus Urquhart on Release Dates

[Sol Invictus]

Tags: Feargus Urquhart; Obsidian Entertainment; Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords

The man himself, <b>Feargus Urquhart</b> has <a href="http://forums.obsidianent.com/index.php?showtopic=18007&st=0">commented</a> on KOTOR II's release dates at the Obsidian forums. Here's the post in whole:
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<blockquote>I am going to try to comment on the release dates without sticking my foot in my mouth or pissing a myriad of groups off. This is probably impossible, but hey when has that ever stopped Feargus "Slamdunk" Urquhart before.
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Anyway now that I'm done with the disclaimer.
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There are actually a whole bunch of reasons why the dates have been set they way they have been, some of them have to do with LucasArts and some of them have to do with Obsidian. Microsoft even weighed in on the topic and let us know what they would like to see. What came out of all that was that the US Xbox version would come out in December and the PC and both International versions would come out in February.
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Like a lot of people on the boards here, we are disappointed that we will not be shipping the PC version simultaneously. We are probably more disappointed actually, because of all the hard work we put into making it possible for that to happen.</blockquote>
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Maybe people will stop blaming him for things out of his control, for once.
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Thanks for the news <b>Kumquatq3</b>.

 

[Briosafreak]

What? The fans of KoTOR are generally pissed at the release date promisse not beeing kept, make a noise but he doesn`t think they are the worse ever? He will, when he moves away from the franchise, like he did with the Fallout fans probably. oh my.

 

[jiujitsu]

Bull. We all know it was Feargus himself that won't let the PC version ship at the same time. He's evil!

Ok. Maybe it wasn't his fault about the release dates. Even though his PR stuff is a bit... retarded sometimes, I believe he means well.

Long live Feargus and all that.

 

[Seven]

He will, when he moves away from the franchise, like he did with the Fallout fans probably. oh my.

I got apples to acorns that says KOTOR2's story will be better than the original, whether it sticks with the canon or not remains to be seen.

 

[kumquatq3]

What? The fans of KoTOR are generally pissed at the release date promisse not beeing kept, make a noise but he doesn`t think they are the worse ever? He will, when he moves away from the franchise, like he did with the Fallout fans probably. oh my.

Feargus is right on this one. By all accounts Lucasarts fucked Obsidian over. The (informed) fan reaction seems to follow accordingly.

 

[Sol Invictus]

And yet everyone feels compelled to blame Feargus for it.

 

[Briosafreak]

What? The fans of KoTOR are generally pissed at the release date promisse not beeing kept, make a noise but he doesn`t think they are the worse ever? He will, when he moves away from the franchise, like he did with the Fallout fans probably. oh my.

Feargus is right on this one. By all accounts Lucasarts fucked Obsidian over. The (informed) fan reaction seems to follow accordingly.

True, it`s not his fault, i`m just making a prophecy here, he will blame it on the fans one day, i`ll tell ya`

 

[kumquatq3]

What? The fans of KoTOR are generally pissed at the release date promisse not beeing kept, make a noise but he doesn`t think they are the worse ever? He will, when he moves away from the franchise, like he did with the Fallout fans probably. oh my.

Feargus is right on this one. By all accounts Lucasarts fucked Obsidian over. The (informed) fan reaction seems to follow accordingly.

True, it`s not his fault, i`m just making a prophecy here, he will blame it on the fans one day, i`ll tell ya`

You give the KOTOR fans too much credit. :wink:

 

[Whipporowill]

It's probably a great deal - maybe Microsoft will pay some bonus moolah too have the x-box version out by christmas, rather than both versions in January? I don't know, and I don't care - but when there's some many players involved it's hard to blame just one party. I certainly don't think Feargus is to blame, more than possibly for cutting a deal with Microsoft (which most sane developers would have) - not that I say he DID.

 

[taks]

wow, guys, i'm impressed. around here that's almost sympathy for the devil!

this far away from release, i'm not surprised to hear about slips. i can't remember the last time an anticipated game wasn't still slipping a few weeks before release... nothing new.

taks

 

[Sol Invictus]

Don't worry. Someone will get to flaming Feargus Urquhart for hurricane Ivan or the massacre in Russia in a couple of days and he'll probably be sure to mention the word "Slamdunk" a couple of times while he's at it, too.

 

[taks]

LOL!
well, in his defense, he 1) takes it well and 2) actually maintains contact with fans. not all devs do that. the latter statement is not necessarily a requirement, but it does help i think.

taks

 

[plin]

What? The fans of KoTOR are generally pissed at the release date promisse not beeing kept, make a noise but he doesn`t think they are the worse ever? He will, when he moves away from the franchise, like he did with the Fallout fans probably. oh my.

Feargus is right on this one. By all accounts Lucasarts fucked Obsidian over. The (informed) fan reaction seems to follow accordingly.

True, it`s not his fault, i`m just making a prophecy here, he will blame it on the fans one day, i`ll tell ya`

With fans of his franchise like these ( http://www.nma-fallout.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9493 ), I don't blame him one fucking bit. I hate you guys as well.

 

[Sol Invictus]

LOL!
well, in his defense, he 1) takes it well and 2) actually maintains contact with fans. not all devs do that. the latter statement is not necessarily a requirement, but it does help i think.

taks

I especially liked his sense of humor in his NMA Dev Profile interview. Saint did, too. Brios and Teatime took it completely the wrong way, though. They thought he was being rude or something. What?

 

[Gromnir]

the one constant with fergie is that he will never take no responsibility. 'course, in this case, there ain't no reason for him to take responsibility. then again, he is playing the chicken sh!t role again.

original release date announced for both pc and xbox were feb. somewhere along the way, somebody realizes that, in spite of earlier predictions, the xbox version, the version that accounts for most of your sales, can make the holiday season... if sacrifices is made on the pc side of development.

...

where is the debate? where is the confusion? what moron comes to conclusion that a simultaneous release AFTER the holidays is preferable? is fergie that moron? bull. fergie wouldn’t have done different… and neither would any other reasonably intelligent businessman… he would have sacrificed simultaneous to get the money maker out in time for christmas.

however, fergie is lucky... he not have to take no responsibility... uses his impotence as a shield. he gets to play the victim on the boards where it not matter.

bah.

HA! Good Fun!

 

[Sol Invictus]

As much as I loath to admit it, Gromnir's right about this, you know.

It'd be truly idiotic to delay the XBOX version and miss the entire holiday season just to release it simultaniously with the PC version.

 

[kumquatq3]

original release date announced for both pc and xbox were feb.

Yes they were. Too bad LA PUBLICALLY changed them in a press memo to "holidays winter 2004", as RPGcodex previously reported.

somewhere along the way, somebody realizes that, in spite of earlier predictions, the xbox version, the version that accounts for most of your sales, can make the holiday season... if sacrifices is made on the pc side of development.

Not sure where you got or heard this, but it's wrong.

In fact, the PC version should still be on track (more or less) for a Dec release date.

where is the debate? where is the confusion? what moron comes to conclusion that a simultaneous release AFTER the holidays is preferable? is fergie that moron? bull. fergie wouldn’t have done different… and neither would any other reasonably intelligent businessman… he would have sacrificed simultaneous to get the money maker out in time for christmas.

Maybe, but I'm guessing Feargus would have let the PC version come out for X-mas too. As it IS on track for that date.

however, fergie is lucky... he not have to take no responsibility... uses his impotence as a shield. he gets to play the victim on the boards where it not matter.

Obsidian didn't know about the changed PC release till days before the public announcement. You really think a company with not one game under it's belt had much say in this?

If you need details and links to prove them, just ask. I rather you just search my posts at Obsidian.

 

[Gromnir]

"Maybe, but I'm guessing Feargus would have let the PC version come out for X-mas too. As it IS on track for that date. "

is this more of your insinde info? like fo3 is still on-track kinda inside info?

*shrug*

we has heard opposite.

regardless, there is some few dev posts that claim that they has, for some time, been devoting far more resources to xbox than pc version (maybe you should do some searches yourself.. personally we not know what good would come of Gromnir reading your OPINIONS on this issue,)... and is generally accepted that xbox takes far less resources to develop in part 'cause hardware is standardized.

is conspiracy theorist nonsense to suggest that lucas would purposefully sacrifice pc holiday sales ‘cause microsoft wants some imagined boost for xbox; those LEGIONS of pc fans who will go out and buy an xbox and xbox version of game if they would have to wait 2 additional months to get the pc version they really want.

rrrririiiiiggggghhhhhhttttt.

"Obsidian didn't know about the changed PC release till days before the public announcement. You really think a company with not one game under it's belt had much say in this? "

we already agreed that fergie had no power in this particular career move choice... our issue were that fergie implied that he would do something other than did lucas... sacrifice pc to make xbox christams release a reality were not a hard choice to make and fergie woulda' done exactly the same. were chicken sh!t to imply otherwise when, as you and he pointed out, he were impotent. fergie were simply telling irate fans what they wanted to hear… “I’m on your side, but what can you do” kinda crap. create a little good will at no personal cost.

HA! Good Fun!

 

[Briosafreak]

With fans of his franchise like these ( http://www.nma-fallout.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9493 ), I don't blame him one fucking bit. I hate you guys as well.

He started it fuckface.

 

[Volourn]

"Yes they were. Too bad LA PUBLICALLY changed them in a press memo to "holidays winter 2004", as RPGcodex previously reported."

More idiotic spamming by you. Who cares about this. release dates are changes all the time. I cna't remember any game that actually hit its original release date. Bottom line, the two versions were scheduled for February. The x-box one has moved up for now. Stop your bellyaching. LA, Obsdian, and MS owes you nothing. If you don't like it; don't buy the game; but youa re too busy playing thier whiny bitch you'll be first in line to scoop it up.

 

[Dhruin]

I don't think it's a big deal and I agree that any sane business person would get the biggest-selling version out for the holidays when possible.

However, I'd still like to see comparative numbers. The overall sales of Xbox games is lower than for the PC, so while the Xbox version may be a much bigger seller for all I know, without evidence it's not an obvious call to me.

 

[Volourn]

Well, I presume that LA and MS have the numbers for KOTOR1 (both versions) and both of those companies know how to do business so I'm sure they feel they are doing the smart thing even if it pisses off 10 or so net dweebs. LOL

 

[Spazmo]

Microsoft feels the smart thing is to make sure they get a big title on their Xbox for the holiday season. I can say for sure MS doesn't make a cent off people buying the PC version of KOTOR, but there's possibly some sort of royalty scheme for games sold on the Xbox as well as the simple boost it'll give to the console itself. That doesn't mean that the Xbox version outsells the PC one, though. It just means that, say, one million sales on Xbox benefit Microsoft better than three million on PC.

 

[Whipporowill]

What Spaz said.

More X-box games sold at christmas (or any other time) makes the brand stronger as well, not to forget.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

Spaz is right. MicroSoft gets a cut of all the money made from KotOR X-Box sales - around $10 per copy. They don't get a cut for the PC game sales. So, yeah, you can see why they might want to delay the PC version until after the XBox one has sold a few hundred thousand copies.