Game News Publisher Exploiting An Obsidian Kickstarter

[Jaesun]

Tags: Kickstarter; Obsidian Entertainment

Obsidian CEO Feargus Urquhart has revealed that an unnamed publisher tried to use his company to exploit an Obsidian Kickstarter project:

"We were actually contacted by some publishers over the last few months that wanted to use us to do a Kickstarter," he revealed on his team's own KS page. "I said to them 'So, you want us to do a Kickstarter for, using our name, we then get the Kickstarter money to make the game, you then publish the game, but we then don't get to keep the brand we make and we only get a portion of the profits.'

"They said, 'Yes'."

It seems it has begun. Publishers are now noticing the large impact of Kickstarter games and want to exploit it for their own profits, and only to the benefit them, not the Developer. Thankfully Feargus laughed at them and then started their own successful Project Eternity Kickstarter. 100% Publisher Scam Free.

Spotted at: destructoid http://www.destructoid.com/publishers-accused-of-trying-to-exploit-kickstarter-235292.phtml

 

[Crooked Bee]

Should've linked to one Ian Miles Cheong: http://www.gameranx.com/updates/id/...ploit-obsidian-entertainment-for-kickstarter/

 

[Freelance Henchman]

Publishers gonna, uh, publish.

 

[Metro]

Unsurprising given the number of shitty publishers Obsidian has been in bed with in the past. Probably Bethesderp.

 

[Jaesun]

Should've linked to one Ian Miles Cheong: http://www.gameranx.com/updates/id/...ploit-obsidian-entertainment-for-kickstarter/

Rex' new site doesn't deserve ONE SINGLE click of traffic. Period.

NO MORE FREE RIDES!

 

[abnaxus]

It was likely CD Projekt.

 

[Aeschylus]

I find this pretty unsurprising. Publishers were bound to try to get in on it eventually, and let's be honest, Obsidian have kind of been patsies for publishers throughout most of their existence. I suppose it just means that projects should be vetted more carefully going forward as Kickstarter becomes bigger.

 

[titus]

Hahahahaha. Suits on crack. Who the fuck would fall for that? Ever

 

[Ismaul]

Greed. Greed never changes.

 

[tuluse]

I find this pretty unsurprising. Publishers were bound to try to get in on it eventually, and let's be honest, Obsidian have kind of been patsies for publishers throughout most of their existence. I suppose it just means that projects should be vetted more carefully going forward as Kickstarter becomes bigger.

Agreed, but I don't think it will be hard. If it's an unknown developer no way a publisher does anything with them, so we shouldn't have to worry about that. It's the mid-tier developers like Obsidian that we have to watch. Personally, I think it should be pretty easy to judge from the pitches if there is a publisher behind them.

 

[Infinitron]

It was likely CD Projekt.

Unsurprising given the number of shitty publishers Obsidian has been in bed with in the past. Probably Bethesderp.

You're both wrong.

 

[Jaesun]

 

[Black]

Do we have something like "favourite a thread" function? I want to add this one.
Damn, Obsidian just can't get a break from publishers.

 

[Infinitron]

Do we have something like "favourite a thread" function? I want to add this one.
Damn, Obsidian just can't get a break from publishers.

Watch Thread. Top right.

 

[godsend1989]

Cry me a river

 

[Mikko Moilanen]

Hi guys :D

 

[Vault Dweller]

Publishers gonna, uh, publish.

 

[Taluntain]

Wanna, not gonna.

 

[Jaesun]

Oh to see the look on Feargus' face when he replied:

HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAH!

<silence> Sorry but no. We'll keep in touch.

 

[l3loodAngel]

It seems it has begun. Publishers are now noticing the large impact of Kickstarter games and want to exploit it for their own profits, and only to the benefit them, not the Developer. Thankfully Feargus laughed at them and then started their own successful Project Eternity Kickstarter.

Nobody can be this stupid. There should have been other conditions involved, like additional funding. If not they are the dumbest people on earth...

 

[Lumpy]

It seems it has begun. Publishers are now noticing the large impact of Kickstarter games and want to exploit it for their own profits, and only to the benefit them, not the Developer. Thankfully Feargus laughed at them and then started their own successful Project Eternity Kickstarter. 100% Publisher Scam Free.l

The capitalist publishers are exploiting the developing classes!

This is absurd. There's no way that publishers could 'exploit' Kickstarter to the detriment of developers, because the only way any developer would accept such an offer is if the publisher offered some genuine benefit in return. In this case, they clearly didn't, so the whole attempt was utterly stupid.

But if this Kickstarter fad continues to grow, it's not implausible that some sort of 'oversight companies' will come to fulfil a traditional publisher's role - vouching for the quality of the project by putting their name behind it, making up for budget shortfalls if the amount raised proves insufficient, and making sure the games actually get released. Even in that case, I very much doubt they would be able to extract 100% of the profits from the developer - it'd probably be some small percentage of the total revenues.

 

[IDtenT]

I'm going to play Devil's Advocate here. Publishers can handle cost-overruns whereas developers cannot. Let's wait and see how many of these kickstarter developers fail to deliver on their promised games. I bet you the guys who did donate, to such a failed project, will wish that there was a publisher in the background that would have given the studio the other half of the budget. I mean, if the publisher only has to take half, or less, of the risk wouldn't they be more open to riskier projects, like turn-based RPGs?

 

[Takeda Kenshi]

It's times like this when you wish 'gaming journalism' actually had some semblance of real journalism... if just to get to the bottom of this story and expose the publisher in question. The butthurt (and ensuing disaster control) would be priceless.

 

[IDtenT]

But if this Kickstarter fad continues to grow, it's not implausible that some sort of 'oversight companies' will come to fulfil a traditional publisher's role - vouching for the quality of the project by putting their name behind it, making up for budget shortfalls if the amount raised proves insufficient, and making sure the games actually get released. Even in that case, I very much doubt they would be able to extract 100% of the profits from the developer - it'd probably be some small percentage of the total revenues.

Expect this to happen within the 2013 time frame. A publisher could really make quite a buck by picking up projects that overran their budget.

 

[IDtenT]

It's times like this when you wish 'gaming journalism' actually had some semblance of real journalism... if just to get to the bottom of this story and expose the publisher in question. The butthurt (and ensuing disaster control) would be priceless.

Unsolicited investigative journalism is dead. Period. Even when one considers "real" journalism.