Incline Chris Avellone Appreciation Station

[fantadomat]

As if that would ever work. Roguey will find you all.

Can he? What is my reddit nick then?

 

[Infinitron]

Mainstream media attention: https://www.usgamer.net/articles/fallout-writer-chris-avellone-xbox-obsidian-news

Fallout Writer Chris Avellone's Obsidian Feud Escalates With Tweet to Xbox Calling Management "Terrible," Urging Firing
The feud between Chris Avellone and Obsidian deepens.

Chris Avellone didn't leave Obsidian under the best of terms, but he upped his rhetoric a notch further recently, urging Microsoft to fire the studio's management if a deal is successfully concluded.

In message sent last night, Chris Avellone tweeted directly at Xbox executive Phil Spencer and referred to Obsidian's leadership as "chaff at the top." He also suggested they take a closer look at the Pillars of Eternity sales figures.

Asked for response to Avellone's comments, an Obsidian representative told USgamer, "Chris is an amazing designer and we wish him the best in all of his future endeavors."

Avellone departed Obsidian in 2015, where he was a writer for games including Fallout New Vegas and Knights of the Old Republic 2. Before that Avellone helped write classics including Fallout 2 and Planescape Torment. Since his departure, Avellone has worked on games including Divinity: Original Sin 2 and Pathfinder: Kingmaker. He is also the narrative designer for Dying Light 2.

Avellone opened up about his departure from Obsidian earlier this year, and he was not sparing in his assessment of his former employer. In speaking with Techraptor, he directly called out Obsidian co-founder Feargus Urquhart, who Avellone says "de-ownered" him. Avellone spoke at length about what he perceives to be the issues at Obsidian

It went beyond the transparency in finances – the biggest shock came when the matter arose about paying back employees (not the owners, but our employees) who had given up their paychecks to keep Obsidian from going bankrupt. When we did start getting money in the bank again after this bleak period, however, the company’s spending began accelerating again. This made me uncomfortable, so at that time where our finances became healthy again, I brought up that since we had the means to do so, we should pay back the employees who gave up their paychecks to keep us going. My comment was met with silence by all the owners. I repeated the concern, but when I brought it up again, Feargus simply said, “we never promised we’d pay the employees back,” as if that excused things – but paying the employees back didn’t seem like a technicality to me, this was the right thing to do.​

Avellone's comments come in the wake of reports that Microsoft is close to acquiring Obsidian. Microsoft has been on a buying spree of late, picking up Hellblade developer Ninja Theory among others, and adding cult favorite RPGs like Pillars of Eternity to its portfolio would seem to further improve its hardcore bonafides.

We'll be taking a closer look at Avellone's allegations about Pillars of Eternity's sales. In the meantime, if Avellone's bridges with Obsidian weren't burnt before, they sure are now.

 

[Infinitron]

Pretty much giving away his motivations there.

 

[FeelTheRads]

Gotta love corporate speak.

How do you comment regarding a former employer calling you useless?
"We think he's a great designer and wish him luck!"

 

[Efe]

maybe hes just speaking his mind but feel free to attribute these messages to maliciousness on his part.
He worked hard not to sign that NDA, has no reason to keep silent.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

I would imagine that giant like Microsoft goes with a fine comb through company's books and business practices before doing an expensive acquisition. So even assuming the best intentions, calling Phil Spencer out on Twitter to look at Deadfire sales is...not very productive.

 

[TT1]

Hey mainstream media and retradeds from resetera and SA, I know you are reading this. You can check this for a better writing and better articles:

- RPG Codex Interview: Chris Avellone on Pillars Cut Content, Game Development Hierarchies and More
- MCA Q&A

Cheers!

 

[Trans-Financial-Man]

Hey Something Awful you still owe me a tenner you welsher fucks.

 

[hogcranker]

what kind of absolute cuckold defaults to defending management

never mind, there's probably a lot of overlap with someone who would by an "Xbox" so this isn't worth thinking about

 

[MRY]

I like the idea that Microsoft is buying Obsidian because of the future income stream of POE2 sales.

 

[Quillon]

Chris is finally getting the attention he hoped for so long, wonder if usgamer will persist.

 

[santino27]

This reminds me of when people campaign on behalf of individuals (models, etc.) they feel are being taken advantage of, and the result is those individuals lose their job while the campaigners feel smugly satisfied at making the world a better place.

 

[jungl]

obsidian employees giving up paychecks to keep the company afloat. Then they never get reimbursed. Is Bernie Sanders part of the upper management crew?

 

[Maculo]

I recall Chris Avellone said he set aside money for legal defense, but I really hope he consulted a lawyer before tweeting. Tortious Interference with a Contract is a thing.

I am not one for litigation, but I would be surprised if Obsidian would just shrug that off.

 

[TheImplodingVoice]

obsidian employees giving up paychecks to keep the company afloat. Then they never get reimbursed. Is Bernie Sanders part of the upper management crew?

Probably. He wants to mold Obsidian into the dream that is Venezuela

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

I recall Chris Avellone said he set aside money for legal defense, but I really hope he consulted a lawyer before tweeting. Tortious Interference with a Contract is a thing.

I am not one for litigation, but I would be surprised if Obsidian would just shrug that off.

The only two lawyers who could have approved that tweet are called Jim Beam and Johnnie Walker.

 

[TheImplodingVoice]

It's reached reddit: "Chris Avellone tells Phil Spencer to fire Obsidian management"

Sorry, Chris Avellone , looks like Codex is ruining your professional life.

What does Codex have to do with MS not hiring him. Codex seems pretty normal to me

 

[Tuco Benedicto Pacifico]

Why does Reddit contain the biggest bunch of corporate apologists and funko pop slurping cretins?

Because you don't read resetera.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

I love that Sawyer got slammed by Leon Boyarski and called out for his horseshit of not doing a fucking thing for their game but latching onto it like he does.

You can't really talk back to Leon on any of that sort of shit. That guy works his ass off. And I'll be truthful, that guy has made FUN games that were good. Not just good for what it is. But fucking good. Him and Tim Cain. Those are some hard core pipe hittin' niggas compared to Sawyer.

 

[Tuco Benedicto Pacifico]

I love that Sawyer got slammed by Leon Boyarski and called out for his horseshit of not doing a fucking thing for their game but latching onto it like he does.

Interesting.
Can I have some direct reference about this? I'd like to check the explicit quotes.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

Chris wrote it in the thread about the next Obsidian game, outer worlds. Can't remember the page.

Basically, Josh has some bullshit position just to bill the publisher extra. Fergus accounting. But he hasn't done a fucking thing for their game and got called out on it.

 

[2house2fly]

Sawyer didn't "latch on" to the game, he was latched onto it by Feargus Urquhart after he'd already said he was burned out and didn't want to work on a game for a while

 

[Quillon]

I love that Sawyer got slammed by Leon Boyarski and called out for his horseshit of not doing a fucking thing for their game but latching onto it like he does.

I'm sure you'd love it more if Sawyer goes full hands-on with Indiana, interfering with their design decisions mid-development as opposed to steering clear of it and letting them do their thing and maybe(?) getting called out for doing so.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

It's a win for me either way. Just can't stand his golden boy status in the gaming media.

 

[Sailor Woedica]

It's a win for me either way. Just can't stand his golden boy status in the gaming media.

Don't be jealous of his boyish good looks, kind eyes and cute smile.