Interview Feargus Urquhart feargs out at Red Bull Games, reveals Obsidian turned down Game of Thrones RPG

[Gruncheon]

I like to imagine that when Feargus gets creative input it's a little like George Lucas working on the Force Unleashed:

"A similar situation arose with Star Wars: The Force Unleashed’s protagonist, Starkiller. “[That name] was only supposed to be a nickname or call sign, not a proper name from the beginning,” a former LucasArts employee says. The development team hoped that Lucas would give Vader’s apprentice a Darth moniker, which at the time, was something that didn’t happen often.

“The team threw a Hail Mary to George, saying the game would have more credibility if the apprentice had a ‘Darth’ title,” a Force Unleashed team member says. Lucas agreed that this situation made sense for Sith royalty, and offered up two Darth titles for the team to choose from. “He threw out ‘Darth Icky’ and ‘Darth Insanius.’ There was a pregnant pause in the room after that. People waiting for George to say ‘just kidding,’ but it never comes, and he just moved on to another point.”

 

[Sordid MCA/Prosper Hybryd]

Feargus is retard. First, he refused offer to make RPG in Star Trek setting in favour of Snow White RPG (FFS!!!) and now THIS.

 

[Athelas]

A Snow White RPG would actually have been much more out of the norm than a Star Trek RPG (for which there is some precedent in the form of the Mass Effect series).

 

[Ulrox]

Feargus is a man after my own heart.

 

[Haba]

Cyanide made a better game than Obsidian ever could've anyway.

 

[Kem0sabe]

Sawyer probably threw a hissy fit because of the misogynist tendencies of the GoT IP.

 

[Vault Dweller]

I still liked the GoT we got

The one that we deserve?

 

[Kz3r0]

Feargus is retard. First, he refused offer to make RPG in Star Trek setting in favour of Snow White RPG (FFS!!!) and now THIS.

A retard couldn't have kept going for so long an independent studio of the size of Obsidian in such a harsh busibess environment, he is just bullshitting big time, basically his job.

 

[tuluse]

Hahaha, fuck Obsidian. This could be their next FNV, but they turned it down because it doesn't contain enough high fantasy cliches? Really?

REALLY?!

Read between the lines on this "I don't know if the project ever would have happened" aka the publisher wanted them to put time and effort into making a prototype and showing what they'd do just to change their minds and cancel the project.

 

[Perkel]

Whole point of PoE kickstarter was to get kind of like BG game with better writing. They delivered it (though with problems)

Now they can run other kickstarter with something far more interesting (especially after Torment kickstarter) and have second or even third completely new IP witch will be their own from start.

 

[Duraframe300]

Feargus is retard. First, he refused offer to make RPG in Star Trek setting in favour of Snow White RPG (FFS!!!) and now THIS.

That didn't happen

Like at all.

Unless 2005 and 2007 were somehow the same year.

 

[Rahdulan]

Cyanide made a better game than Obsidian ever could've anyway.

In some ways that's true. Although I never thought I'd be longing for that Obsidian polish when I played the game, to be honest.

 

[Morality Games]

You guys are aware that if Obsidian didn't get the Game of Thrones RPG its because of the nature of the deal that was offered, not Feargus's personal taste in RPGs, right?

One of the difficulties Obsidian has faced as a company is that it got fat on relatively lucrative contract work like Kotor 2 and Neverwinter Nights 2 before the market for independent middleweight game development dried out in later 2000s. Feargus principally didn't want to accept work that would mean gutting the company. Smaller, nimbler developers like Cyanide (almost half the size of Obsidian) were in a much stronger position to survive in this shrinking market.

 

[Weirdstuffinspace]

Whole point of PoE kickstarter was to get kind of like BG game with better writing. They delivered it (though with problems)

Now they can run other kickstarter with something far more interesting (especially after Torment kickstarter) and have second or even third completely new IP witch will be their own from start.

The whole point of the PoE kickstarter was to get money. That's it. Obsidian were dying and needed cash. And what better investers than old school fans starved for games and actually earning a decent salary these days. We know how much Josh-i'd really like to make a TB game-Sawyer and co fucked it up and also how their own IP is a generic pos with no value to them at all. Claiming they refused a GoT deal is ludicrous. Whatever fergie wants to achieve claiming this nonsense we can only guess at, but there's no reason to believe any of this.

 

[Morality Games]

The level aggression certain members of the Codex have shown to Obsidian and Josh Sawyer in particular is sort of tense and strange.

 

[Volrath]

The level aggression certain members of the Codex have shown to Obsidian and Josh Sawyer in particular is sort of tense and strange.

Blame Roguey

 

[Brayko]

Game of Thrones is an overblown, irresolute, unfinished turd well in the making who would want the job?

If only they would put their money where their mouth is and fire the anti-gameplay storyfags who do the actual job.

 

[Anthony Davis]

Feargus is retard. First, he refused offer to make RPG in Star Trek setting in favour of Snow White RPG (FFS!!!) and now THIS.

You are coo coo for coco puffs my friend.

One, there has never been a Star Trek game on the table in any meaningful way.

Two, the "Snow White" RPG was not an RPG about Snow White, it was an RPG in the Snow White universe. If I remember correctly, it took place hundreds of years before Snow White, maybe even a thousand years. Your primary characters were going to be the ancient dwarfs whose ancestors would eventually be the frail poor shadows of dwarfs we see in the animated film.

Honestly, if you look at the live action snow white movie with super babe Charlize Theron, it was MORE like the dwarfs in that - but even then, not quite. For example, the one I remember most clearly, was the feral barbarian dwarf who was enormously strong, and he was also a mute.

 

[Athelas]

Anthony Davis delivers again.

Clearly, the message to take from this is to insult Obsidian employees/CEO more often.

 

[Morality Games]

Feargus is retard. First, he refused offer to make RPG in Star Trek setting in favour of Snow White RPG (FFS!!!) and now THIS.

You are coo coo for coco puffs my friend.

Gullible (or maybe just indifferent and incurious) but not coo coo. Most of these misconceptions derive from things Feargus stated himself.

Compared to the obsessive level of neurotic detail and passion exhibited by the RPG fans of the Codex, Feargus is famously laidback with his commentary and presentation. Partly his personality and partly an act.

 

[Anthony Davis]

Feargus is retard. First, he refused offer to make RPG in Star Trek setting in favour of Snow White RPG (FFS!!!) and now THIS.

You are coo coo for coco puffs my friend.

Gullible (or maybe just indifferent and incurious) but not coo coo. Most of these misconceptions derive from things Feargus stated himself.

Compared to the obsessive level of neurotic detail and passion exhibited by the RPG fans of the Codex, Feargus is famously laidback with his commentary and presentation.

Well, I'm quoting the mascot of a breakfast cereal, so I clearly am not intending any serious insult there.

Believe it or not, Feargus is a lot like many of us. He loves games, science fiction and fantasy entertainment (books, tv, movies), and furry porn.

He probably has talked with Star Trek people many, many times - and every time it is probably awesome and exciting. However, to the best of my knowledge, nothing has ever progressed past talks on that IP... much to our collective sadness.

 

[Admiral jimbob]

The level aggression certain members of the Codex have shown to Obsidian and Josh Sawyer in particular is sort of tense and strange.

im gonna drop my pants and show you something tense, strange and aggressive

 

[Morality Games]

He probably has talked with Star Trek people many, many times - and every time it is probably awesome and exciting. However, to the best of my knowledge, nothing has ever progressed past talks on that IP... much to our collective sadness.

I'm aware of that.

Media portrayals tend to give the impression that Feargus' opinions about the merits of setting this or that for role playing play a huge role in his decisions about whether a deal is made. People that know better are aware that issues of money, labor, and time decide most negotiations between software developers and publishers. Its generally not good etiquette to talk about disagreements of money, time, and labor one has in business publicly, so when asked about Star Trek Feargus gives his opinions about the setting instead.

With Star Trek, I'm sure Paramount saw rival sci-fi Star Wars had been adapted into something called a "role playing game" that won a bunch of rewards. Armed with Call of Duty sales knowledge, they began making overtures, but when they saw the actual numbers on how much something like Kotor can make, they probably lost interest and went another direction.

 

[Brayko]

Star Trek....rival sci-fi star Wars

 

[Volourn]

FUCK. GOT RPG would be fukkin' awesome. And, not that stupid fake adventure game people rave about. FUCK THAT SHIT.