Has your opinion of Obsidian changed after Avellone’s revelations and Deadfire?

[Invictus]

As much as I wish the Tim Cain secret project to come out I actually don’t want it to succeed

Rooting for the failure of a game company is the most retarded thing ever! What do you gain from them losing money and going bankrupt? Nothing. If you don't care about their games, just don't play them. But there are jobs at stake here, so I'd rather not root for people losing their jobs.

Unfortunately, the success of some game series can set trends that poisons their respective genres for years, as others rush head over heels to milk the new gimmicks raw. I don't want people to lose jobs, but I don't want purveyors of decline to exist either.

I don't think there is a big chance that one of Obsidian's game turns out to be a trendmaker. They are moderate success at best, and I wish them to keep this level of success.

So you will be well satisfied with their level of mediocrity good sire! Most of their talent is gone (save for Sawyer) no legit publisher will touch them (and seems they are on the outs with Paradox) and their last releases have both been commercial failures...

As for Project Indiana it is beginning to look more and more like a pipedream that it will somehow “save” dear old Fergus

 

[J_C]

As much as I wish the Tim Cain secret project to come out I actually don’t want it to succeed

Rooting for the failure of a game company is the most retarded thing ever! What do you gain from them losing money and going bankrupt? Nothing. If you don't care about their games, just don't play them. But there are jobs at stake here, so I'd rather not root for people losing their jobs.

Unfortunately, the success of some game series can set trends that poisons their respective genres for years, as others rush head over heels to milk the new gimmicks raw. I don't want people to lose jobs, but I don't want purveyors of decline to exist either.

I don't think there is a big chance that one of Obsidian's game turns out to be a trendmaker. They are moderate success at best, and I wish them to keep this level of success.

So you will be well satisfied with their level of mediocrity good sire! Most of their talent is gone (save for Sawyer) no legit publisher will touch them (and seems they are on the outs with Paradox) and their last releases have both been commercial failures...

As for Project Indiana it is beginning to look more and more like a pipedream that it will somehow “save” dear old Fergus

No. I think they make pretty good RPGs, but not mainstream enough to make big bucks. That's why I say they are not trendmakers.

 

[Lacrymas]

Oh, 200k copies is definitely not mainstream. More like on the somewhat successful indie level.

 

[Sigourn]

It has changed, but not by much.

So Feargus is an asshole? Big deal. So Obsidian can't write a proper fantasy game to save their lives? Big deal. I'm just interested in Fallout.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

It has changed, but not by much.

So Feargus is an asshole? Big deal. So Obsidian can't write a proper fantasy game to save their lives? Big deal. I'm just interested in Fallout.

Meanwhile, you'll never get a well-written Fallout game again. Why?

Because even if Obsidian did get a game from Beth, it wouldn't be good because they can't write to save their lives apparently.

 

[Sigourn]

Meanwhile, you'll never get a well-written Fallout game again. Why?

Because even if Obsidian did get a game from Beth, it wouldn't be good because they can't write to save their lives apparently.

There's a major difference. Fallout has established, fleshed out lore already. And it is set in the "present" time, writing-wise. Meaning it's harder for Obsidian to write cringy shit no one is interested in reading.

 

[Lacrymas]

PoE2's setting was also already established, yet the writing is shit. Big surprise there.

 

[Sigourn]

PoE2's setting was also already established, yet the writing is shit. Big surprise there.

Because it was a shit setting and most of the writing went towards trying to make that setting richer, and failing.

 

[karoliner]

After the Lonesome Road DLC Obsidian never did anything interesting again. Avellone's posts didnt' change my opinion. It's a company that currently makes very boring games, not bad necessarily but very boring.

 

[Micormic]

I always thought they sucked with the exception of F:NV

 

[Chris Avellone]

EDIT: List fixed, thanks to Fairfax.

EDIT 2: Flou pointed out 2 corrections (James Melilli and Andrew Dearing, although Andrew's contracting gig ended in Jan of this year). Sorry about that, I didn't realize Andrew had left Amazon.

I think someone else may have posted this list, but sometimes I get the “Obsidian isn’t the same company as it was” or “no, there’s still a bunch of NV folks still there,” so in relation to New Vegas, I did a quick check to see how many devs worked on New Vegas that are still there ~19, and ones that left are ~51. Also, I didn’t count QA or people who didn’t work on it, like owners, or the people who obviously left b/c they were Bethesda employees.

The Stormlands layoffs got quite a few of these folks. I think Brennecke is the only programmer from FNV still there (although I think he’s interviewing, based on the developer grapevine).

I may have missed some folks (basing it on the list here): http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Fallout:_New_Vegas_developers. I italicized the designers/writers (I may have missed some).

Gone: (~51)
Larry Liberty
Jason Fader
Tess Treadwell
Matt Rorie
Joe Sanabria
Jason Sereno
Aaron Brown
Kevin Manning
Cochey Cantu
Roger Chang
Paul Fish
James Garcia
Ed Lacabanne
Megan Parks
Kristen Wong
Chris Willis
David Lieu
Mitch Ahlswede (but was a contractor on this, so wasn’t technically full-time)
Jessica Urquhart/Edge
Mark Bremerkamp
Scott Lawlor
Andrew Dearing (left, came back as contractor (?) Aug 2017-Jan 2018, thanks for correction).
Jon Pendergrass (may have been a contractor)
Fryda Wolff
Akil Hooper
Robert Lee
John Gonzalez
Travis Stout
JR Vosovic
Stephanie Newland
(me)
Eric Beaumont
Jessica Johnson
Casey Kwock
Eric Fenstermaker
Matt MacLean
George Ziets
Sydney Wolfram
Frank Kowalkowski
Mike Bosley
Jon Burke
Justin Reynard
Dan Rubalcaba
Rob Smith
Anddy Archer
Matt Campbell
Brian Fox
Sven Knutson
Javier Olivares
Erik Novales
Daniel Teh
Chris Tencati

Still There: (~19)
Mikey Dowling
Matt Singh
Brandon Adler
Brian Menze
Scotty Everts
Daniel Alpert
Sean Dunny
Seth McCaughey
Shon Stewart
James Melilli
Anthony Rogers
Adam Brennecke
Justin Bell
Dini McMurry
Josh, obviously
Charles Staples
Jesse Farrell (left, then came back)
Jeff Husges
Jorge Salgado

I may have made some mistakes, if so, I'll come back and edit this list.

 

[Sigourn]

Jorge Salgado

I have two questions for you that nobody has answered for me yet.

1. Have you played Jorge's Oscuro Oblivion Overhaul mod, or know of any at Obsidian who has used the mod? What are your/their impressions, if so?
2. Have you played Fallout 1.5: Resurrection? If so, what are your impressions?
3. Have you played Age of Decadence & Underrail? If so, what are your impressions?

I once thanked you in Twitter for your work in New Vegas, but you said most of your work was done in the DLCs. I got around to playing Dead Money since that time, and it quickly became my favorite piece of New Vegas, ever (even though it is very much against what Fallout is about from a gameplay point of view). I couldn't stop thinking about the DLC's characters for a good while after that, and very few games have done that to me in the past.

 

[Fairfax]

I think someone else may have posted this list, but sometimes I get the “Obsidian isn’t the same company as it was” or “no, there’s still a bunch of NV folks still there,” so in relation to New Vegas, I did a quick check to see how many devs worked on New Vegas that are still there ~18, and ones that left are ~47 (I didn’t count QA or people who didn’t work on it, like owners, or the people who obviously left b/c they were Bethesda employees).

The Stormlands layoffs got quite a few of these folks. I think Brennecke is the only programmer from FNV still there (although I think he’s interviewing, based on the developer grapevine).

I may have missed some folks (basing it on the list here): http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Fallout:_New_Vegas_developers. I italicized the designers/writers (I may have missed some).

[...]

I may have made some mistakes, if so, I'll come back and edit this list.

You forgot John Gonzalez, though that one goes without saying at this point.

Also gone:

Akil Hooper
Robert Lee
Chris Willis
David Lieu
Erik Novales

 

[Chris Avellone]

You forgot John Gonzalez, though that one goes without saying at this point.

Also gone:

Akil Hooper
Robert Lee
Chris Willis
David Lieu
Erik Novales

You're absolutely right, missed those. Added (and no offense to the people I missed intended).

 

[Sentinel]

Has your opinion of Obsidian changed after Avellone’s revelations and Deadfire?

After MCA's revelations, not really. My opinion of Feargus changed, but not of Obsidian. Deadfire made me realize the studio is dead and will never produce anything like KotOR2, MotB or Dead Money ever again. My hopes of MCA settling down and working on anything that good again have also been dwindling lately.

 

[Mangoose]

Alpha Brotocol's development shows how great Obsidian's management is.

(It also shows the talent of certain people in being able to salvage the wreck with only half of development time available.)

 

[Mangoose]

MCA should kidnap Tim Cain and Boyarsky from Obsidiian and...

...form Troika II.

 

[conan_edw]

We all know that's his hidden motive

 

[Mangoose]

As much as I wish the Tim Cain secret project to come out I actually don’t want it to succeed

Rooting for the failure of a game company is the most retarded thing ever! What do you gain from them losing money and going bankrupt? Nothing. If you don't care about their games, just don't play them. But there are jobs at stake here, so I'd rather not root for people losing their jobs.

Ironically, the person who is named in the topic title at least once saved Obsidian's ass, prevented a lot of layoffs.

Then he lost his job. Health insurance. 401k. And his voice. Without his employer going bankrupt.

Is that the kind of 5-days-a-week job a career employee deserves? You want a company like this to survive and grow and make the unethical status quo? And for all the enjoyment you have of Obsidian's games, you don't have the faith that its employees will be courted by better employers, those currently existing companies who would only grow to fill the vacuum in the market when a competitor goes down?

When a forest is sick, you do a controlled burn. Incidentally, you also do a controlled burn to prevent uncontrolled wildfires.

They are moderate success at best, and I wish them to keep this level of success.

I absolutely believe (and have seen many instances of this) that Obsidian’s success rarely translates into financial gain and job security for any employee – but it can help an employee's reputation and their resume, however.

 

[Cael]

He is a religious ultrafanatic, so he qualifies. Just be glad Scientology doesn't tell its adherents to suicide bomb others.

Eh, bit of an over exaggeration mate. You've clearly never had that one dumbass friend that's into a bunch of conspiracy theories. Just because he believes in Scientology doesn't mean he's a psycho, just deluded.

Several, actually. 911, MH17, you name it. I had to tell them to stop forwarding me their latest crap because I am not interested.

Cruise is an ultrafanatic because he does what his priest tells him regardless of what it is. If headboy told him to sacrifice his firstborn, he would be one child less today. His actions against his wife and anyone who criticise or even question his religion makes it plain what he is.

What did he do to his wife?

Both of them. Nicole Kidman and Katie Holmes. Look up all the crap he put them through in the name of his religion during and after their marriage. It was in the news enough that even I read about it, and I don't bother with Hollywood news unless they explode all over the front page.

 

[Grauken]

MCA's infos changed my opinion on Feargus, which up to this point I had believed was semi-competent, but it was really PoE (like most of the kickstarter games from old hats) that convinced me it was folly to give old developers money to build new games that could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the classics. Rather give it to some no-name, young team that still needs to make a name for themselves

 

[Cael]

You know who else wishes that people affiliated with things they don't like lose their job and live a miserable life?

SJWs.

There is a difference between wishing and hoping, and actually actively pursuing such an outcome.

Guess which one describes SJWs.

 

[Syme]

He is a religious ultrafanatic, so he qualifies. Just be glad Scientology doesn't tell its adherents to suicide bomb others.

Eh, bit of an over exaggeration mate. You've clearly never had that one dumbass friend that's into a bunch of conspiracy theories. Just because he believes in Scientology doesn't mean he's a psycho, just deluded.

Several, actually. 911, MH17, you name it. I had to tell them to stop forwarding me their latest crap because I am not interested.

Cruise is an ultrafanatic because he does what his priest tells him regardless of what it is. If headboy told him to sacrifice his firstborn, he would be one child less today. His actions against his wife and anyone who criticise or even question his religion makes it plain what he is.

What did he do to his wife?

Both of them. Nicole Kidman and Katie Holmes. Look up all the crap he put them through in the name of his religion during and after their marriage. It was in the news enough that even I read about it, and I don't bother with Hollywood news unless they explode all over the front page.

Anyone interested in scientology should listen to the Leah Remini interview on the Joe Rogan podcast. Cruise basically has slaves assigned to him. Here's an excerpt (link to full video in the description):

 

[J_C]

And for all the enjoyment you have of Obsidian's games, you don't have the faith that its employees will be courted by better employers, those currently existing companies who would only grow to fill the vacuum in the market when a competitor goes down?

We know that the management has infighting and questionable decisions, but we also know from Anthony Davis that the regular devs are treated well. There is a chance that they like working at Obsidian and they don't want it to fail. Otherwise they would have probably moved on to other companies.

 

[Bocian]

but we also know from Anthony Davis that the regular devs are treated well.

We don't know from him, but heard according to him. MCA was speaking about his own story, Davis claims that everyone's happy. Above there's a list of everyone that quit, I wonder if they'd have a few interesting things to say about that.