Paradoxically, Pillars of Eternity is the franchise that both saved Obsidian and ended them. The successful kickstarter campaign of the first game kept them afloat during a rough time and that kickstarter was the only thing that saved them. The sequel's crowdfunding campaign was also successful, but the game itself fell far short of expectations. That is the reason they were forced to sell out to Microsoft and have lost their independence. Say what you will about Sawyer, but if not for him they would have went under and been bought years ago. He couldn't stop it forever, but he delayed it from happening for a few years. Maybe this was inevitable no matter what, but a lesser man would have failed this Herculean task much sooner. If you're familiar with Greek mythology, there's a myth of Hercules carrying the heavens on his shoulders for a period of time, but it was too much for him to handle and then Atlas had to step back in and resume the responsibility. Josh Sawyer was kinda like Hercules in that sense. He had to carry the weight of the entire company on his shoulders after Chris Atlas Avellone left. Any lesser man would have been crushed like a bug in an instant, but Josh managed to hold out for several years. He is still only mortal after all, but he still deserves credit for lasting as long as he did.
Josh also deserves credit for his honesty and humility in acknowledges the games failings. Many of these things were decisions forced on him by upper management. It's the same sort of issues that made Chris Avellone leave years earlier. I'm not sure why Chris seems to hate Josh so much. They both were hampered by the cruel Hera of upper management throwing hurdles their way and forcing them to complete trials and labors that no mortal man could possibly handle. The community seems to be divided into Avellonians and Sawyerites, but this sort of division should not exist, in my opinion. The real enemy is the gods (upper management) who are making these shitty decisions. But that is neither here nor there.
Now the question is what is going to happen with the Pillars franchise moving forward. I do recall reading in an interview a few years ago where Feargus said he wanted to transform Pillars into a "Skyrim-like" I.P. So I think what we will see happen with POE3 is like what happened with Witcher 3 in the Witcher series. Obsidian now has sugardaddy Microsoft to fund such a project, and considering how successful Skyrim and Witcher 3 are, I can pretty much guarantee that's what you'll see out of POE3. Gone are the days when Obsidian turned to crowdfunding to just barely subsist. Mark my words, about a decade from now a bunch of obnoxious kids will be as obsessed with Pillars of Eternity as kids are with Skyrim nowadays. Maybe they'll pick up POE1 and POE2 thinking for a similar experience, and be disappointed by the top-down perspective and think to themselves "what is this gay shit?"
