Obsidian and inXile acquired by Microsoft

[IHaveHugeNick]

There's obviously something to be said for maintaining the freedom of self-ownership, but there are other kinds of freedoms that they get by having Microsoft's resources behind them.

There's only one true freedom - not having to answer to anyone. The rest is make-believe. All that stuff about being autonomous, it's bullshit and we both know it. Sure, it's good business for both Feargus and Fargo, a reward for the long game well played, but making RPGs was never about good business, was it?

You can’t have creative freedom if you don’t have any money. The freedom they’re sacrificing here is the freedom to go bankrupt.

Look at what small indie studios have done with 1% of Obsidian or inXile budgets. Take Battle Brothers, for example.

A game where characters only have heads because it was too expensive to add legs? Yeah being a starving artist with creative freedom really allows you to break new boundaries.

 

[Bocian]

While its taking EA DECADES to kill BioWare.

The state of modern Bioware is worse than death. Much worse.

 

[DeepOcean]

You can’t have creative freedom if you don’t have any money. The freedom they’re sacrificing here is the freedom to go bankrupt.

And then they won't have the freedom to make little money, for Microsoft, 1 million copies is small potatoes, they want sales on the double digits, guess what kind of games reach that number?

 

[Cael]

While its taking EA DECADES to kill BioWare.

The state of modern Bioware is worse than death. Much worse.

Bioware: *looks at Bocian* BRRAAAAAAIIINNNNNSSSSS!!!!!!

 

[Infinitron]

The Kickstarter RPG era of the past 6+ years, which started so optimistically, ended up being a brutal Darwinian competition for player time in which there could be only one victor.

Larian won, everybody else washed out. Harebrained Schemes went to Paradox, and now inXile and Obsidian have gone to Microsoft. They're quite lucky tbh - it could have ended a lot worse for them.

 

[Kyl Von Kull]

While its taking EA DECADES to kill BioWare.

The state of modern Bioware is worse than death. Much worse.

If we get the Obsidian equivalent of DA:O out of this before the inevitable decline sets in, that wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.

 

[Delterius]

While its taking EA DECADES to kill BioWare.

The state of modern Bioware is worse than death. Much worse.

If we get the Obsidian equivalent of DA:O out of this before the inevitable decline sets in, that wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.

i dunno man the last obsidian equivalent of bioware was NEEEEEEEEEEEEESHKAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

 

[Sacibengala]

We all know where this is going, we all saw the same thing happening over and over. Be realistic people, focus on the good people that are making good stuff. Don't praise ghosts of the past, because they will haunt you, as these F**** are haunting us now.

 

[Bocian]

While its taking EA DECADES to kill BioWare.

The state of modern Bioware is worse than death. Much worse.

If we get the Obsidian equivalent of DA:O out of this before the inevitable decline sets in, that wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.

Obsidian equivalent of DAO would be already a huge mark of decline, I don't know what the fuck are you smoking, dude.

 

[Infinitron]

Roguey Fairfax lol

 

[BEvers]

If we get the Obsidian equivalent of DA:O out of this before the inevitable decline sets in, that wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.

DA:O was better than any of Obsidian's crowdfunded games.

 

[Bocian]

While its taking EA DECADES to kill BioWare.

The state of modern Bioware is worse than death. Much worse.

Bioware: *looks at Bocian* BRRAAAAAAIIINNNNNSSSSS!!!!!!

Beamdog: Look, no brains! *Continues to release enhanced editions and they're being bought*

 

[Riddler]

Having a hard time getting my head around the business logic here. Microsoft must not be paying very much.

Microsoft often takes (very large) losses simply to expand into new territories. Sometimes it fails, sometimes it's a smashing success.

They might also need to burn cash for tax reasons. Their war chest is humongous.

 

[glass blackbird]

You can’t have creative freedom if you don’t have any money. The freedom they’re sacrificing here is the freedom to go bankrupt.

And then they won't have the freedom to make little money, for Microsoft, 1 million copies is small potatoes, they want sales on the double digits, guess what kind of games reach that number?

Alpha Protocol 2 is going to be great

 

[DeepOcean]

The Kickstarter RPG era of the past 6+ years, which started so optimistically, ended up being a brutal Darwinian competition for player time in which there could be only one victor.

Larian won, everybody else washed out. Harebrained Schemes went to Paradox, and now inXile and Obsidian have gone to Microsoft. They're quite lucky tbh - it could have ended a lot worse.

Well, for us, RPG gamers, ended pretty bad though. If Fargo is happy with being rescued by Microsoft from his bullshit, I don't feel much emphatic about it.

 

[SpaceWizardz]

for Microsoft, 1 million copies is small potatoes, they want sales on the double digits, guess what kind of games reach that number?

You just know Microsoft was foaming at the mouth for a cut of Deadfire's ~130k sales.
If Microsoft wanted popamoles, there are better developers for that.

I think Nick was right with what he said earlier about the gamepass stuff. A nice selection of churned out AAA titles from their Halo/Gears/Forza teams while also having smaller (and more importantly, inexpensive) titles from Ninja Theory/Compulsion/Obsidian to make their video game equivalent of Netflix a very attractive offer.

 

[kalganoat]

so what happens to wasteland 3 and tim cain's new ip

 

[Major_Blackhart]

Meh. Listen. This is the truth. I've really felt that since they left Kickstart and went shady as aaaaaalll hell Fig, and since Avellone left, obsidian has been dead to me as a company.

Chris' revelations of mismanagement don't come as a surprise, sadly. And part of me does not doubt that Tim Cain and Leon Boyarski are kinda regretting going back to work for the same guy that drove them out to begin with.

To me, nothing of real value was lost. The only possible gains are as follows: Microsoft pushes Fergus out and Tim Cain and Leon Boyarski start producing real RPGs. Then again, shit alwaya finda a way to float to the top.

 

[glass blackbird]

Yeah, the main problem with gamepass in an advertising way is that it really doesn't have a lot of stuff. That's especially true for Windows, which can't run all the 360 and xbox shit that you get on the xbone, so all you can play is Gears 4, Forza, and Dead State 2. Netflix could shore up their offerings by licensing stuff but that doesn't seem to be an option, so this is the next best thing for them.

Note that I'm not talking about this from a consumer standpoint, because obviously for actual people trying to buy and play things it's shitty, but that's almost certainly the reason.

 

[DeepOcean]

tim cain's new ip

Wasn't this published by Take 2?

 

[himmy]

I don't want to alarm anyone, but today's news just brought us way, way closer to having a Battletoads RPG than ever before.

 

[MRY]

The Kickstarter RPG era of the past 6+ years, which started so optimistically, ended up being a brutal Darwinian competition for player time in which there could be only one victor.

Larian won, everybody else washed out. Harebrained Schemes went to Paradox, and now inXile and Obsidian have gone to Microsoft. They're quite lucky tbh - it could have ended a lot worse for them.

A brutal Darwinian struggle where free money was handed to everyone for half a decade and then they all got bought out and made mega-millionaires. We should all be so lucky to suffer such a selection process.

 

[glass blackbird]

tim cain's new ip

Wasn't this published by Take 2?

The contract would still be valid, so if nothing else that'll probably get made.

 

[Infinitron]

What are the possibilities of this era?

Shadowrun RPG.

Easier transfer of personnel between Obsidian and inXile (think George Ziets).

What other IPs does Microsoft own?

 

[Shadenuat]

2 old, let's call them "businessmen" sold their shit and now can sail together on their new yacht leaving, let's call them "people", who wrote Deadfire, and "made" BT4 to their own

It will be entertaining to see what they will make next