Obsidian General Discussion Thread

[Fairfax]

True, but Obsidian serves a different role. Bethesda still wants to cater to the old-school Fallout fans in some way, as seen in how Todd Howard was the one who spearheaded getting Obsidian to make Fallout New Vegas.

Fallout 4 sold ~12 million copies and got rave reviews from the usual group of games press retards.

Why the hell would Bethesda care about "old-school Fallout fans"? Their bank account is telling them they're doing just fine.

Bethesda and ZeniMax in general rely heavily on market research. There's no doubt they know a considerable portion of their fanbase disliked/hated the stuff they dumbed down, and that a vocal group thinks FNV is better.
Also, it doesn't take a lot of research anyway. Their beloved Metascore is way below Skyrim and FO3.

I don't believe it'll happen, but it wouldn't be a bad decision. Tim Cain and Boyarsky leading a new Fallout would be a pretty smart move, in regards to creative output and PR. However, business-wise it's not necessarily the best for ZeniMax.
They have Montreal or Arkane on a leash available, which means less risk, less money spent and more control.

(On the off chance there's any truth to this, it would make MCA's departure really sad)

 

[DosBuster]

MCA left before this all happened btw

 

[Excidium II]

Alright then, I bet all of my brofists on this source.

All 684 of them?!

 

[Fry]

Says the lunatic with 12,000 posts.

 

[Trashos]

Let's assume this is true (give the man 2'000 brofists if it is), who the fuck is working on it? OK, probably Cain and Boyarsky, but who else? With PoE2 and Tyranny happening, is there anybody left? Are Sawyer and Fenstermaker available?

IF it happens, it is Obsidian's 2nd chance for glory, and they will have learnt from FNV's mistakes as well. What an exciting time it must be for them. However, 2017 sounds too soon, I wonder what they can pull off.

 

[Excidium II]

Why would someone go out and lie on an internet forum?

The PoE 2 leads also leading a new Fallout game makes too much sense to be dismissed. The almost simultaneous release date only gives it more credibility.

 

[DosBuster]

Granted, I don't know if PoE 2 is in development or who is working on this Fallout game.

 

[dukeofwhales]

I will be very impressed by this RPG Codex Exclusive if it turns out to be not full of shit.

Considering the apparent length of the odds here, it seems like the rate of brofist return should be better than 1:1.

 

[Fairfax]

Let's assume this is true (give the man 2'000 brofists if it is), who the fuck is working on it? OK, probably Cain and Boyarsky, but who else? With PoE2 and Tyranny happening, is there anybody left? Are Sawyer and Fenstermaker available?

IF it happens, it is Obsidian's 2nd chance for glory, and they will have learnt from FNV's mistakes as well. What an exciting time it must be for them. However, 2017 sounds too soon, I wonder what they can pull off.

I'll entertain the idea as well:
- As I said in the previous page, there's a lot of people unaccounted for. According to Saywer, Obsidian has a little over 200 employees, but only ~150-160 working on projects we know. As Infinitron said, the AW team may have grown and the rest are IT/HR, but to me that sounds like too many people for those departments (roughly 1/4 of the company).
- Boyarsky is a new hire, for instance. And an expensive one. They could be recruting for this project (or another unannounced project).
- Although not the ideal pick, Fenstermaker did work on FNV. He's the presumptive Lead Writer, now with MCA gone. He's likely to be working on PoE 2, though, unless they gave Carrie Patel (or another writer) the job.
- The development cycle wouldn't be a problem, really. FNV took only 18 months because it was a huge FO3 mod. The next Fallout spin-off, no matter who's making it, will be the same.

I don't buy it, though. The cost, the risk, the metacritic fiasco, the comments by MCA and other Obsidian folks, etc. Also, considering Sawyer actually threatened to quit during the Kickstarter discussions, does anyone think he'd be ok with sitting this one out? And if he works on that, who'd lead PoE2?

BTW DosBuster, couldn't find any source on anyone from Obsidian being at the FO4 launch party. This part I don't doubt, but are you sure?
And would you be willing to let an admin verify your source?

 

[DosBuster]

https://twitter.com/Obsidian/status/662486390391746560

Sadly, and this is why I exclaimed that no one should believe me, I cannot reveal my source to anyone since that was what I agreed to in order to obtain this information.

 

[ThisNameIsFree]

https://twitter.com/Obsidian/status/662486390391746560

Sadly, and this is why I exclaimed that no one should believe me, I cannot reveal my source to anyone since that was what I agreed to in order to obtain this information.

Well, this is interesting.

https://twitter.com/TheEFenster/status/689290357251522560

18 Jan 2016:

I'm always up for working on a Fallout. I think most of us generally are. Really fun property to work with.

 

[Trashos]

- The development cycle wouldn't be a problem, really. FNV took only 18 months because it was a huge FO3 mod. The next Fallout spin-off, no matter who's making it, will be the same.

I meant that the schedule is too short due to all the other projects that are running at Obsidian. Then again, I took a look into their Jobs page and they seem to be hiring an unspecified number of programmers and such.

I don't buy it, though. The cost, the risk, the metacritic fiasco, the comments by MCA and other Obsidian folks, etc. Also, considering Sawyer actually threatened to quit during the Kickstarter discussions, does anyone think he'd be ok with sitting this one out? And if he works on that, who'd lead PoE2?

There is no way in hell that Sawyer and Fenstermaker would peacefully agree to sit a Fallout out. That's more or less inhuman to ask of them, even for the realities of a corporation. Cain and Boyarsky are a given, I guess there is no point speculating about them.

 

[DosBuster]

 

[Trashos]

Ahem...

https://twitter.com/BrianFargo/status/704768060733829120

 

[Fairfax]

- The development cycle wouldn't be a problem, really. FNV took only 18 months because it was a huge FO3 mod. The next Fallout spin-off, no matter who's making it, will be the same.

I meant that the schedule is too short due to all the other projects that are running at Obsidian. Then again, I took a look into their Jobs page and they seem to be hiring an unspecified number of programmers and such.

Well, it's also worth considering the AW has to leave open beta at some point and most of its team will move on. If they don't find another big project, a lot of people would have to get fired or they'd bleed money.

There is no way in hell that Sawyer and Fenstermaker would peacefully agree to sit a Fallout out. That's more or less inhuman to ask of them, even for the realities of a corporation. Cain and Boyarsky are a given, I guess there is no point speculating about them.

Agree, but PoE2 could generate $10-15 million in profits, which I'm pretty sure is a lot more than what Bethesda would pay them. I mean, $10 million over 18 months to ~50 people would be $200k/person on average.
Tough call if they were offered it. PoE2 is more important to the company, Fallout might me more important to them personally.

 

[Trashos]

Agree, but PoE2 could generate $10-15 million in profits, which I'm pretty sure is a lot more than what Bethesda would pay them. I mean, $10 million over 18 months to ~50 people would be $200k/person on average.
Tough call if they were offered it. PoE2 is more important to the company, Fallout might me more important to them personally.

I would expect the Fallout deal to be $25 million and upwards, but I could be wrong.

It is still complicated, because on one hand PoE belongs to Obsidian, but on the other hand a Fallout will give Obsidian much more exposure and might even turn them into a AAA company (if they want to and handle it smartly). The point remains, on a personal level it is very hard to ask your big guns to stay away from a title like Fallout. But maybe a compromise can be reached with part of the time devoted to each project.

 

[Jaesun]

20 people is not an AAA Fallout game, like New Vegas. Unless they somehow were allowed to do some kind of Fallout spinoff (but at a LOW budget). But I just don't see that happening (see all of the previous statements from everyone).

It more than likely is PoE2, but that still seems too soon...

 

[Volrath]

 

[Trashos]

I DO want to believe!

 

[Prime Junta]

If this happens, and if they manage to breathe new life into this shambling zombie of a franchise, I'll be doubly surprised.

 

[DosBuster]

Just remember that Tyranny also releases this year, and since this new Fallout game may be releasing next year it's possible the two teams might merge temporarily.

 

[Infinitron]

Yeah, the backlash behind the gamebryo/creation engine in fallout 4 has led Bethesda to co-develop a heavily modified or new engine with Montreal. Hence why Montreal is hiring "Havok Physics Programmers" and "Engine Programmers". This means that there will be a long gap between BGS games, the new Obsidian game will help fill that gap of time.

You didn't answer my question.

 

[DosBuster]

Yeah, the backlash behind the gamebryo/creation engine in fallout 4 has led Bethesda to co-develop a heavily modified or new engine with Montreal. Hence why Montreal is hiring "Havok Physics Programmers" and "Engine Programmers". This means that there will be a long gap between BGS games, the new Obsidian game will help fill that gap of time.

You didn't answer my question.

Considering how it's a similar dev time to New Vegas, I would think it's safe to assume that it will fill the same role that New Vegas did.

 

[Infinitron]

OK...

 

[Bleed the Man]

Assuming this could happen, is the Fallout 4 template (voiced protagonist, lack of skills, etc) really salvageable? I haven't played it, but I doubt Obsidian could make a New Vegas out of it with those limitations. I wouldn't be interested in a better man's Fallout 4.