Obsidian General Discussion Thread

[Curious_Tongue]

Can I ask a question?

Does anyone know what happened to PoE's profits?

 

[Infinitron]

Can I ask a question?

Does anyone know what happened to PoE's profits?

Not for sure, but considering all the sunshine and roses and sequel plans at PAX Prime, I'd assume Obsidian got them.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

Unless the expansion ends up losing money, which by the looks of things is a possibility.

 

[Infinitron]

Unless the expansion ends up losing money, which by the looks of things is a possibility.

That is unlikely. For a project that was only five months in development?

Just the increased sales of the base game alone (measurable on Steamspy) due to all the new publicity it got probably paid for a major chunk of what it cost to make it.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

That is unlikely. For a project that was only five months in development?

Just the increased sales of the base game alone (measurable on Steamspy) due to all the new publicity it got probably paid for a major chunk of what it cost to make it.

Ya, but its actually NOT measurable, since base game went on sale during the expansion launch.

Just going by amount of user reviews on Metacritic (~2000 for base vs. ~50 for WM) and Steam (5000 for base and ~50 for WM), it aint pretty.

Anecdotal evidence, but almost nobody in my gaming circle is buying it either, and that's out of dozens of people who loved the base game.

it doesn't look good.

 

[Infinitron]

Ya, but its actually NOT measurable, since base game went on sale during the expansion launch.

Just going by amount of user reviews on Metacritic (~2000 for base vs. ~50 for WM) and Steam (5000 for base and ~50 for WM), it aint pretty.

Anecdotal evidence, but almost nobody in my gaming circle is buying it either, and that's out of dozens of people who loved the base game.

it doesn't look good.

What I'm saying is it doesn't need to look good. It only needs to look okay.

Five months of development compared to the 2.5 years it took to make the base game. Reduced team size. How much could it have possibly cost to make? A million dollars?

Steamspy shows around 50,000 people have bought the base game since the expansion was released. Let's say they all bought it when it was on sale, so Obsidian gets around 20 bucks for each copy. There's your million.

 

[Curious_Tongue]

It just has to be for sale on steam and the compulsive collectors will buy it eventually.

 

[Athelas]

I don't think it was a commercial failure, but I do think making an expansion that is a mix of ToTSC and IWD is somewhat of a bad idea from a brand promotion/marketing standpoint.

Can I ask a question?

Does anyone know what happened to PoE's profits?

They went towards paying for MCA's severance package, obviously.

 

[Turjan]

I don't think it was a commercial failure, but I do think making an expansion that is a mix of ToTSC and IWD is somewhat of a bad idea from a brand promotion/marketing standpoint.

Honestly, if I would not have had the expansion from the Kickstarter campaign, I wouldn't have bought anything that has a "pt. 1" in its name. I guess that quite a few potential buyers wait till they can buy the whole thing.

 

[Morblot]

I guess that quite a few potential buyers wait till they can buy the whole thing.

Yes. I know a few, and I share the sentiment.

Reports of the bugs the expansion (and/or patch 2.0) introduced also factored in the decision.

 

[ArchAngel]

Honestly, if I would not have had the expansion from the Kickstarter campaign, I wouldn't have bought anything that has a "pt. 1" in its name. I guess that quite a few potential buyers wait till they can buy the whole thing.

Yes, I think Obsidian marketing people were on hard drugs when they decided to call the expansion that.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

Yeah, I don't know what the fuck they were thinking. Especially since the story is mostly self-contained so there's zero reason to call it like that.

 

[Infinitron]

To get people with completionist tendencies to pre-order the second part along with it, perhaps? Call it something else, maybe you lose some of them who decide one expansion is enough. But Part 1? If it's a Part 1, you gotta get Part 2 someday too. You just gotta!

 

[Jedi Exile]

I've bought both parts of the expansion on Steam and I regret it now, because Part 1 is already very boring. I've played it a bit and then uninstalled the game. Don't have patience for this now.

 

[AwesomeButton]

Yeah, I don't know what the fuck they were thinking. Especially since the story is mostly self-contained so there's zero reason to call it like that.

This news broke in the context of Paradox Interactive becoming PoE's publisher, and soon afterwards it became clear that "Pillars of Eternity will benefit from unique marketing".

Now, if you are familiar with Paradox' uniquely annoying practice of releasing DLCs at the pace of "one tea spoon per hour", because it's easier to milk players this way, you should have braced yourselves for the impact. Fortunately, Obsidian is not going full Paradox with The White March. The expansion will be coming in two parts only, is guaranteed to be the only PoE expansion, and from what I've seen in Part I, it does feature enough content to deserve being called an expansion in the first place.

[...]To me it still seems the most plausible reason to release the expansion in this way must have been to maximize profits by releasing an expansion while the game is still famous and selling well, and by hooking players of "Part I", so that most of them buy "Part II". The beneficial effect of splitting the PR event in two is also to be considered -- when news of Part II's release breaks, this will in turn generate sales for Part I from new audience which may not have heard at all about the expansion.

All these practical advantages are indisputable, yet I am still mildly annoyed by the evidence of Paradox' influence in the execution, such as the little icons on the bottom right of PoE's main screen, designating that you have (or have not yet) bought The White March. I think if you are a developer sincerely reaching out to a mature audience, you don't go for cheap gamification tricks like "collect all DLC icons on the bottom of the main screen". Instead, you show dignity, and design an alternate main menu background for your expansion, like game developers actually used to do in the past by the way.

 

[lurker3000]

I can't be bothered to find the correct thread but I just finished Dead Money and I no longer feel bad that Obsidian got screwed out of their NV bonus money by Bethesda.

 

[Rake]

I can't be bothered to find the correct thread but I just finished Dead Money and I no longer feel bad that Obsidian got screwed out of their NV bonus money by Bethesda.

Dead Money was the best part of the mediocrity that New Vegas is

 

[CptMace]

I can't be bothered to find the correct thread but I just finished Dead Money and I no longer feel bad that Obsidian got screwed out of their NV bonus money by Bethesda.

I somehow doubt Dead Money is the reason you don't give a fuck about Obsidian getting legally fucked.

 

[Drax]

The first half of Dead Money was quite good.
I still prefer OWB, ofc.

 

[Kem0sabe]

To get people with completionist tendencies to pre-order the second part along with it, perhaps? Call it something else, maybe you lose some of them who decide one expansion is enough. But Part 1? If it's a Part 1, you gotta get Part 2 someday too. You just gotta!

You be trying to hard...

 

[Sensuki]

Instead, you show dignity, and design an alternate main menu background for your expansion, like game developers actually used to do in the past by the way.

I agree with everything else you've said but Baldur's Gate Tales of the Sword Coast at least did not have new main menu art, it did have new launcher and loading screen art though.

 

[Excidium II]

To get people with completionist tendencies to pre-order the second part along with it, perhaps? Call it something else, maybe you lose some of them who decide one expansion is enough. But Part 1? If it's a Part 1, you gotta get Part 2 someday too. You just gotta!

I dunno, an expansion that is released in chunks + not a direct follow-up of main game is a really terrible combination. You have to load an old save which is annoying as fuck in CRPGs, or start-over. But since it's in chunks you gotta wait until part 2 is out to proper go through all content in a "completionist" playthrough without needing to rewind.

 

[Infinitron]

I dunno, an expansion that is released in chunks + not a direct follow-up of main game is a really terrible combination. You have to load an old save which is annoying as fuck in CRPGs, or start-over. But since it's in chunks you gotta wait until part 2 is out to proper go through all content in a "completionist" playthrough without needing to rewind.

game_completion_steam_achievement_percentage.png

(of course, a save game can be old even if you haven't finished the game, like if you abandoned your playthrough for a while for some reason, but that's a problem regardless of expansions)

Anyway, bottom line, they want to make a sequel in the actual sequel, so whatever/deal with it/etc.

 

[Kem0sabe]

A throne of bhaal style of epilogue expansion would have been much better, especially considering that the sequel might feature a completely different part of the world.

Obsidians lack of vision with a touch of paradox dlc madness is not the bestest of combinations.

 

[Infinitron]

Throne of Bhaal was also in a different part of the world, though. Not to mention the most celebrated "sequel-pansion" of them all, Mask of the Betrayer.