Obsidian got fucked by Bethesda

[curry]

Fallout 3 was ok but it wasn't a real Fallout game. New Vegas was, however, and in my opinion the best of all of them. A real shame. Quality means nothing any more.

 

[Luzur]

well now, that was a shitty decision.

 

[Kosmonaut]

 

[Average Manatee]

Metacritic has a perfectly fine system that works well for Movies, TV, and Music. It's entirely the fault of the video game industry for making their own shitty rules for shitty reasons. Metacritic really can't do anything to change that, unless you want them to add a disclaimer that says "Notice to developers: If you sign a contract that bases your pay on our site's scoring system you are a fucking retard". Which will of course go un-heeded, because the alternative to signing retarded contracts is getting none at all and going out of business instantly.

 

[Pegultagol]

Seriously they should've based the bonus percentages based on sales figures on a set period...if metacritic score was the arbiter of sales performance, would much have preferred to pirate the game and donate to Obsidian instead. By the way, Metacritic is owned by CBS Interactive, which also owns Gamespot and CNet, which solicit advertisement from publishers, if that doesn't count as conflict of interest then what else?

 

[Metro]

Honestly. You'd think total sales would be more important than fucking metacritic.

 

[Davaris]

It was a bad contract to sign, but even if it was sales based, I think they would have found a creative way, to screw them out of their share. The people playing at those levels have no conscience, so you should assume that what you get upfront, is all you will get.

 

[Turisas]

It was a bad contract to sign, but even if it was sales based, I think they would have found a creative way, to screw them out of their share. The people playing at those levels have no conscience, so you should assume that what you get upfront, is all you will get.

Well yeah, if I could have either money or my conscience, I'd rather have some money. Can't buy whores with conscience.

 

[Aldebaran]

It was a bad contract to sign, but even if it was sales based, I think they would have found a creative way, to screw them out of their share. The people playing at those levels have no conscience, so you should assume that what you get upfront, is all you will get.

Yes, absolutely. More than likely they would simply have used creative accounting to screw Obsidian over. Did you know that David Prowse has never been paid any of the residuals he is owed for playing Darth Vader in Return of the Jedi? According to Lucasfilms, Return of the Jedi has never been profitable, so they owe him nothing. One of the highest grossing movies of all time--not profitable. That is the world of accounting.

 

[Aeschylus]

Honestly. You'd think total sales would be more important than fucking metacritic.

You'd think that, wouldn't you. Of course, it ignores the fact that most big publishers are little more than greedy venture capitalists at this point, and when they see a way to screw people to their own benefit, they will take it.

 

[Azalin]

It was a bad contract to sign, but even if it was sales based, I think they would have found a creative way, to screw them out of their share. The people playing at those levels have no conscience, so you should assume that what you get upfront, is all you will get.

Yes, absolutely. More than likely they would simply have used creative accounting to screw Obsidian over. Did you know that David Prowse has never been paid any of the residuals he is owed for playing Darth Vader in Return of the Jedi? According to Lucasfilms, Return of the Jedi has never been profitable, so they owe him nothing. One of the highest grossing movies of all time--not profitable. That is the world of accounting.

In Hollywood getting fucked in the ass by the Man is the rule,not the exception

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_accounting

 

[Aeschylus]

In Hollywood getting fucked in the ass by the Man is the rule,not the exception

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_accounting

That wikipedia page doesn't even mention the best example of this... They actually managed to make Return of the Jedi -- which grossed > $450 million back in the '80s -- "Unprofitable" to this day.

http://www.theatlantic.com/business...make-a-450-million-movie-unprofitable/245134/

It is really spectacularly sleazy. I almost admire them.

 

[Roguey]

Arcanum 2 + MCA writing + Sawyer combat mechanics = ( who owns Arcanum anyway? Tim Cain?)

Activision I believe...

https://twitter.com/#!/gallego115/status/180070141298606081

michelle gallego‏@gallego115
a message to anyone who was impacted by the #obsidian layoff. please contact me if you're interested in a gig with activision.

Talk about out of the frying pan and into the fire, eh?

 

[Azalin]

In Hollywood getting fucked in the ass by the Man is the rule,not the exception

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_accounting

That wikipedia page doesn't even mention the best example of this... They actually managed to make Return of the Jedi -- which grossed > $450 million back in the '80s -- "Unprofitable" to this day.

http://www.theatlantic.com/business...make-a-450-million-movie-unprofitable/245134/

It is really spectacularly sleazy. I almost admire them.

I know but that was mentioned in Aldebaran's post which I quoted,that's why I didn't mention it.

 

[Aldebaran]

Yep, never accept residuals unless you are too big for the financial giants to risk squashing. That is really all it boils down to in their minds: this isn't about deciding whether or not to be a person of integrity, it is about carefully analyzing whether the risks outweigh the rewards. If the risk is low enough, you can count on it happening--moral implications don't even enter into the equation. Basically, the propagation of money is their video game. As far as they are concerned, the people and entities that they deal with only exist on the other side of a spreadsheet as NPCs whose contribution must be maximized.

This almost certainly applies to the tycoons of the video game industry, as it seems to consistently crop up everywhere else in life.

 

[Average Manatee]

I recall a developer who said something to the tune of "The worst thing reputation you can have as a developer is one that consistently achieves mediocre success". Because making a marginal profit is vastly worse for a publisher than being turned into a theoretical 100 million dollar loss that saves 30 million dollars worth of taxes.

 

[Kz3r0]

I recall a developer who said something to the tune of "The worst thing reputation you can have as a developer is one that consistently achieves mediocre success". Because making a marginal profit is vastly worse for a publisher than being turned into a theoretical 100 million dollar loss that saves 30 million dollars worth of taxes.

By this token Bioware should have been already razed to the ground.

 

[sgc_meltdown]

At least we can all rule out the possibility of Bethesda paying off some reviewers to assign scores in such a way that the metacritic average would end up at a place amenable to their business needs

 

[Average Manatee]

I recall a developer who said something to the tune of "The worst thing reputation you can have as a developer is one that consistently achieves mediocre success". Because making a marginal profit is vastly worse for a publisher than being turned into a theoretical 100 million dollar loss that saves 30 million dollars worth of taxes.

By this token Bioware should have been already razed to the ground.

What do you think EA is in the process of doing? Noticed the direction of DA2/TOR/ME3?

 

[DragoFireheart]

Why would anyone agree to such a deal...?

 

[Forest Dweller]

Remember that Aliens RPG had recently been cancelled. They probably needed the money pretty badly.

 

[SCO]

It's to pressure them before the cannibalism begins.

Just a little finger.
Just your left eye
before you know it, they're scooping out your brains Hannibal Lecter style.

And don't forget, i doubt kickstarter can support a studio that needs 3-4 projects on the air to live on. But maybe with steam and without the bloated marketing coke sniffing whores of a publisher siphoning money budgeted it's possible.

 

[hiver]

At least we can all rule out the possibility of Bethesda paying off some reviewers to assign scores in such a way that the metacritic average would end up at a place amenable to their business needs

Oh, most definitely...

 

[sser]

Horrible business deal that should have never been agreed to. The fact it was says a lot about Obsidian's stability -- it also says a lot about Bethesda, but most people already knew they were assholes.

 

[Commissar Draco]

In Hollywood getting fucked in the ass by the Man is the rule,not the exception

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_accounting

Hmm How it is possible in country when you can be sued for making too hot coffe and people are jailed and fined for DL a Song?

As Planet Money explained in an interview with Edward Jay Epstein in 2010

Mystery Solved.