Company News Obsidian to reveal a new game at GDC 2014

[Morality Games]

I highly doubt Obsidian will ever make a game for EA. EA has BioWare.

I've put some thought into that because of Urquhart's touted (and short lived) goal of new Star Wars RPG.

There's a small possibility that they would if they thought working with Obsidian would improve their image AND if Obsidian agreed to work for wages only (after all, why not? That's basically what they have studios for). Thing is, I'm not sure EA is that invested in improving its image and again whether Obsidian has to take whatever lopsided deal EA would give them.

 

[Jaesun]

EA already laughed them out of the office (when they proposed the Ultima remake). EA owns BioWare Edmonton and BioWare Montreal. There is no reason to approach Obsidian to make an "RPG', when they already own 2 divisions that already make them.

 

[Morality Games]

Don't get yourselves so excited. It's a Mass Effect spinoff.

You make it sound like a Mass Effect written by Obsidian would be bad.

I'll do more than make it sound that way. I'll come right out and say it.

Yes, it would be bad.

While I won't denigrate their work, as I know they're held in high regard around here, I'm not terribly impressed with what they have made. I also think Obsidian paired with a premium publisher on a quote AAA title is a noxious mix; I think they do better with low-key titles.

Mileage varies on the quality of their work. The combat mechanics have never really worked due to the fact most of the RPG systems they were licensed to work with were more of the "party of heroes" flavor and circumstances required they implement them via real-time /w pause. However, in making dialogue a challenge and making dialogue a core part of the game play they have been relatively successful.

 

[Chinese Jetpilot]

I've put some thought into that because of Urquhart's touted (and short lived) goal of new Star Wars RPG.

There's a small possibility that they would if they thought working with Obsidian would improve their image

I'm not sure that would be their concern at all. I believe it would be more like:

EA: "Hey Bioware, we got you working on Game X, but we want to keep the Mass Effect/Star Wars RPG properties fresh, and more importantly make even more money. Who do you recommend we give it to, as these are games you developed and will have work with to Shepard them in some capacity until they grasp Command, er the IP?"

Bioware: "Obsidian. We worked with those guys in several past projects and have an excellent working relationship with them."

Bingo-Bango. I've been out of the loop for a few years, so maybe that relationship has soured and I'm unaware of current events.

 

[Infinitron]

EA already laughed them out of the office (when they proposed the Ultima remake).

How many times am I gonna have to repeat that it didn't happen this way

EA proposed the Ultima game, EA canceled it. Obsidian never got as far as submitting a pitch.

 

[Morality Games]

I've put some thought into that because of Urquhart's touted (and short lived) goal of new Star Wars RPG.

There's a small possibility that they would if they thought working with Obsidian would improve their image

I'm not sure that would be their concern at all. I believe it would be more like:

EA: "Hey Bioware, we got you working on Game X, but we want to keep the Mass Effect/Star Wars RPG properties fresh, and more importantly make even more money. Who do you recommend we give it to, as these are games you developed and will have to Shepard them in some capacity until they grasp Command, er the IP?"

Bioware: "Obsidian. We worked with those guys in several past projects and have an excellent working relationship with them."

Bingo-Bango. I've been out of the loop for a few years, so maybe that relationship has soured and I'm unaware of current events.

Not really soured so much as drifted apart. The doctors and a lot of other core Bioware personalities have left, so there is reduced association between the leadership of Obsidian and the leadership of Bioware.

EA already laughed them out of the office (when they proposed the Ultima remake). EA owns BioWare Edmonton and BioWare Montreal. There is no reason to approach Obsidian to make an "RPG', when they already own 2 divisions that already make them.

That assessment agrees with mine, but I'm considering the outlying possibilities. One thing to consider is that both Bioware studios are tied up with their own franchises and don't have personnel or resources to devote to a single player Star Wars RPG. However, the fact Star Wars: The Old Republic sold 2.6 million copies on Windows alone (forget Xbox or PlayStation) before going FTP suggests that a single-player Star Wars RPG has a lot of gas; Star Wars: The Old Republic on Microsoft Windows already sold better than Dragon Age II did across three systems.

Since Star Wars probably has the sort of sales potential EA wants from its RPGs (5,000,000+) and Bioware is busy sinking resources into Dragon Age and Mass Effect, there is a small chance EA would contract work out to Obsidian given their profile and history with the property. Now that they have an exclusive license, there are fewer complications intrinsic to such leasing.

On the other hand, I'm not sure EA wants to over saturate the market with Star Wars products. In which case, they might be comfortable waiting until one of the Bioware Studios is free. They may have no choice, since again I'm not sure whether Obsidian would be willing to accept whatever lopsided deal EA was willing to give them.

 

[Infinitron]

P.S. GDC is a professional game developer conference, not an E3-style expo. They rarely announce AAA games there. It's not that kind of thing.

 

[Chinese Jetpilot]

P.S. GDC is a professional game developer conference, not an E3-style expo. They rarely announce AAA games there. It's not that kind of thing.

Oh how so very wrong you are...

 

[Jaesun]

He said rarely, not that they never do.

 

[Chinese Jetpilot]

He said rarely, not that they never do.

Was more of a shit/humor post. The game was Fable: Heroes, I think, and that half the people were leaving the company.

 

[Haba]

She makes coffee and occasionally sucks a dick or two.

I'll assume your ability to give such a quick answer is due to first-hand experience.

That's how it goes. You start on your knees and then in the end become the guy who gets blown. You might still have lick someone's balls occasionally, but at least you do it while someone younger and more attractive is sucking you off.

Spoiler

(I wish I was exaggerating. At my first "job" I slept with my boss, broke up with her and then took her position over when she wasn't able to function with the post break-up depression.)

 

[made]

Beavis and Butthead RPG pls. The have the engine and systems already in place from that other game, all they need is new art assets and go. And jokes that don't suck.

 

[Duraframe300]

P.S. GDC is a professional game developer conference, not an E3-style expo. They rarely announce AAA games there. It's not that kind of thing.

TBH, I don't know how AAA this is gonna be. Remember this was a project proposed and prototyped shortly after they had their worst layoffs to date. Granted, with the rising popularity of Obsidian during and post Kickstarter the publisher may have decided to make this a bigger game (And it is Cryengine after all) before signing it off in december of the same year, but it's doubtful that this is going to be the AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAiest of all AAA games.

 

[Roguey]

Not counting marketing, Obsidian's never made a really big-budget game. AP would be the one that cost the most to make and it still couldn't hold up to Mass Effect. Publishers don't trust contractors with massive amounts of money.

Who would think that the people who made Alpha Protocol can make a good next-gen game when other people haven't already done most of the legwork for them?

That project was managed like shit, all their projects released since then have been handled better.

Whatever happened to that self made XBLA game "focused on fun"?

Canceled.

 

[hexer]

A while ago, Bradley University posted one of those alumni profile articles on an Obsidian Entertainment employee named Katrina Schnell. According to BU, she sang and played the violin for the Pillars of Eternity trailer as an intern last year, and will in January become an Associate Producer for an unannounced project. I guess that's what it takes to land a producer role. Schnell indeed.

 

[himmy]

A Codex guide of discussing women in the video game industry:

Is she attractive? Make the conversation about her looks.

Is she not attractive? Make the conversation about her looks.

Don't know how she looks like? Make vague, nonsensical jokes about vaginas and wait for the brofists to pour in.

 

[undecaf]

What ever the game is and whether or not good looking girls work on it, I just hope it is not a standard fare action RPG nor placed in a standard fare fantasy setup spiced with couple of narrative quirks.

 

[Chaotic_Heretic]

A while ago, Bradley University posted one of those alumni profile articles on an Obsidian Entertainment employee named Katrina Schnell. According to BU, she sang and played the violin for the Pillars of Eternity trailer as an intern last year, and will in January become an Associate Producer for an unannounced project. I guess that's what it takes to land a producer role. Schnell indeed.

So the KS is being used to fund jobs for no-name hot interns... whereas George Ziets was laid off. Yeah sure does inspire confidence.

 

[made]

So the KS is being used to fund jobs for no-name hot interns... whereas George Ziets was laid off. Yeah sure does inspire confidence.

Would you rather have your "pillar of eternity" polished by a hot intern or by George Ziets? ^^

 

[Sordid MCA/Prosper Hybryd]

If it isn't Arcanum 2, isometric Fallout 4 or at least proper (not Prosper!) sci-fi/real-world RPG, I don't give a fuck 'bout it. We already have enough popamole fantasy crap, thank you very much.

 

[Diggfinger]

What about Wheel of Time? Could they still be working on that?

http://thewertzone.blogspot.dk/2012/04/wheel-of-time-rpg-on-hold-at-obsidian.html (was announed on Gamespot as well)

 

[Chaotic_Heretic]

So the KS is being used to fund jobs for no-name hot interns... whereas George Ziets was laid off. Yeah sure does inspire confidence.

Would you rather have your "pillar of eternity" polished by a hot intern or by George Ziets? ^^

But she won't be polishing my pillar. She will polishing the pillars of those who hired her.

 

[Scruffy]

it's never going to be arcanum 2, stop writing that, STOP HINTING AT HOPE!

 

[hexer]

A Codex guide of discussing women in the video game industry:

Is she attractive? Make the conversation about her looks.

Is she not attractive? Make the conversation about her looks.

Don't know how she looks like? Make vague, nonsensical jokes about vaginas and wait for the brofists to pour in.

People are sexual beings. Accept it. Or evolve into something that reproduces by cloning itself.

 

[Zeriel]

You must also create a legion of fellow non-sexual beings with which to be snide about the sexual beings. So, cloning it is.