RPG Codex Interview: Chris Avellone on Pillars Cut Content, Game Development Hierarchies and More

[Fry]

And the material facts he has stated are really incredibly fucking damning. Losing his stake in the company, "upper management" leveraging his economic and family situation to pressure him into signing a balls-to-the-wall evil NDA/non-competition agreement and then cutting his health insurance. That is so vicious words fail me.

But the question is if any of it is a violation of US Labour Code and if so, can it be proved reliably in the court?

From the CA’s description it seems like Obsidian consulted their lawyers more often than him, so they might have lead the negotiations in such a way that it was still legal and defendable in court.

This is not a legal issue, fellas. If he had a case he would have been in court by now.

Spewing all this in public would give his lawyer a heart attack.

 

[Azarkon]

Care to give your opinion? How would Sawyer have been responsible for what the upper management did to Chris?

You don't have much real life work experience I guess.

I have plenty, and have witnessed similar situations in company politics, though not as severe.

Sawyer strikes me as the guy who management brings in to replace you. He'll naturally be loyal to management, because it benefits his career. But he wouldn't be responsible for the separation terms. That's above his pay grade.

 

[Orma]

https://www.rpgwatch.com/forums/showthread.php?t=39602

Little to no reaction to topics of actual relevance, seems typical of Watch.

 

[Riddler]

I'm so sorry Chris. I hope you find peace and appreciation where you are now and in the future.

 

[ga♥]

I have plenty, and have witnessed similar situations in company politics, though not as severe.

Sawyer strikes me as the guy who management brings in to replace you. He'll naturally be loyal to management, because it benefits his career. But he wouldn't be responsible for the separation terms. That's above his pay grade.

You never had a co-worker trying to portray you in a bad light? Trying to blame you for things you weren't responsible? Trying to take all the merits when things went good? You never saw managment treat someone better just out of sympathy? Well lucky you. I am not saying this is the case. But it's not hard to imagine scenarios compatible with the hierarchy provided.

Obviously final decisions rest in the managment but this doesn't mean someone tried to make the managment do that decision pushing a bit.

 

[Blakemoreland Hybrid Boss]

No one reads the codex atleast no one important.

Define important. We are talking about game news on the internet here. The place where expertise is dispersed and there are no obvious points of reference. Codex already made some breakthroughs in the past when Roguey uncovered shit about Inxile plans and some sites used without quoting the source and others mentioned the source with some disdain.

 

[Blakemoreland Hybrid Boss]

https://www.rpgwatch.com/forums/showthread.php?t=39602

Little to no reaction to topics of actual relevance, seems typical of Watch.

They didn't read it because they are too butthurted to admit that something worth of mention came from here. It's personal.

 

[Blaine]

Ah, I see some people have suddenly sprouted business suits and briefcases since the topic of legal issues came up.

Three out of the four members of my immediate family (that's everyone but me) are lawyers, so armchair lawyers are especially entertaining to me.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

This level of pettiness is something I aspire to, I take my cap off to you sir.

If everything he said in the post is true (and I'd bet it is), Obsidian deserves all the shit it's going to get and then some. I don't see any pettiness in that.

He's had good couple of years to set the record straight, but just by complete accident he decides to do it a week before the most important release for the studio hits the shelves. He also keeps talking how deeply he respects a lot of non-leadership people remaining in Obsidian, which apparently doesn't stop him from trying to start a shitstorm that can impact sales, revenues, bonuses and ultimately jobs of all of those people.

Indeed, that's all so brave and not petty at all.

 

[Azarkon]

I have plenty, and have witnessed similar situations in company politics, though not as severe.

Sawyer strikes me as the guy who management brings in to replace you. He'll naturally be loyal to management, because it benefits his career. But he wouldn't be responsible for the separation terms. That's above his pay grade.

You never had a co-worker trying to portray you in a bad light? Trying to blame you for things you weren't responsible? Trying to take all the merits when things went good? Well lucky you. I am not saying this is the case. But it's not hard to imagine scenarios compatible with the hierarchy provided.

Sure, that happens, but is it what's actually the issue, here? Sawyer competing with Chris and taking a larger share of the credit and a smaller share of the blame? I think most people here wouldn't be surprised to learn that Sawyer competed with Chris for leadership, but that's also not particularly worthy of moral blame, compared to using Chris's debts to force him out of the industry and into silence.

 

[Iskramor]

No one reads the codex atleast no one important.

Define important. We are talking about game news on the internet here. The place where expertise is dispersed and there are no obvious points of reference. Codex already made some breakthroughs in the past when Roguey uncovered shit about Inxile plans and some sites used without quoting the source and others mentioned the source with some disdain.

Important like big game news sites etc... This will not leave codex obsidan forums and few other niche sites.

 

[ga♥]

Sure, that happens, but is it what's actually the issue, here? Sawyer competing with Chris and taking a larger share of the credit and a smaller share of the blame? I think most people here wouldn't be surprised to learn that Sawyer competed with Chris for leadership, but that's also not particularly worthy of moral blame, compared to using Chris's debts to force him out of the industry and into silence.

You seem to forget the Project Lead eliminating his work (if that is what happened).

 

[Goral]

He's had good couple of years to set the record straight, but just by complete accident he decides to do it a week before the most important release for the studio hits the shelves.

The interview started in 2016, you can blame Infinitron for not releasing it earlier in chunks. As for the bombshell, Sensuki asked, MCA answered, simple as that. Blame Sensuki and Eric for poking Chris Avellone.

 

[Blakemoreland Hybrid Boss]

Care to give your opinion? How would Sawyer have been responsible for what the upper management did to Chris?

Sawyer seem to be calling all the shots and making the most important decisions for a while. Feargus is unlikely to have the balls or the necessary emotional investment to be so creative in something so cruel such as this NDA they proposed. You can bet that there is more people involved. If Tim Cain still continue at Obsidian after hearing these distressing news, I will lose all the admiration I have for him. I’m still trying to digest his “we need to remove stats for figures” presentation. Unless they are bound by contract, the only decent thing is to leave this place.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

When they made me an offer to contract me to write for Tyranny (which might seem to be an olive branch, but it turned out to be something they needed for contractual reasons with Paradox, but no one had ever communicated it to me), these were the reasons I refused – I didn’t wish to be part of Obsidian’s upper level development process and their pipelines any longer, as these processes were coming from a bad place, and it showed.

This clarifies MCA's earlier comments from 2016, where he mentioned being "lectured" by Obsidian management after publicly stating that he wasn't in charge of Tyranny, and that this was related to the contract between Obsidian and Paradox, the publisher of Tyranny. Apparently, the contract required for a public fiction to be maintained that Chris Avellone was one of the leading developers of Tyranny, while only actually extending him a minor role on the project. It's still unclear as to whether Obsidian or Paradox was the driving force behind this arrangement.

 

[Blakemoreland Hybrid Boss]

Ah, I see some people have suddenly sprouted business suits and briefcases since the topic of legal issues came up.

Three out of the four members of my immediate family (that's everyone but me) are lawyers, so armchair lawyers are especially entertaining to me.

I have lawyers in my family too, and I know some codexers are lawyers too. What this has to do with anything?

 

[Stainless Veteran]

This level of pettiness is something I aspire to, I take my cap off to you sir.

If everything he said in the post is true (and I'd bet it is), Obsidian deserves all the shit it's going to get and then some. I don't see any pettiness in that.

He's had good couple of years to set the record straight, but just by complete accident he decides to do it a week before the most important release for the studio hits the shelves. He also keeps talking how deeply he respects a lot of non-leadership people remaining in Obsidian, which apparently doesn't stop him from trying to start a shitstorm that can impact sales, revenues, bonuses and ultimately jobs of all of those people.

Indeed, that's all so brave and not petty at all.

What's with all this "oh, b-b-buh think of PoE2 release!" shit? People won't cancel their preorders, the vast majority never even reads the gaming press, and that's even the story will get traction. The Obsi fanboys such as yourself will use mental gymnastics to blame Chris on his own termination, so it won't weight at all on your (morally bankrupt) conscience.

Obsi can get their reputation tarnished, but only if they won't play it safe and decide to libel Chris and/or sue him, and if the more mainstream outlets will publish the whole story. Remeber MLMarkland debacle? Was inExile hurt? Was any of more mainstream gamers even aware of it? Of course not. Granted, both people and situations are very different, but your average PoE buyer probably doesn't even know who Chris Avellone is.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

He's had good couple of years to set the record straight, but just by complete accident he decides to do it a week before the most important release for the studio hits the shelves.

The interview started in 2016, you can blame Infinitron for not releasing it earlier in chunks. As for the bombshell, Sensuki asked, MCA answered, simple as that. Blame Sensuki and Eric for poking Chris Avellone.

Naw. Unless Sensuki was holding a gun to his head, I'll be blaming Avellone for actions taken by Avellone.

 

[Stainless Veteran]

Ah, I see some people have suddenly sprouted business suits and briefcases since the topic of legal issues came up.

Three out of the four members of my immediate family (that's everyone but me) are lawyers, so armchair lawyers are especially entertaining to me.

I'm a lawyer, Blaine. Granted, I'm a Russian, and my specialty isn't labor/employment law, so in your mind it probably disqualifies me, but still. Also 'kwa legal system is a fucking disaster and a nightmare. Yes, even in comparison to Russian one.

 

[Blakemoreland Hybrid Boss]

He's had good couple of years to set the record straight, but just by complete accident he decides to do it a week before the most important release for the studio hits the shelves. He also keeps talking how deeply he respects a lot of non-leadership people remaining in Obsidian, which apparently doesn't stop him from trying to start a shitstorm that can impact sales, revenues, bonuses and ultimately jobs of all of those people.

Indeed, that's all so brave and not petty at all.

Someone please tag this fucker to the moon. Where are all those tags when we need them?

This clarifies MCA's earlier comments from 2016, where he mentioned being "lectured" by Obsidian management after publicly stating that he wasn't in charge in Tyranny, and that this was related to the contract between Obsidian and Paradox, the publisher of Tyranny. Apparently, the contract required for a public fiction to be maintained that Chris Avellone was one of the leading developers of Tyranny, while only actually extending him a minor role on the project. It's still unclear as to whether Obsidian or Paradox was the driving force behind this arrangement.

That's disgusting.

 

[Sentinel]

He's had good couple of years to set the record straight, but just by complete accident he decides to do it a week before the most important release for the studio hits the shelves.

The interview started in 2016, you can blame Infinitron for not releasing it earlier in chunks. As for the bombshell, Sensuki asked, MCA answered, simple as that. Blame Sensuki and Eric for poking Chris Avellone.

Naw. Unless Sensuki was holding a gun to his head, I'll be blaming Avellone for actions taken by Avellone.

But the timing of the interview's publication is not an Avellone action. Are you sure you don't just want to blame Avellone for something regardless of what it is?

 

[Fry]

Ah, I see some people have suddenly sprouted business suits and briefcases since the topic of legal issues came up.

Three out of the four members of my immediate family (that's everyone but me) are lawyers, so armchair lawyers are especially entertaining to me.

I'm a lawyer, Blaine. Granted, I'm a Russian, and my specialty isn't labor law, so in your mind it probably disqualifies me, but still. Also 'kwa legal system is a fucking disaster and a nightmare.

Russia has a legal system?

 

[AwesomeButton]

When they made me an offer to contract me to write for Tyranny (which might seem to be an olive branch, but it turned out to be something they needed for contractual reasons with Paradox, but no one had ever communicated it to me), these were the reasons I refused – I didn’t wish to be part of Obsidian’s upper level development process and their pipelines any longer, as these processes were coming from a bad place, and it showed.

This clarifies MCA's earlier comments from 2016, where he mentioned being "lectured" by Obsidian management after publicly stating that he wasn't in charge in Tyranny, and that this was related to the contract between Obsidian and Paradox, the publisher of Tyranny. Apparently, the contract required for a public fiction to be maintained that Chris Avellone was one of the leading developers of Tyranny, while only actually extending him a minor role on the project. It's still unclear as to whether Obsidian or Paradox was the driving force behind this arrangement.

Again, this is familiar. A senior dev being double-booked.

Where I lol'd was that bit where the Tyranny team was gutted working on PoE.

First, because at the time I was blaming Tyranny for the state of PoE at release. It turns out PoE's development was in firefighting mode until help from the Tyranny project was sent.

Second, because Obsidian's employees who were working on PoE were apparently being billed to Paradox for working on Tyranny, and Paradox had no knowledge that they were in fact working on PoE.

That's absolute project management gold - your developers are earning two salaries, and all you have to pay them is one salary plus overtime for working on the other project where they are full-time engaged in "helping with some tasks"

 

[Blakemoreland Hybrid Boss]

I'm a lawyer, Blaine. Granted, I'm a Russian, and my specialty isn't labor law, so in your mind it probably disqualifies me, but still. Also 'kwa legal system is a fucking disaster and a nightmare.

The irony is that he wants to automatically disqualify the opinions about legal matters using the expertise of members of his family. Did they give you some legal advice in the past hour, Blaine? Because you are just as layman as every other poster here. Expertise is not something you acquire by osmosis, you know.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

He's had good couple of years to set the record straight, but just by complete accident he decides to do it a week before the most important release for the studio hits the shelves.

The interview started in 2016, you can blame Infinitron for not releasing it earlier in chunks. As for the bombshell, Sensuki asked, MCA answered, simple as that. Blame Sensuki and Eric for poking Chris Avellone.

Naw. Unless Sensuki was holding a gun to his head, I'll be blaming Avellone for actions taken by Avellone.

But the timing of the interview's publication is not an Avellone action.

The timing of posts on the forum is an Avellone action. Interview itself isn't dropping any bombshells.