Obsidian and inXile acquired by Microsoft

[SpaceWizardz]

Uncle Phil has Playground (supposedly) on Open World RPG duty, I don't think MS would be gunning for Obsidian if they wanted another studio doing that.

 

[fantadomat]

Yes, the most important question is this - for what purpose is Microsoft acquiring Obsidian?

To make console-centric AAA action-RPGs (something they can already do with that dev they acquired to make Fable 4), or to be what Firaxis is for Take-Two Interactive?

It could be either. Microsoft haven't proven themselves to be very smart in the past, so I wouldn't put anything past them.

Exactly. With proper leadership, they should be able to recognize that Obsidian has a steady fanbase in PC games and while making multiplatform games is given. Abandoning PC centric games would be stupid choice considering what they are buying. Getting a studio that makes certain kind of games for a certain market and then having them to do completely the opposite would be quite fucking stupid.

Problem with these bigger corporations are that the CEO might change 2 years from now and their whole direction as a company will shift.

How come you don't have half of Roguey 's tags? You are talking like a fan boy,that shit won't happen no matter what. leadership is no that important compared to the talent working beneath it. Obsidian managed to make some very good games even with shitty leadership. Kicking off Feargus won't magically make all the devs talented! We will only see decline and popamole shit from them.

 

[Sentinel]

do you have a sauce?

http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/inde...-leonard-boyarsky.119594/page-12#post-5813915
http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/inde...-leonard-boyarsky.119594/page-13#post-5819404

I don't see the owners staying long after a possible sell. Chris Jones barely works even now, after getting millions of dollars? No way. I really doubt they would even want to keep him at the company.
Feargus is the face of the company and probably the only one any buyer would want to keep for a while.

The whole thing was needed so the c-level could safely drive into sunset with bags of cash. That's probably the only positive thing. The negative thing is that the new leadership will probably have nothing to lead after that (see Bioware).

Anthony Davis and Richard Taylor left recently for Blizzard.

do you have a sauce?

MCALeaks, as Infinitron calls it

http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/inde...-leonard-boyarsky.119594/page-13#post-5819404
http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/inde...-leonard-boyarsky.119594/page-12#post-5813915

Damn I completely missed this. That's pretty sad.

 

[Latelistener]

With proper leadership, they should be able to recognize that Obsidian has a steady fanbase in PC games and while making multiplatform games is given.

Microsoft will rape it, pour a large can of gasoline on it and flick a lighter. With the money they have they could do that just for entertainment.

 

[Killzig]

Wonder how good the "deadfire just barely broke even" discount was for MSFT. Congrats to Feargus finally achieving his dream.

 

[Hobo Elf]

Didn't know Microsoft hired Jason as their PR person.

 

[TT1]

Feargus is, probably, the worst manager, ever, in the industry. After a dozen problems (including screwing things with Microsoft), this may be the best move he has ever made, at Obsidian.

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[GrainWetski]

Didn't know Microsoft hired Jason as their PR person.

All the gamejourno cunts are just glorified PR.

 

[J_C]

Feargus is, probably, the worst manager, ever, in the industry. After a dozen problems (including screwing things with Microsoft), this may be the best move he has ever made, at Obsidian.

He is so bad that he managed to keep an independent medium sized RPG developer afloat for more than a decade, while all similar studios went bankrupt. Yes, he is the worst manager ever.

 

[BEvers]

Wonder how good the "deadfire just barely broke even" discount was for MSFT

What makes you think it's broken even yet?

 

[Infinitron]

TT1 is just being edgy, but really people shouldn't be saying stuff like that just days after the news of Telltale's closure.

 

[Hobo Elf]

Didn't know Microsoft hired Jason as their PR person.

All the gamejourno cunts are just glorified PR.

I know, but this tweet just stuck out like a sore thumb. It wasn't even trying to be subtle and hide the fact that it reads 100% like an ad.

 

[J_C]

TT1 is just being edgy, but really people shouldn't be saying stuff like that just days after the news of Telltale's closure.

I don't see the similarity between Obsidian's and Telltale's case. Unless you are saying that just because a company does not go bankrupt, the manager could be terrible. Which is be true, but surviving as an cRPG developer for this long on this market must mean that Feargus was doing something right.

 

[Flou]

How come you don't have half of Roguey 's tags? You are talking like a fan boy,that shit won't happen no matter what. leadership is no that important compared to the talent working beneath it. Obsidian managed to make some very good games even with shitty leadership. Kicking off Feargus won't magically make all the devs talented! We will only see decline and popamole shit from them.

They will end up keeping Feargus for a while. "Smooth" transition and the face for the company for that phase, just like with BioWare and the Doctors.
With Feargus leaving, some of the less talented people who've had a shield (wasn't this something Avellone claimed) will lose their immunity and will be replaced. Unless of course the new Studio Director will be someone from Obsidian in which case they could still have someone looking out for them.

Current talent pool won't suddenly get more talented, but they will be able to get better hires when they can actually pay competitive salary to their new recruits (and some of their older guys they want to keep), instead of bleeding talent due to Obsidian paying less than most would get at a larger studio.

 

[Hobo Elf]

TT1 is just being edgy, but really people shouldn't be saying stuff like that just days after the news of Telltale's closure.

I don't see the similarity between Obsidian's and Telltale's case. Unless you are saying that just because a company does not go bankrupt, the manager could be terrible. Which is be true, but surviving as an cRPG developer for this long on this market must mean that Feargus was doing something right.

Feargus did nothing right. They survived solely due to there being a strong lack of cRPGs being released for a long period of time. As soon as real competition began to emerge all the talent fled Obsidian like rats from a sinking ship. None of it is merely a coincidence.

 

[fantadomat]

Wonder how good the "deadfire just barely broke even" discount was for MSFT

What makes you think it's broken even yet?

I doubt it. Its player count bare spiked with a 1000 players more than the last weak,when the last dlc came out. It went to around 2700-2800 players. Soo by those numbers it must have sold around 10,000-20,000 copies....on steam that is. If you take away all the season passes buys....well it would be between 8,000 and 15,000.

 

[fantadomat]

but surviving as an cRPG developer for this long on this market must mean that Feargus was doing something right.

I believe that this is what Infi was saying.

 

[fantadomat]

How come you don't have half of Roguey 's tags? You are talking like a fan boy,that shit won't happen no matter what. leadership is no that important compared to the talent working beneath it. Obsidian managed to make some very good games even with shitty leadership. Kicking off Feargus won't magically make all the devs talented! We will only see decline and popamole shit from them.

They will end up keeping Feargus for a while. "Smooth" transition and the face for the company for that phase, just like with BioWare and the Doctors.
With Feargus leaving, some of the less talented people who've had a shield (wasn't this something Avellone claimed) will lose their immunity and will be replaced. Unless of course the new Studio Director will be someone from Obsidian in which case they could still have someone looking out for them.

Current talent pool won't suddenly get more talented, but they will be able to get better hires when they can actually pay competitive salary to their new recruits (and some of their older guys they want to keep), instead of bleeding talent due to Obsidian paying less than most would get at a larger studio.

That is......very naive view of corporate structure mate. Most likely the new cio will be a lot worst than Feargus. As for talent....well the most talented people there didn't really cared that much about how big the pay was. They were there because it was the only studio where you could make old school rpgs. They were/are talented and passionate about RPGs. If they wanted really good salary,they wouldn't have worked in Obsidian.

 

[Infinitron]

TT1 is just being edgy, but really people shouldn't be saying stuff like that just days after the news of Telltale's closure.

I don't see the similarity between Obsidian's and Telltale's case. Unless you are saying that just because a company does not go bankrupt, the manager could be terrible. Which is be true, but surviving as an cRPG developer for this long on this market must mean that Feargus was doing something right.

No, I'm agreeing with you. It's crazy to call Feargus the worst manager ever after seeing what happened to Telltale.

 

[Dodo1610]

So they are going to make Microsoft's TWitcher clone. It should be good for Pc gamers in theory if Microsoft actually invests money in PC/Xbox games. At the moment the most polished AAA titles are PS4 of switch exclusives maybe this will change in the next console generation.

 

[J_C]

TT1 is just being edgy, but really people shouldn't be saying stuff like that just days after the news of Telltale's closure.

I don't see the similarity between Obsidian's and Telltale's case. Unless you are saying that just because a company does not go bankrupt, the manager could be terrible. Which is be true, but surviving as an cRPG developer for this long on this market must mean that Feargus was doing something right.

No, I'm agreeing with you. It's crazy to call Feargus the worst manager ever after seeing what happened to Telltale.

Oh, OK. Sorry, didn't get your point at first.

 

[Flou]

That is......very naive view of corporate structure mate. Most likely the new cio will be a lot worst than Feargus. As for talent....well the most talented people there didn't really cared that much about how big the pay was. They were there because it was the only studio where you could make old school rpgs. They were/are talented and passionate about RPGs. If they wanted really good salary,they wouldn't have worked in Obsidian.

Maybe that's how things work in Bulgaria. I've seen my share of better bosses and worse bosses. Feargus has his faults, and so will anyone who replaces him.
MS owned studio will have more resources than an indie developer, no matter who leads the company. I doubt they are buying a company just to run it to the ground on purpose.

Those talented people were young back then and didn't have a family to support. It's a lot different tale when you've got kids to feed. If you are barely getting by, at some point you will look at other opportunities. It's not the 1950's, hardly anyone works for the same company for their whole damn career.
And when exactly did you conduct this interview of yours? You also make it sound like they've lost every bit of talent they've ever had.

 

[zombietoads]

 

[Deadass]

if feargus fucks off obsidian will only gain from it