Rumours about acquisition by Microsoft

[Bokishi]

This could be the end soon...

[kanisatha]

Yep, very sad news. I can see that many of you want to look for the rainbow in the dark clouds but I tend to be a harsh realist, and my realist senses tell me this will spell the end of our Obsidian, the Obsidian who's games we've loved all these years. Heck, you can even tell from that very terse statement from Take Two how palpably worried they are about what happens to Project Indiana.

 

This kinda' explains the exodus of people from Obsidian in recent months.

 

Bottom line for me, I won't buy from the Windows Store, and I won't buy console games. So if that's the direction a Microsoft-controlled Obsidian takes, I will sadly have to cease being their customer after all these years.

 

Now I guess we just wait for that canned statement from Feargus telling us all how wonderful the future's going to be because everything will be just the same only better. HAHA.

[Selky]

Good. Time to ditch isometric CRPGs and make real games again.

Edited October 9, 2018 by Selky

[Hulk'O'Saurus]

At No Mutants Allowed folks are much more suspicious of Micro$oft... and rightly so. 

[PillarsofPieternity]

I just fear that I won't get poe3 on my ps4 so I won't be able to complete the series

[Infinitron]

Heck, you can even tell from that very terse statement from Take Two how palpably worried they are about what happens to Project Indiana.

 

 

I doubt it. Project Indiana must be the linchpin of this deal - it's the prime evidence as to why Obsidian is worth buying. Everything about is probably being arranged to all involved parties' satisfaction.

[hcl]

Hmm.. depends on the deal id say. If its done like ms did with mojang, than id say, could go the right way. Mainly to keep supporting multiple Plattforms and dont make it a proprietary Win10 Software.
But if MS uses Obsidian Products to give more weight to their win10 / Store / UWP Stuff and try to spread what no on really wants, than it wont be that ideal.
Lets hope Obsidian keeps its charme and nature.
 

[Bartimaeus]

[MotelOK]

Well, I hope it doesn't mark the end of Obsidian being one of the last studios to release high quality PC games. I also hope it doesn't cause an exodus of talent from the company. But if it does (and my guy says it does), I'll just say I'm grateful for all the good times. F:NV is probably my all time favorite game. I love Alpha Protocol, warts and all. PoE 1 & 2 are some of the best titles you can find on PC. NWN2 was also great when I finally got to in my backlog. I hope the future is bright for Obsidian.

[mkreku]

Just to add some fuel to the fire:

 

https://wccftech.com/microsoft-close-buying-obsidian/

[Murp]

M-maybe it will be a good thing??

[Guest]

M-maybe it will be a good thing??

Last of Us was made by Naughty Dog, a studio owned by Sony

Horizon: Zero Dawn was made by Guerrilla Games, a studio owned by Sony

 

Yeah, maybe it is a good thing

[Wormerine]

Don’t know much about gaming politics - is it a new turn for Obsidian? They worked with publishers before. Or is that entirely different kind of a deal (the previous ones being one game contracts, while here they will be subjects of Microsofts will?).

[AwesomeOcelot]

 

M-maybe it will be a good thing??

Last of Us was made by Naughty Dog, a studio owned by Sony

Horizon: Zero Dawn was made by Guerrilla Games, a studio owned by Sony

 

Yeah, maybe it is a good thing

 

Does anyone remember Rare, Ensemble, Aces, and Lionhead? Slow and disappointing death march. Working under Microsoft is so good Bungie is now an independent company.

 

Remember when Microsoft bought Bungie and made them stop developing Halo for Windows? How about the time Microsoft paid Cyrstal Dynamics to delay the release of Rise of the Tomb Raider on Windows for 3 months?

[Archaven]

This really suxs. They sell their souls to devil. Sigh.

[Enoch]

Over the past couple decades, there haven't been a whole lot of independent game development companies for which things end well.  A 14-year run as its own thing-- in spite of a whole lot of missteps along the way-- is pretty remarkable. 

 

If this is how it plays out, slow digestion by one of the big players probably works out a lot better for the owners and employees than closing up shop after one disappointment too many. 

[MDMAisGOOD]

Good. Time to ditch isometric CRPGs and make real games again.

you realy have no clue about real games then.

[SeraphTC]

Obsidian has just become more secure in revenue. Releasing more games per year than ever, owning an IP i.e. getting royalties on sales. Obsidian might have sold when they had trouble securing jobs with publishers like Microsoft pulling the plug on contracts, but they wouldn't sell when they are on the up.

 

Also Microsoft wouldn't be interested in a PC RPG developer, that's hardly going to effect their Xbox platform.

 

If you want to make money you always sell when you're at peak, and have the promise of more revenue to come.  That increases your value exponentially compared to selling when you're on the way down (and potentially struggling to even find a buyer).

 

Microsoft would absolutely be interested in a PC RPG developer, because those games can be ported to the Xbox platform - especially since they are adding mouse and keyboard support to their API for developers to use if they wish.

 

Also, Microsoft would be interested in adding any successful IP to their stable at this point - they want to build that moving forward and - more importantly - deny those properties to Sony.  They know the lack of exclusives was their main problem this gen, and they're looking to change that.  That's the whole reason they've been buying so many studios.

[uuuhhii]

big publisher may stupid enough to force obsidian make something like standard AAA game these days

and it will fit like vinyl in cassette player

just hoping for they still get a chance to make poe3

[kirottu]

If Microsoft buys Obsidian, how much money am I going to get?

[AstroCat]

So this means no Pillars 3 unless it's fps xbox exclusive?

 

Seriously this is bad news for people who actually like, support (KS) and buy Obsidian games, I mean just look at how EA butchered Bioware beyond repair, yeah like Anthem is going do well for people looking for ME 1-3, Baldur's Gate and DA:O?!

Edited October 10, 2018 by AstroCat

[bugarup]

Eh. Corporations are slow and lumbering monstrosities; when did EA buy Bioware, 2007? And they're not yet completely dead. So we possibly have another 10 years (and a good game or two made during them) before annihil...pardon, assimilation. And if gaming industry keeps developing as laboriously, some other studio gotta fill the vacuum left after Obsidian's demise. 

[Tale]

So this means no Pillars 3 unless it's fps xbox exclusive?

Microsoft have been pretty decent with PC releases lately. They released 5 titles on Steam last month. Including Recore.

 

I'm still amazed and delighted that they released Halo Wars on Steam last year. Then there's the support they continued to give Age of Empires II.

[M4xw0lf]

I'm hoping for the best, i.e., Obsidian allowed to continue producing their type of game, but with increased resources.

[uuuhhii]

I'm hoping for the best, i.e., Obsidian allowed to continue producing their type of game, but with increased resources.

that maybe a little too optimistic

obsidian are not very profitable

maybe more stable resource