The future of Pillars of Eternity and Tyranny

[David13]

With the recent aquisition of Obsidian by Microsoft I have been wondering what the future of Pillars of Eternity will be. The game was published with Paradox Interactive obviously which makes me wonder whether Microsoft will now take over that role or not.

 

I have been interesting in potentially investing in Obsidian due to POE, Tyranny and certain other games. I have been thinking about it over the past year, however all that became murky with Microsoft acquiring Obsidian so I am not sure how I can go about it still if at all. And of course if POE has no future (or Tyranny) then me investing in the company is out of the question, and I would probably go over to Paradox instead in that case.

 

So my question in short is:
Does PoE and Tyranny have a future?

Will Microsoft take over from Paradox for these IPs?

How would I go about investing in Obsidian specifically now that it has been acquired by Microsoft?

[the_dog_days]

Paradox owns Tyranny, so it's completely out of the picture, though they only acted as the publisher for POE1 (and, yeah, it looks like Microsoft will be taking over that role). Pillars has a future, it's just uncertain whether or not it will be in the isometric style. As for the last, I wouldn't know where to begin to look.

[Guest]

Obsidian was never publicly traded. Money invested in Microsoft goes to Microsoft.

[Hurlshort]

Not that I think many even take on private investors, but investing in video game companies seems to be a pretty risky proposition. Unless you get in on the ground floor before some indie studio blows up, it would seem to be a good way to lose money, or at least not gain much.

 

Also I have a hard time believing the OP is in a position to invest meaningfully in a billion dollar industry if he is posting for details on an obscure video game forum. But maybe I've grown cynical.

[bringingyouthefuture]

If I had 20 million dollars to burn I would give it to Obsidian to make POE3 ... merry x-mas !!

Edited December 14, 2018 by bringingyouthefuture

[Ethics Gradient]

I guess to more directly answer your questions:

 

> Does PoE and Tyranny have a future?

> Will Microsoft take over from Paradox for these IPs?

Paradox controls the IP of, and presumably the publishing rights to, Tyranny.  If there is to be a sequel, or if Obsidian is involved, it's all up to Paradox.

Microsoft (through Obsidian) now owns Pillars.  After Deadfire, they should be free to take the setting in any direction they desire.

> How would I go about investing in Obsidian specifically now that it has been acquired by Microsoft?

You can't.  It was always a private company.  While you could have theoretically bribed your way into part-ownership with a seven-figure check before, all (or at least a majority) of outstanding shares of Obsidian likely belong to Microsoft now.

[InsaneCommander]

If I had 20 million dollars to burn I would give it to Obsidian to make POE3 ... merry x-mas !!

 

If I had 200 million to burn I'd hire Obsidian to make a full world map Eora Pillars game.

[David13]

Not that I think many even take on private investors, but investing in video game companies seems to be a pretty risky proposition. Unless you get in on the ground floor before some indie studio blows up, it would seem to be a good way to lose money, or at least not gain much.

 

Also I have a hard time believing the OP is in a position to invest meaningfully in a billion dollar industry if he is posting for details on an obscure video game forum. But maybe I've grown cynical.

Well yes, most AAA companies have lost stock market prices quite dramatically lately and rumors of a gaming market crash are growing louder and louder which is my exact point really, I want to invest specifically into up and coming companies that would not get affected by a lootbox/ microtransaction crash due to regulations.

 

Paradox and Obsidian are both middle sized and while sure I might not have millions of dollars to invest, Obsidian kickstarted a hell of a lot of its games, they're not exactly a billion dollar company (unlike microsoft). Then again with microsoft's support they probs won't need any investors at all. That sweet microsoft money will take care of any projects, in fact I doubt we'll see any Obsidian games on kickstarter in the future.

[SonicMage117]

I wouldn't expect more than a card game on mobile tbh, Paradox owns Pillars? If they do then I doubt we'll see anything from it again.

 

I also doubt very much if Microsoft sees Pillars worth anything at all, I say this die to sales.

[Wormerine]

I don’t think it is out of realms of possibility that Microsoft might be interested in making a game within Pillars of Eternity IP, but I am not sure what form could it take. It certainly won’t be a system seller but a smaller title to expand library is not a bad investment. Even if it would stay isometric, it would need to stop catering to IE fan base, which I don’t think is bad in itself. At this point I am interested in Pillars game which doesn’t have to go through crowdfunding system.

[kastle]

Personally I find it risky to invest in video game companies, I prefer not to take the risk

[rjshae]

My guess is they'll focus on more upscale AA games following the acquisition. Maybe we'll see more PoE releases but with enhancements to 3D, such as detailed interactive cut scenes.

[Chairchucker]

Microsoft (through Obsidian) now owns Pillars.  After Deadfire, they should be free to take the setting in any direction they desire.

 

Obsidian don't own Pillars of Eternity, it's owned by some other company which is owned by Feargus. So Microsoft don't own that, but will probably still be able to make games in that universe if they want.

[the_dog_days]

 

Microsoft (through Obsidian) now owns Pillars.  After Deadfire, they should be free to take the setting in any direction they desire.

 

Obsidian don't own Pillars of Eternity, it's owned by some other company which is owned by Feargus. So Microsoft don't own that, but will probably still be able to make games in that universe if they want.

 

 

They dissolved Dark Rock and consolidated Pillars IP under Obsidian which is under Microsoft.

[Chairchucker]

They dissolved Dark Rock and consolidated Pillars IP under Obsidian which is under Microsoft.

Ah, my mistake then.

[Zafar1981]

So Tyranny is not owned by Obsidian(Microsoft). Sad to know as I really love that game and wanted a sequel. I thought that after the acquisition Obsidian will try to make third person open world sequel of Tyranny. Hope they will make 3rd person POE3 which will compete with Dragon Age.  

[SonicMage117]

Unpopular opinion I'm sure, but good point here nonetheless:

 

Tyranny was really good but I'm not sure it deserved a sequel.

 

And Deadfire was so experimental and different from PoE1 that it (in many ways) felt disjointed from the first. So I think it's best for them to end support for the series. Some things are better off dead and remembered for what was, as any thing more will just ruin things further.

[juanval]

Deadfire is a masterpiece. Is the only game that can be considered the spiritual sucesor of BG2. Perhaps it has not reached a big community and microsoft is not interested in making a Po3 with simillar mechanics than PoE 1 and 2.

I hope a smaller team of Obsidian (the people who worked on DLC perhaps?) can harness the mechanics created and, with a smaller presupost, they can create a PoE3 or a new IE style game set in Eora.

[InsaneCommander]

I just finished Forgotten Sanctum and now I want a PoE3 even more. It included some very interesting information about the lore.

[Verde]

Deadfire is a masterpiece. Is the only game that can be considered the spiritual sucesor of BG2. Perhaps it has not reached a big community and microsoft is not interested in making a Po3 with simillar mechanics than PoE 1 and 2.

I hope a smaller team of Obsidian (the people who worked on DLC perhaps?) can harness the mechanics created and, with a smaller presupost, they can create a PoE3 or a new IE style game set in Eora.

If Deadfire didn't have so many shallow systems and insane bugs I'd agree with you. Imagine a game like Mass Effect 2 being released and the import completely not working and the final boss becoming invisible and unfightable. Edited February 4, 2019 by Verde

[Chilloutman]

 

Deadfire is a masterpiece. Is the only game that can be considered the spiritual sucesor of BG2. Perhaps it has not reached a big community and microsoft is not interested in making a Po3 with simillar mechanics than PoE 1 and 2.

I hope a smaller team of Obsidian (the people who worked on DLC perhaps?) can harness the mechanics created and, with a smaller presupost, they can create a PoE3 or a new IE style game set in Eora.

If Deadfire didn't have so many shallow systems and insane bugs I'd agree with you. Imagine a game like Mass Effect 2 being released and the import completely not working and the final boss becoming invisible and unfightable.

 

 

shalow systems and then compare it to ME 2 ... ok I guess renegade or saint response leading to same outcome are such a peak of compexness xD

[Wormerine]

If Deadfire didn't have so many shallow systems and insane bugs I'd agree with you. Imagine a game like Mass Effect 2 being released and the import completely not working and the final boss becoming invisible and unfightable.

Chill out, the game still hasn't come out from early access

 

I am even warming up toward the romances in my recent playthrough, when companions don't try to bed me a minute after being recruited. So far only one of them triggered and am deep into the game and have been conciosuly workign toward it... to the point of abusing infinite rep gain with Xoti to trigger it earlier. 

 

Clean up the bugs, and hopefuly patch ship2ship combat (please, let this new UI thing be an indication of things to come) and we are in a pretty darn good place now.

[Murp]

If Deadfire didn't have so many shallow systems and insane bugs I'd agree with you. Imagine a game like Mass Effect 2 being released and the import completely not working and the final boss becoming invisible and unfightable.

 

Implying mass effect 2 isn't a buggy mess

[bugarup]

While I'm all up for ****iing on the most overrated shooter of all times, it really wasn't that buggy on release, no? Which isn't that difficult when one is as...uncomplicated as ME2. 

Edited February 5, 2019 by Gorth
Circumventing word filter

[merkmerk73]

I desperately want another Pillars game and would crowdfund it again happily. I know Deadfire wasn't a smash success - but it will have legs. It will stick around on Steam and people will buy it and play it - because people are always picking up old RPGs on steam sales and whatnot, and it's such a brilliant game - really the best of its class.

 

I would just love to see how the devs iterated on the game again - learning from mistakes in Deadfire and improving on it for a third game.

 

For example, the third game would ideally be a hybrid between the first and second when it comes to exploration - Deadfire feels a little disjointed when you don't have those full map areas to explore like in the first game and there's so many one-and-done fights in very small scenes

 

However, the first game was a bit of a slog and didn't have the feeling of open world exploration that Deadfire had with the ship - so something in between would be brilliant.

 

Also, Deadfire solidified the setting - it doesn't feel like generic crap in the way that the Divinity setting does, and it really brought the world of Eora alive and out of the "this is just another new fantasy setting we made up for this indie crowdfunded game" that Pillars 1 had.