Third xpac?

[Pop]

During the 86th episode of the Neverwinter Nights podcast, Atari Europe's John Mamais and Rapha

Edited January 10, 2009 by Pop

[Pidesco]

Obsidian is working on Aliens and AP. Also, supposedly, there's a new fantasy game they're working on, which should come out only after Aliens. How would it be possible for Obsidian to be working on another expansion?

[Zoma]

Unless they give it a similar budget to MotB's expansion instead of an even smaller one than SoZ's, I think it'll only disappoint people with the quality of the game.

 

Heck, I prefer they'll just use the money to make an "Enhanced Edition" of NWN2 instead. New models. New textures. New animations. New sounds. Fix bugs.

[Diogo Ribeiro]

Either they weren't aware SoZ had come out, or someone isn't sharing.

[Guard Dog]

They may be referring to MoW. I would love to see Obsidian take another crack at it just to get more content.

[Pop]

They addressed Mysteries of Westgate in the podcast, saying they've been holding onto it too long yadda yadda blah blah. It's not what they're talking about.

 

They said that they'd have "a team" on it. They did not mention Obsidz. But I too wonder about their ability to make another expansion at present time.

 

Maybe it is their "fantasy" project. If it comes out in over a year it should have the potential to be MotBesque.

Edited January 10, 2009 by Pop

[Killian Kalthorne]

Or they could do what Bioware did with the first expansion for NWN1 and had a third party do it. Mind you that didn't work out all that well with SoU.

[Volourn]

People are understimating Obsidian's size much like they did with BIO. Obsidian isn't some independ tool working on games in his gargage inbetween actual work. Making games *is* Obsidian's works; and they most definitely have the employees to make more than 1-2 games at a time.

[Killian Kalthorne]

It isn't a matter of size, Volourn, but desire. Why would they want to make a third expansion for a game that is showing its age, using a rules set no longer supported by its parent company, and a game engine that is a b**ch to shoe horn new things into when they could make a new game, with a more efficient engine, without being constrained by a third party rules system?

[Volourn]

If Atari, and Obsidian still feel that a NWN2 expansion is profitable enough to make it worthwhile than, darn right, they would.

[Killian Kalthorne]

If Atari, and Obsidian still feel that a NWN2 expansion is profitable enough to make it worthwhile than, darn right, they would.

 

Atari might think it still might be profitable, but does Obsidian? I think Obsidian is better off either making their own IPs or non-DnD products, much like Bioware has done.

[Leferd]

XP's are relatively cheap (in terms of cumalative man-hours and resources) to crank out. If the numbers and expected sales figures look promising, then why not?

 

Obsidian will get paid whether it sells or not.

[Volourn]

Um.. Game development doesn't neccessarily work that way.... Publishers tend to get their money first...

[Rhomal]

Or they could do what Bioware did with the first expansion for NWN1 and had a third party do it. Mind you that didn't work out all that well with SoU.

 

Considering Bio ended up scrapping their work and starting fresh by doing it themselves just a few months before it was to ship, no it didn't. However I agree with V, obsid is quite able to do it themselves. This isn't a garage level studio LOL (Best line ever V!) However is it profitable enough is the question, only the sales of SoZ can answer that.

[Humodour]

Or they could do what Bioware did with the first expansion for NWN1 and had a third party do it. Mind you that didn't work out all that well with SoU.

 

Actually, at the time of buying NWN+SoU+HotU, SoU was the only reason I didn't consider the whole NWN franchise ****.

 

SoU was too short, but still managed to pack in more light-hearted fun and life (akin to BG1) than NWN1 OC ever did. HotU was just OK.

[Leferd]

Um.. Game development doesn't neccessarily work that way.... Publishers tend to get their money first...

 

Devs get paid by the publishers for hitting milestones. Sometimes even upfront.

 

You're referring to royalties.

[Hurlshort]

Yep, I really enjoyed SoU as well. Leagues better than the original NWN campaign.

 

I think we would have heard something if another game is coming down the pipeline. Like something more substantial.

[Tigranes]

Has SOZ already sold so much that the Atari will mouth off about the xpack? Sounds hasty too me.

 

If Obsidian does it, excellent - if they outsource it, well.

 

Gothic.

[Volourn]

SOU was the worst NWN official campaign... until SOZ came along, and took that mantle.

 

 

"Devs get paid by the publishers for hitting milestones. Sometimes even upfront."

 

They get paid developmental costs which they then have to pay back with their royalties from the sales (their share) before they get 'free money'. Of course, it all depends on the actual contract.

Edited January 11, 2009 by Volourn

[Starwars]

It's worth noting that the intervie was conducted about a week BEFORE SoZ was released. So the sales and the mixed reception had not been taken into account for their comments.

 

Still, they certainly seemed positive to the idea which is great. I'd love to see another one.

[aries101]

SOU was the worst NWN official campaign... until SOZ came along, and took that mantle.

 

 

"Devs get paid by the publishers for hitting milestones. Sometimes even upfront."

 

They get paid developmental costs which they then have to pay back with their royalties from the sales (their share) before they get 'free money'. Of course, it all depends on the actual contract.

 

This is very true, although some contracts mentions (or stipulates) that part(s) of these developmental costs only will be paid when say Obsidian hits a milestone. You know the whole, 'half now, half when it is done' contract. And then the studio, say Obsidain, has to pay this money back to say Atari. And royalties tend to be like 10% or 15% of the game's price in retail stores. And then Atari takes money away to pay for PR and other publicity costs. And then Obsidian needs to sell around 1 million or so, (or more) copies (or SDKs) to just break even. Before they even start to make any money for themselves.

[steelfiredragon]

all I can say is, Ill wait and see

[Killian Kalthorne]

I really doubt WotC will allow any more 3.5e material, regardless of format, to have any official support.

[Rosbjerg]

if a third expansion is on the way I'm pretty sure it was planned from the very beginning - at least as an option if the others sold well...

 

In which case Atari and OE definitely signed an agreement on the whole series rather than individually for each expansion.

[Rhomal]

I really doubt WotC will allow any more 3.5e material, regardless of format, to have any official support.

 

Matters not what WotC wants, what matters is the atari/Obsid D&D license. If it says for example you can make 3.5 nwn games until 2010 then thats that. As was stated above, they don't get a license for every expansion or title its one big lic/package deal.