Obsidian would like to work on Chrono Trigger

[Morgoth]

A million copies for 2005/2006 standards is very good. Also, back then Obsidian was still smaller so they definitely got some decent profit out of it. Your statement is therefor false.

[Drasill]

No, you are wrong. Obsidian may have been smaller but you are forgetting that LucasArts took a substantial cut of profits and BioWare had to be paid to use their game engine.

[Morgoth]

So? It was still a success overall. Your previous statement remains false.

[Amentep]

No, you are wrong. Obsidian may have been smaller but you are forgetting that LucasArts took a substantial cut of profits and BioWare had to be paid to use their game engine.

 

Wouldn't LucasArts - as the producers of the game - have paid for BioWare's game engine?

 

And wouldn't Obsidian been paid for their efforts to make the game upfront by LucasArts as they were an independent contractor (with LucasArts getting the profit/loss money from sales of the game)?

 

Wouldn't the same hold true with Atari in regards to NWN2? And Sega with Alpha Protocol and Aliens: Crucible?

 

Or am I just completely clueless?

Edited July 7, 2010 by Amentep

[WorstUsernameEver]

I don't know where you got your sales figure but :

 

a) Developers are paid before development. The sales usually go all to the publisher, since the clauses to receive royalties are very strict (need a certain metascore ranking, sales and delivery on time etc.).

 

b) Alpha Protocol bombed, true, but both the projects Obsidian is working on were contracted much, much before it came out, considering Feargus has stated that they began working on Dungeon Siege III in early 2009.

 

c) By the way, just a clarification, but don't let the title mislead you : Obsidian isn't working on Chrono Trigger, and for now, they're not going for another project. Think about it as a chat between a journalist and the Obsidian CEO, nothing more than that.

 

d) Why Obsidian always works on two projects at a time? That, you have to ask Feargus.

[Drasill]

You're still assuming a million copies is successful especially when the profits are divided. Your previous statement remains false.

[Morgoth]

Boy, thinking of it, Sega lost tons of money with Obsidian. Obsidian only benefited from it because they got their first own IP out (good for prestige) plus a fully developed Onyx Engine. Sega lost big.

[Amentep]

d) Why Obsidian always works on two projects at a time? That, you have to ask Feargus.

 

IMO it kinda makes good business sense to not hinge all of your company's future on one game.

 

Look at it this way, AP's sales weren't what Sega wanted, but they have DSIII and FO:NV. If FO:NV does well then the fact AP didn't do boffo sales doesn't ultimately hurt them when putting together their next project post DSIII (and they're probably in talks about that anyhow, I'd think).

[Amentep]

You're still assuming a million copies is successful especially when the profits are divided. Your previous statement remains false.

 

BTW, poking around the net, the only numbers I see are for KotOR at about 1.58 million.

 

I'd imagine, since KotOR2 was released a year after the first, a million copies would have still been good (that said, I don't think KotOR2 sold a million, as it never went to the greatest hits program if I remember correctly...)

[WorstUsernameEver]

Not completely related but :

 

@LicenseToButter Depends on the publisher and the IP, yes. Ideally, we'd like to keep doing games with the Onyx Engine (Dungeon Siege III).

[hoochimama]

I don't know where you got your sales figure but :

 

a) Developers are paid before development.

 

What is this supposed to mean? That full payment is made before development? If so I'd like to know where you got that from.

[Tigranes]

That's quite common - otherwise a lot of developers wouldn't be able to survive the development process.

[Gorth]

I believe the common way is "milestone billing"? The developer get paid pro-rata of a pre agreed amount for each milestone reached, plus bonuses, minus penalties. Probably a bit of initial funding too to get the project started up.

[hoochimama]

I believe the common way is "milestone billing"? The developer get paid pro-rata of a pre agreed amount for each milestone reached, plus bonuses, minus penalties. Probably a bit of initial funding too to get the project started up.

 

And frequently the balance is negative before the next payment, so the payment plan better make sure it's never too negative.

 

Never heard of a client paying for a project in full before development begins, at least nothing this size.

[WorstUsernameEver]

Never heard of a client paying for a project in full before development begins, at least nothing this size.

 

And I never tried to imply that, sorry if it came across as that.

[Humodour]

1 million copies is a lot if you only had a small team (20 or so) working on the game for only a year or so, and used a pre-existing engine and IP rented for cheap from a friend (Bioware)

Edited July 8, 2010 by Krezack

[Purkake]

Why not leave Japanese properties to Japanese developers and focus on new interesting IPs instead?

 

Much less fanboy rage this way...

[Amentep]

Why not leave Japanese properties to Japanese developers and focus on new interesting IPs instead?

 

Much less fanboy rage this way...

 

But if the Japanese developer has no interest in working on an IP they own, but it can be mined by an outside contractor...why not?

 

Fanboy rage will happen whether they don't make a new game in "Series X" or if they make it with a 3rd party or if they make it themselves and dare change anything from the original, so I'm not sure its the best way to gauge whether something is worth doing or not.

[Purkake]

I'm not really seeing the market for an Obsidian designed Chrono Trigger.

 

What I'd like to see is for Obsidian to iron out their development process and create some intelligent deconstruction/satire type of games like Torment once was, there seems to be a distinct lack of those. Then maybe they can make a JRPG and say something interesting with it.

[WorstUsernameEver]

What I'd like to see is for Obsidian to iron out their development process and create some intelligent deconstruction/satire type of games like Torment once was, there seems to be a distinct lack of those.

 

Knights of the Old Republic II worked well from that point of view, buggy as it may have been.

[Purkake]

And Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden did it awesomely for JRPGs, but there is still lots of room for more. I'm getting a bit tired of every game taking itself way too seriously or just being slapstick humor for humors sake.

[HoonDing]

What I'd like to see is for Obsidian to iron out their development process and create some intelligent deconstruction/satire type of games like Torment once was, there seems to be a distinct lack of those. Then maybe they can make a JRPG and say something interesting with it.

They really need to slam-dunk Anachronox 2.

[Purkake]

That would certainly be better than most of the IPs they've been working on recently.

[WorstUsernameEver]

Working on a niche game almost no-one cared about except a couple of guys on the Codex (never played it, so I don't know if it's good or not, but that's the truth) would be good how?

I mean, maybe they game would turn out good, but it's not as the name would entice anyone to buy it, the 'hardcore crowd' probably wouldn't like it, and if anything, Obsidian should work on more original IPs.

[Purkake]

I was speaking from personal preference.

 

I don't think the main target audience for DS3 has heard about a 5 year old PC-only IP either. At least Anachronox has a cool weird name.

 

With enough marketing, it doesn't really matter, though.

Edited July 8, 2010 by Purkake