Layoff hits Obsidian?

[funcroc]

OT: ex-OEI designer Sydney Wolfram's Facebook info page

 

Obsidian Entertainment

Designer

[funcroc]

http://www.linkedin.com/in/meganaparks

Junior Environment Artist

Obsidian Entertainment

October 2010

[WDeranged]

Don't know how I missed this thread over the last few days but it's been a depressing read, especially the Metacritic part...just what the ****.

[Bos_hybrid]

Don't know how I missed this thread over the last few days but it's been a depressing read, especially the Metacritic part...just what the ****.

 

Same I can't believe I missed this.

 

Additionally, Kotaku reports that the North Carolina project was to be published by Microsoft, and was intended for the still unannounced Xbox 360 successor console. Our tipster tells us that the North Carolina project was "desperately needed" for the studio's continued survival, which matches reports that Obsidian CEO Feargus Urquhart "choked up" while addressing his employees about the canned project.

 

Bloody hell, not what I want to here........ Bloody M$.

[funcroc]

http://www.linkedin....guez/14/59b/723

Jr. Technical Artist / Rigger

Obsidian Entertainment

September 2011

Edited March 17, 2012 by funcroc

[funcroc]

Megan Parks' LI profile updated

Projects:

North Carolina (Environment Artist)

 

[Flouride]

Hmm, thats intresting. Vermont uses Unreal and not Onyx?

Edited March 17, 2012 by Flouride

[funcroc]

OT: Nathaniel Chapman's posts on the SAF thread

Edited March 17, 2012 by funcroc

[sorophx]

it's only logical that a game for Microsoft's Xbox would be using the Unreal engine.

 

also, I hate it that the guys from Obsidian would post anywhere but on the Obsidian forums...

[Labadal]

He's not at Obsidian anymore, but I get your point.

[sorophx]

hey, it's the same with Josh Sawyer, he rarely posts here, but he's all over the somethingawful forums. meh

[C2B]

also, I hate it that the guys from Obsidian would post anywhere but on the Obsidian forums...

 

They are free to post wherever they want. You don't control their lives.

 

And Nathaniel posted a lot over here especially during the DSIII dev process.

Edited March 17, 2012 by C2B

[Starwars]

Sometimes developers wants to be regular people as well... Somethingawful is a big forum, I imagine it'd be nice to be able to post on forums without a giant "hi I'm a developer" tag pointing at you at times.

 

Plus, the New Vegas thread(s) at somethingawful are still fairly active whereas the ones here are... not. The Obsidian forums are not hugely active all in all.

[Auxilius]

DS3 sold more copies in its first month (820k) than AP sold over its lifetime.

 

Daaaaamn.

I wish we could get some more feedback like that here. That would be interesting.

 

 

It's ironic though. Whenever I read video games forums, Alpha Protocol became a Cult Classic when Dungeon Siege 3 is regularly trashed. Amusingly, it's a standard opinion on those SAF forums.

 

That shed some light on those kickstarter projects we love to talk about here. I think Obsidian has the potential to make games that last. Games than people will remember fondly 10 years later. But the regular gamer is not really interested by those games, for various reasons, meaning an AAA title like AP was couldn't really work as it was. Especially since it was technically flawed (I never had such problems with AP though).

If there was a small branch in the company that was dedicated to make such games, maybe (and I stress the word because as far as I know I could spout ridiculously retarded arguments here) that would be a good way for Obsidian to remain independant and financially secure, at least to some extent. The budget would be way too low to keep making AAA titles, but the qualities Obsidian is known for would remain while they would make other games with more... appeal to the mass.

That's something that goes with the current situation of the industry. Independant developers making AAA games are becoming rarer. Sure, with the lack of competitors, it means Obs can sell favorably his status to any publisher, but like we understood here, it also means they're not covered whenever cancellations happen. The amount of "unannounced project' we can see here on this topic made me rage for a good reason.

 

CDProjekt secured its status by launching GOG and selling some retro-games. Maybe there is something here to think about for Obsidian.

[WorstUsernameEver]

CD Projekt is not an independent developer though. In fact, CD Projekt is a publisher and CD Projekt RED is their internally-owned studio.

[Auxilius]

I wanted to write something about international publishing, reminding you that The Witcher 1 was published by Atari, but then I checked Wikipedia to be sure and saw CD Projekt was indeed a publisher at the very beginning, even if it concerned only the polish market.

 

What I said about GOG still works though. Maybe Obsidian should try a new activity.

[sorophx]

You don't control their lives.

I don't want to control their lives. I just want to see them to post stuff on their own forums, not a third-party message board

[Enoch]

You don't control their lives.

I don't want to control their lives. I just want to see them to post stuff on their own forums, not a third-party message board

Think of it from their point of view: You want to discuss stuff on the internet. Do do you so: (1) on forums owned by your employer and read by your co-workers and superiors, with clearly identified authorship, or (2) somewhere else, chosing for yourself whether you wish anonymity?

[sorophx]

I would obviously go with (1)

[Sannom]

Think of it from their point of view: You want to discuss stuff on the internet. Do do you so: (1) on forums owned by your employer and read by your co-workers and superiors, with clearly identified authorship, or (2) somewhere else, chosing for yourself whether you wish anonymity?

Not to mention a bigger user-base, a broader range of topics, etc. I doubt Josh and Nathaniel paid the Something Awful fee to discuss their game on the board.

[Volourn]

"Alpha Protocol became a Cult Classic "

 

By whose satndards? You can't call something a 'cult classic' just because a handful of people like it or else EVERYTHING that wasn't mainstream would be a 'cult classic'.

[sorophx]

handful of people like it

isn't that the definition of "cult"?

[ShadowScythe]

"Alpha Protocol became a Cult Classic "

 

By whose satndards? You can't call something a 'cult classic' just because a handful of people like it or else EVERYTHING that wasn't mainstream would be a 'cult classic'.

 

Yes Volourn. Every nonmainstream title with a niche but dedicated following is a cult classic.

[Lexx]

I have a big problem with calling a two years old game a "classic."

[Nepenthe]

DS3 sold more copies in its first month (820k) than AP sold over its lifetime.

 

Daaaaamn.

I wish we could get some more feedback like that here. That would be interesting.

 

 

It's ironic though. Whenever I read video games forums, Alpha Protocol became a Cult Classic when Dungeon Siege 3 is regularly trashed. Amusingly, it's a standard opinion on those SAF forums.

I don't really care about other people's opinions (well, when it comes to video games, at least), but I'm frankly pretty shocked by this. I genuinely like Alpha Protocol, I could easily put it in my top5 games of the past 2-3 years. Think I'll need to replay it again.

 

OTOH, I tried the demo of DS3 and couldn't bring myself to buy it, even out of a sense of loyalty towards Obsid.