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Layoff hits Obsidian?

funcroc

By funcroc
in Obsidian General

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Morgoth

Morgoth

Posted
Posted

http://kotaku.com/5893427/rumor-obsidians-cancelled-project-was-for-the-next-xbox-published-by-microsoft

 

Obsidian's ill-fated 'North Carolina' game was slated for the next Xbox and published by Microsoft, according to sources familiar with the project who spoke to Kotaku today.

Yesterday, after almost seven months of development, Microsoft cancelled the project, our sources said. Obsidian consequently had to let go of 30 people, as reported by several outlets this morning.

One source close to the project informed Kotaku that Obsidian CEO Feargus Urquhart choked up while addressing the company during a meeting yesterday afternoon. While he normally projects loudly, the source said, he was chillingly quiet while informing staff that North Carolina had been cancelled.

 

Goddammit.

Rain makes everything better.

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Sanjiyan

Sanjiyan

Posted
Posted (edited)

Excuse me if this has already been mentioned, but I thought it was important enough that I should try to see it brought to someone's attention.

Presumably, quite a lot of financial trouble has hit Obsidian due to them not receiving their bonus for Fallout: New Vegas over the Metacritic score - one point of difference, an 84 instead of an 85. However, I noticed something while I was reading through those reviews.

 

One of the Metacritic reviews for Fallout: New Vegas, by a German reviewer from a website known as Gamestar, is actually not for Fallout: New Vegas. It is for the Honest Hearts DLC, which he gives a 72%, rated as 'Gut' (Good). That review (as well as the overview where you can check the score) are available here:

http://www.gamestar....arts/46936.html

http://www.gamestar....36,2323023.html

 

It's in German, but the URL and a simple google translate both make it abundantly clear that this is a review for the Honest Hearts DLC. Now, this is where things get interesting.

 

This same reviewer also reviewed Fallout: New Vegas itself. The kicker? He gave it an 88%, 'Sehr Gut' (Very Good). The New Vegas review (and overview with score) is available here:

http://www.gamestar....egas/44882.html

http://www.gamestar....82,2318592.html

 

Now, obviously, this is something of a screw up on Metacritic's part. Not only have they posted an incorrect review, but an incorrect review with a considerably lower score. I don't know if this is something that Obsidian's staff are already aware of, or if it is too late to change things now, or even if this would have been enough to tip you over the edge into a score of 85 at all - but I thought it was worth bringing it to your attention.

I have a great respect for Obsidian as a company, and consider you to have some of the finest writers in the current videogame RPG climate (in fact, I consider working as a writer at Obsidian a possible career goal of mine) and I would hate to see you suffering as a company because of a simple misunderstanding or mistranslation.

 

If this isn't the correct place for this, or if I should instead be emailing it to somebody or whathaveyou, please let me know. I just wanted to bring this to your attention in the hopes that, just maybe, it'll push your score over the edge and earn you that bonus from Bethesda.

Edited by Sanjiyan
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WorstUsernameEver

WorstUsernameEver

Posted
Posted

I'm not sure if with the weighted model that would have that much of an impact and if they'd just start handing out the bonus now, especially since we don't have the contract and the clause might have been for all of the 3 version of the game (not each version has an 84 metascore), but uh, I guess it can be done?

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Flouride

Flouride

Posted
Posted

Metacritic sucks, and will continue to suck. The fact that publishers are paying bonuses based on site that does not function in any ways, nor is statistically accurate at all is sick.

 

On topic: Employee number now 107, on monday it was 123 :(

Hate the living, love the dead.

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Tale

Tale

Posted
Posted

looks like Obsidian should move to Texas ASAP

My life would never be that wonderful.
"Show me a man who "plays fair" and I'll show you a very talented cheater."
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Sannom

Sannom

Posted
Posted

Metacritic sucks, and will continue to suck. The fact that publishers are paying bonuses based on site that does not function in any ways, nor is statistically accurate at all is sick.

 

I'm almost surprised that so many people are surprised by the Metacritic thing, but then again I learned about it through an article in a rather free-thinking game magazine (Canard PC, France) so maybe it isn't that common knowledge. And yeah, according to the article, the Metacritic score is often used by publishers to determine bonuses and the like.

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Auxilius

Auxilius

Posted
Posted

And 85 is the score where shareholders are happy. As a result, it's a regular thing to see developers give themselves the objective to reach 85 on metacritic. It's not surprising at all, yes, but it's still sad. By the way, Chris' twitter is becoming viral.

According to some numbers I read on the Internet (So basically deal with them carefully), FNV sold more than 5 millions copies. Add the DLCs and FNV earned Zenimax 300 millions dollars.

This is quite upsetting. Obsidian must become a publisher (not possible for lack of money), be bought like Bioware was or remain independant and keep dealing with these difficulties everyday. That's... not gleam.

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Mera

Mera

Posted
Posted

Excuse me if this has already been mentioned, but I thought it was important enough that I should try to see it brought to someone's attention.

Presumably, quite a lot of financial trouble has hit Obsidian due to them not receiving their bonus for Fallout: New Vegas over the Metacritic score - one point of difference, an 84 instead of an 85. However, I noticed something while I was reading through those reviews.

 

One of the Metacritic reviews for Fallout: New Vegas, by a German reviewer from a website known as Gamestar, is actually not for Fallout: New Vegas. It is for the Honest Hearts DLC, which he gives a 72%, rated as 'Gut' (Good). That review (as well as the overview where you can check the score) are available here:

http://www.gamestar....arts/46936.html

http://www.gamestar....36,2323023.html

 

It's in German, but the URL and a simple google translate both make it abundantly clear that this is a review for the Honest Hearts DLC. Now, this is where things get interesting.

 

This same reviewer also reviewed Fallout: New Vegas itself. The kicker? He gave it an 88%, 'Sehr Gut' (Very Good). The New Vegas review (and overview with score) is available here:

http://www.gamestar....egas/44882.html

http://www.gamestar....82,2318592.html

 

Now, obviously, this is something of a screw up on Metacritic's part. Not only have they posted an incorrect review, but an incorrect review with a considerably lower score. I don't know if this is something that Obsidian's staff are already aware of, or if it is too late to change things now, or even if this would have been enough to tip you over the edge into a score of 85 at all - but I thought it was worth bringing it to your attention.

I have a great respect for Obsidian as a company, and consider you to have some of the finest writers in the current videogame RPG climate (in fact, I consider working as a writer at Obsidian a possible career goal of mine) and I would hate to see you suffering as a company because of a simple misunderstanding or mistranslation.

 

If this isn't the correct place for this, or if I should instead be emailing it to somebody or whathaveyou, please let me know. I just wanted to bring this to your attention in the hopes that, just maybe, it'll push your score over the edge and earn you that bonus from Bethesda.

 

http://www.metacriti.../critic-reviews

 

Gamestar - 88

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Meshugger

Meshugger

Posted
Posted

I just read about the whole debacle about FNV and the Metacritic score. Jesus ******* christ what a ****move from Bethesda even demanding that kind of paragraph in a contract. It has no basis in actual sales of the product. This infuriates me greatly, since i work in an industry where millions and billions are signed in contracts each day (construction & engineering) and i have seen a lot of them. Stupid ones with wishy-washy deadlines, heavy fines for failing to meet certain qualities and standards and so on. But i have never read anything as dumb as this. When a company like Obsidian signs a contract with these kinds of terms, it is a sign of the industry standard being bad, really bad.

 

I am usually a very calm guy, but considering how low the journalistic integrity is for the gamingmagazines as whole, i hope that we see another great video-game crash. Let the whole thing burn down and take all the twats with it, It needs it.

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"Some men see things as they are and say why?"
"I dream things that never were and say why not?"
- George Bernard Shaw

"Hope in reality is the worst of all evils because it prolongs the torments of man."
- Friedrich Nietzsche

 

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Flouride

Flouride

Posted
Posted

 

I'm almost surprised that so many people are surprised by the Metacritic thing, but then again I learned about it through an article in a rather free-thinking game magazine (Canard PC, France) so maybe it isn't that common knowledge. And yeah, according to the article, the Metacritic score is often used by publishers to determine bonuses and the like.

 

 

It's not new for me either, can't remember where and when I heard about it. Thougt it was ******** stupid back then and still do. Though I figured the site would get better in time, too bad it hasn't and I don't see how it would become statistically relevant anytime soon with all the different ways of scoring the games around world while ignoring like 90% of the review scores.

Hate the living, love the dead.

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Nepenthe

Nepenthe

Posted
Posted

IIRC, Eidos Montreal had a similar clause for DXHR, but it was less of a suicide move as they're a subsidiary of the publisher, so it's just personal bonuses that were at stake.

You're a cheery wee bugger, Nep. Have I ever said that?

ahyes.gifReapercussionsahyes.gif

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Bendu

Bendu

Posted
Posted

http://www.joystiq.com/2012/03/15/obsidian-missed-fallout-new-vegas-metacritic-bonus-by-one-point/

 

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.

 

WTF?!

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funcroc

funcroc

Posted
  • Author
Posted (edited)

Todd Morgan, Senior Producer (on South Park: The Game?)

Kristen (Wong) Altamirano, Environment Artist on North Carolina

 

Kristen Altamirano's portfolio website

Next-Gen Unannounced Title

- researching and establishing next-gen art asset creation pipeline

 

 

OT1: Avellone following Kickstarter's twitter account

OT2: https://twitter.com/#!/ChrisAvellone/status/180395961007357952

Edited by funcroc
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