Obsidian to co-develop MMORPG Skyforge with Allods team

[C2B]

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-05-17-obsidian-and-mail-ru-games-partner-up-for-skyforge-mmo

 

Edited May 17, 2013 by C2B

[C2B]

Just mentioning (for a upcoming discussion) that we don't really know yet of the depth of Obsidian's involvment.

[Labadal]

But they are helping out in some way? I don't know what to think. I'll discuss more later.

[C2B]

But they are helping out in some way? I don't know what to think. I'll discuss more later.

 

Well, certainly. We just don't know exactly which one. The Allods team seem to be the main developers. Maybe Obsidian is writing quests and/or designing systems? Or they are programming? Hopefully we'll get some answers.

 

I imagine this is a case of mail.ru looking for a western partner on the game and they contacted Obsidian regarding it.

[C2B]

We also can assume now for which project Elina Bytskevich joined as an Associate Producer.

Edited May 17, 2013 by C2B

[Labadal]

They have South Park in the works, but I doubt there is any big use for artists and writers at this point.

 

They have Project Eternity. They have a team of less than 20 people working on it. Most of them are from the design/art department. A programmer here and there.

 

They have a next gen title in the works. We don't know how far into development the game is. I'm not even going to guess in what stage that game is in right now.

 

They are helping with Skyforge in some way.

 

Maybe Obsidian provides some help here and there, some writers, a few artists. Or maybe Obsidian will be helping them with a launch in Western Europe and NA?

 

I don't see important names like Sawyer, Cain, Avellone or some of the others have any involvement with Skyforge.

[Flouride]

Would like to know how exactly they are getting involved. But if I have to guess it's mostly just some minor work to keep some of the staff busy without them having to lay off anyone.

[Jaesun]

I doubt they are actually co-developing for this. Probably more providing something like possibly a more advisory role, like the Wheel of Time game (if that is even doing anything).

[Bendu]

We will see how they are involved in this project. But if they need the money I would rather see them doing another Kickstarter.

[Flouride]

We will see how they are involved in this project. But if they need the money I would rather see them doing another Kickstarter.

 

PR wise doing another Kickstarter now would be bad.I think they need to prove themselves with the 1st one first and then do another Kickstarter. Especially since they really can't use Sawyer, Cain and Avellone marketing the next Kickstarter as well (not yet anyways) since they are busy working on Eternity.

[WorstUsernameEver]

 

We will see how they are involved in this project. But if they need the money I would rather see them doing another Kickstarter.

 

PR wise doing another Kickstarter now would be bad.I think they need to prove themselves with the 1st one first and then do another Kickstarter. Especially since they really can't use Sawyer, Cain and Avellone marketing the next Kickstarter as well (not yet anyways) since they are busy working on Eternity.

 

PR-wise doing another Kickstarter was hardly the end of the world for inXile.

[C2B]

We will see how they are involved in this project. But if they need the money I would rather see them doing another Kickstarter.

 

Kick starter needs time till money flows.

 

 

Imo, though the more projects/work the better. It's not like they are the main developers on this, nor about big publisher mmo xy.

[Flouride]

 

 

We will see how they are involved in this project. But if they need the money I would rather see them doing another Kickstarter.

 

PR wise doing another Kickstarter now would be bad.I think they need to prove themselves with the 1st one first and then do another Kickstarter. Especially since they really can't use Sawyer, Cain and Avellone marketing the next Kickstarter as well (not yet anyways) since they are busy working on Eternity.

 

PR-wise doing another Kickstarter was hardly the end of the world for inXile.

 

 

But then again their designers are mostly free to work on Torment. While Cain, Avellone, Ziets and Sawyer are still quite busy with Eternity.

 

Both Fargo and Feargus were/are pretty careful when it comes to Kickstarter. Fargo had his whole defence mode all ready on when he announced Torment (why is he asking money again when Wasteland 2 is not out) and I think Feargus said earlier that they wouldn't start a 2nd Kickstarter before Eternity is out.

And seeing how busy Obsidian seems to be with the next gen game, South Park, Wheel of Time (yes, I know there's no work being done but people still think they are actually working on it), this MMO and Eternity the whole Fargo's "defence mode" about how they need to start pre-production early for the new project might not work when your average customer sees you are already working on a bunch of games. Not to mention it hasn't been that long since they asked money for Eternity, Fargo/InXile had a longer period before the 2 Kickstarters. I personally wouldn't mind donating more money on anything that the owners/project directors deem worthy of putting out there on Kickstarter. I would have more games actually to wait for, now it seems like there's only a handful of games I'm excited about and most of them are indie/Kickstarter projects.

 

And yes, I'm aware there's more than 4 designers at Obsidian, but I just think those 4 or 3 if you don't count Ziets are the most marketable names at the company currently.

[HoonDing]

Skyforge... somehow that sounds familiar.

[ManifestedISO]

Skyforge... somehow that sounds familiar.

 

The best steel for at least a half-mile around. 

 

Well I hope partnering with Russians is a mutually beneficial experience. 

[LordCrash]

   

 

Obsidian.....MMO.....in one sentence???? THAT IS SO WRONG I CAN'T EVEN FIND WORDS FOR IT!

 

Huge letdown....

[Hurlshort]

This clearly is not Obsidian's project.  They are simply being contracted to do some work on it.  That's a great way for the company to bring in revenue without taking the risks of an in-house project.

[LordCrash]

I really hope that it's just for the money. Everything else would be a waste of talent....

[Keyrock]

I'm not going to hate on it just because it's a MMO, but I will hate on the horrendous art style.  I can't imagine it appealing to anyone over the age of 10.

[C2B]

I really hope that it's just for the money. Everything else would be a waste of talent....

 

Hate to break it to you, but Obsidian isn't THAT anti-mmo. A few years ago Avellone or Feargus (can't remember exactly) that they do would entertain an mmo, but it's most likely not going to happen as its a big sized project and publishers would go for a wow clone rather their original ideas.

 

Still, a surprising move though.

 

Also fun fact: Both Leads on MOTB started out doing MMO's. George Ziets actually has quite a bit of experience with them (including LOTRO)

Edited May 19, 2013 by C2B

[Lysen]

Not to mention Tim Cain.

[C2B]

 

As someone who has worked with these guys full time at Obsidian in the past, though. Should we be worried? Also did you guys discuss MMO's too, even if just in a *what if* scenario?

 

No one at Obsidian ever discussed MMOs with me, even as a “what if” exercise. However, I think they considered online multiplayer projects in the past, so this is not an entirely unprecedented move.

Obsidian has a surprising number of developers who are hard-core MMO and multiplayer gamers, and as far as I know, those guys are the ones who are working on the MMO game. The Obsidian founders try to assign people to games that they are excited about, and I suspect that most members of the MMO team love that genre and are excited to be working on the project. Also, Feargus wouldn’t have signed the project if he didn’t feel confident that Obsidian could execute it well.

 

Edited May 19, 2013 by C2B

[C2B]

[sorophx]

oh my, that interpreter is awful... I wish there was a transcription of Feargus's speech. 

[C2B]

Things to take away from the panel

 

- Obsidian stops its engine development

 

Bit sad about that Bye Onyx