Obsidian to co-develop MMORPG Skyforge with Allods team

[C2B]

Also we just got confirmation they are/were working with Cryengine.

 

(Well, not *confirmation* confirmation, but pretty damn close)

 

(Well,....)

Edited May 20, 2013 by C2B

[Apatia]

Obsidian's Plans

• No Engine Development
• Make RPG Tools
• Quick Iteration
• Build from Center
• PC and Tablets
• Have Fun!

 

Does that mean they won't be developing anything with Onyx after South Park? Or is it more like "we are keeping Onyx and we will update/modify/whatever it but we won't be developing any new engines".

 

Would be sad to see Onyx go..

Edited May 20, 2013 by Apatia

[sorophx]

Unity all the way, I guess

[Zoma]

Can't be helped since its so costly with all the middle wares involved and continuous improvements to be made in order to keep up with the times. Plus, its probably cheaper to use other engines such as Unreal, Unity and CryEngines at this point.

Edited May 20, 2013 by Zoma

[C2B]

Some information about Skyforge

 

- Huge World (up to 40 km viewing distance)

- 15 classes

- No levels/XP

[Labadal]

There are a lot of things that are said in that video that does not fill me with joy. I don't want obsidian to take the same road BioWare did. I want them to be successful and take over the world, but I also want them to cater to their current crowd.

[C2B]

There are a lot of things that are said in that video that does not fill me with joy. I don't want obsidian to take the same road BioWare did. I want them to be successful and take over the world, but I also want them to cater to their current crowd.

 

They still do?

 

I don't exactly know what you got so negativly from this talk that made you say that, but....

 

If you're talking about the part where he says that independent developers will move away from *big games* (And remember, he used Assassin's Creed as an example which is a whole different level) that wasn't exactly related to their plans, but to the industry as a whole.

 

They are most likely going to continue the ~50 people projects they do now if they find a publisher for them.

Edited May 20, 2013 by C2B

[Labadal]

What worries me is that we might not see a lot of new IP's from Obsidian as long as it isn't kickstarter. I guess I'm okay with that.

[C2B]

What worries me is that we might not see a lot of new IP's from Obsidian as long as it isn't kickstarter. I guess I'm okay with that.

 

We haven't before. And where did you get from in the talk?

 

The only point I remember him talking about IP's was again about *big games* and the example Assassin's Creed where due to their massive costs, less individual titles are produced.

 

That isn't exactly a new realization and has been the case for a while.

Edited May 20, 2013 by C2B

[Labadal]

I know. I'm just a pessimist and always look at the worst case scenario. Ignore me.

[C2B]

I know. I'm just a pessimist and always look at the worst case scenario. Ignore me.

 

 

Nah, I'm just too much of a defensive optimist. For all we actually know, this could go either way.

Edited May 20, 2013 by C2B

[Labadal]

There are many positive points one could make, yes.

 

Onyx could power their future games, but it might be cheaper to go with other engines due to middle-ware.

Sending out employees to work on bigger projects for other companies could mean that they gain some useful experience and knowledge.

Scrapping AAA development means that there is less risk involved.

Working on tablet games could mean a bigger market for the studio. (i don't mind if the games are turn-based.

 

The only thing I don't like is the free2play statement, but that's because I'm against it in general. Most of what Feargus said, I could spin into a positive thing and the things he said probably are positive for the studio. But I also feel they are doing some of these things because finding projects is proving to be difficult and to keep employees at the studio. I have faith in Obsidian. As long as they keep delivering rpgs with focus on C&C with good stories and great characters, I'm there, regardless of platform and size of development budget.

[C2B]

Scrapping AAA development means that there is less risk involved.

 

As I said before. What do you mean with AAA development? I'm sure Obsidian is going to continue (if they find a publisher ofc) making the same sized (~50 people) games they have before. Hell, they have one in the pipeline (the unannounced Next-Gen RPG) and are still pitching (Star Wars/EA).

Edited May 20, 2013 by C2B

[Labadal]

I just mean that even if they work on bigger projects, it won't have a budget that can compare to the big companies, but I guess Obsidian never had those budgets to begin with.

 

All that matters is that they can get better deals negotiated. Not just get money for actual development.

Edited May 20, 2013 by Labadal

[C2B]

I just mean that even if they work on bigger projects, it won't have a budget that can compare to the big companies, but I guess Obsidian never had those budgets to begin with.

 

Yup. I don't think Obsidian even WANTS to do said projects. Multiple members stated that they prefer smaller sized teams. I think that is also one of the reasons they are a multiple projects studio in the first place.

Edited May 20, 2013 by C2B

[Augusta Corvina]

Obsidian? Working on an MMO? I'll be flat out honest here and say I don't see this ending well depending on the level of involvement we're speaking of. I honestly don't want to see Obsidian go the route of Blizzard(ie switching their brains out with dog turds and cocaine) or the route of BioWare.

 

So gonna cross my fingers and hope my fears are just silly... but experience so far seems to tell otherwise. >.>

[Hurlshort]

There are medium sized developers successfully producing and maintaining MMO's, so there is no reason to think they would become anything like Blizzard or Bioware.  That being said, this is not their project, they are assisting with it.  That means both their risks and rewards are limited greatly. 

[Zoma]

I wish Obsidian the bestest luck. Sometimes there will be success just going small such as FTL. Or starting from small like Minecraft.

 

You know what, it would be nice to hear an official PR announcement from Obsidian themselves about this stance.

Edited May 21, 2013 by Zoma

[Hurlshort]

Again it isn't their project, so it really isn't their place to say anything on it.

[LadyCrimson]

I'm glad they have more work, I'm sure they could (almost) always use more work, here and there.

I don't want Obsidian as a company to have a MMO focus, but sometimes, work is work, and if they have a team who enjoys MMO's and would be good for collaborating/lending a hand a bit on one, why not take advantage of that if the opportunity comes up. So I wish them luck...who knows what could come of it.

[WorstUsernameEver]

I asked Feargus to clarify his point on AAA and Obsidian's strategy given that many people here and elsewhere kind of took his talk for an admission that Obsidian wouldn't do big projects anymore and he was kind enough to offer a reply for GameBanshee. But basically, yeah, they'll keep working on games of that size, though he acknowledges that the circumstances are more adverse to independent developers now.

[Flouride]

Ye, it's good to get a confirmation from Feargus that they ain't completely dropping AAA games. I think it's pretty safe to say their next gen game is one with it using Crytek engine. And he has a point, generally speaking it's bad a spot that most of the indie devs are in. And as consumers I think we are getting screwed as well. We get less AAA games, and most of them are just the same old game but a bit shinier than the previous version. At least there's plenty of indie games being released...

 

Shame about Onyx getting scrapped though. But then again if they found it too time and resource consuming.

 

When Feargus mentions they might work on parts of games I instantly thought they would work on DLC's for Fallout 4 / TES games.

[Labadal]

Ye, it's good to get a confirmation from Feargus that they ain't completely dropping AAA games. I think it's pretty safe to say their next gen game is one with it using Crytek engine. And he has a point, generally speaking it's bad a spot that most of the indie devs are in. And as consumers I think we are getting screwed as well. We get less AAA games, and most of them are just the same old game but a bit shinier than the previous version. At least there's plenty of indie games being released...

 

Shame about Onyx getting scrapped though. But then again if they found it too time and resource consuming.

 

When Feargus mentions they might work on parts of games I instantly thought they would work on DLC's for Fallout 4 / TES games.

 

That would mean that I'd have to buy Fallout 4 / TES VI to begin with.

I probably will in any case.

 

[C2B]

[WorstUsernameEver]

Unless you understand Russian that video is likely not worth your time given there's VOs over Feargus.