Chris Avellone leaves Obsidian

[Majek]

Best of luck to MCa, whereever he may end up. :/

[Hexo]

I wish Chris Avellone all the best, and hope he'll still work on PC RPG's in the future. I wouldn't mind him helping out Bethesda with Fallout 4 

[teknoman2]

I wish Chris Avellone all the best, and hope he'll still work on PC RPG's in the future. I wouldn't mind him helping out Bethesda with Fallout 4 

that would be the first good news about that game

[Killyox]

 

 

but if he moves to CD Project Red

Now that is something i can get behind. CDPR and Chris Avellone? Yes please!

 

Dude CDPR is a polish studio, and the writers are polish as well. The game was written in poilsh and what we get is merely a translation. I know a polish guy on Steam who claims the english translation is "competent" at best, and fails to convey a lot of stuff. I highly doubt CDPR would even contact Avellone. There'd be massive communication problems if Avellone was writing in English and the rest of the people in Polish.

 

Really sad to see Avellone go. He's easily my favourite writer when it comes to videogames. I wonder what lies ahead for Obsidian without one of its key people (and to me, the most important person there).

 

This isn't entirely true.

 

It's based in Poland with most people being Polish but there are a lot of guys from other countries. My good friend (who worked at BioWare then EA then another place) told me recently that another person from BioWare joined CDPR. So that's another foreigner on the team. Just because they are polish studio doesn't mean they are Polish-only.

 

As for Chris I dunno how much he actually brought into POE or  FNV. Studios are teams not 1 man armies. While he is certainly talented Obsidian still has a lot of talented people. I wish him all the best and I look forward to his future endeavours.

Edited June 10, 2015 by Killyox

[archangel979]

I wish Chris Avellone all the best, and hope he'll still work on PC RPG's in the future. I wouldn't mind him helping out Bethesda with Fallout 4 

I would curse you whole family for that comment if I could

 

There is only one place for him: InXile

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

MCA will leave videogames to travel through time and space with a strange man in a blue box.

[luzarius]

I wonder if some entity forced him to step down because he is straight and instead they want to replace him with a militant lgbt or feminist that will soon make obsidian games super politically correct where attractive women are no longer allowed.

Edited June 10, 2015 by luzarius

[Hurlshort]

I wonder if some entity forced him to step down because he is straight and instead they want to replace him with a militant lgbt or feminist that will soon make obsidian games super politically correct where attractive women are no longer allowed.

 

You are kind of obsessed with this stuff.  

[GhoulishVisage]

 

I wonder if some entity forced him to step down because he is straight and instead they want to replace him with a militant lgbt or feminist that will soon make obsidian games super politically correct where attractive women are no longer allowed.

 

You are kind of obsessed with this stuff.  

 

 

I'm pretty sure he's a Poe.

At first I wasn't sure but seeing the escalating derangement of his posts has convinced me.

[Longknife]

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-06-09-chris-avellone-leaves-obsidian-entertainment

 

UPDATE #2: In a short email response, Obsidian boss Feargus Urquhart acknowledged the news.

"Chris Avellone is no longer at Obsidian," he told me. "We wish him the best in his future endeavours."

 

 

That's rather...curt.

 

 

Yeah I find it strange that in the past Obsidian has posted to announce past developers leaving and has wished them well, but that's not happening here.

 

I still think the "Sawyer and Avellone don't like each other" claims are completely unfounded and have offered no evidence to back up the claim, but the commentary on Avellone leaving thusfar (or lack thereof) seems strange.

Edited June 10, 2015 by Longknife

[WorstUsernameEver]

Yeah I find it strange that in the past Obsidian has posted to announce past developers leaving and has wished them well, but that's not happening here.

They did? I don't remember anything like that.

[Longknife]

 

Yeah I find it strange that in the past Obsidian has posted to announce past developers leaving and has wished them well, but that's not happening here.

They did? I don't remember anything like that.

 

 

 

Sec lemme see if I can remember what forum they posted the last one in.

[Leferd]

He may be misremembering the stalker/ninja posts from C2B and Funcroc.

[HoonDing]

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-06-09-chris-avellone-leaves-obsidian-entertainment

 

UPDATE #2: In a short email response, Obsidian boss Feargus Urquhart acknowledged the news.

"Chris Avellone is no longer at Obsidian," he told me. "We wish him the best in his future endeavours."

 

 

That's rather...curt.

i hear ya man i expected a tweet detailing the severance package

[Gizmo]

 

Yeah I find it strange that in the past Obsidian has posted to announce past developers leaving and has wished them well, but that's not happening here.

They did? I don't remember anything like that.

 

I do.

[GreyFox]

Wouldn't surprise me at all if he did leave due to PoE and it's direction going forward...how often was he shown in the PoE Documentary? Could be that he wanted to distance himself from that.

 

Or maybe he is just bored...but it does seem an odd time to leave, when on the surface, it looks like times haven't been better at OE. We may never really know because each side is just going to say "we wish them well" and keep it classy.

Edited June 10, 2015 by GreyFox

[Leferd]

Guys. Those announcements were made by C2B and Funcroc, not Obsidianites themselves.

 

Though it hasn't yet been disproved that Funcroc is not in fact, a secret leaking cabal led by Sawyer.

[Sannom]

Or maybe he is just bored...but it does seem an odd time to leave, when on the surface, it looks like times haven't been better at OE. We may never really know because each side is just going to say "we wish them well" and keep it classy.

I don't know, Obsidian right now seems stuck on some projects of varying interests for their fanbase and them : they help with Skyforge, they're the main developers of Armored Warfare, etc. Aside from PoE and maybe the adaptation of Pathfinder's Card Adventure Game, they don't seem to have much of the stuff which made them famous on their plate.

[Elerond]

Wouldn't surprise me at all if he did leave due to PoE and it's direction going forward...how often was he shown in the PoE Documentary? Could be that he wanted to distance himself from that.

 

Or maybe he is just bored,,,but it does seem an odd time to leave, when on the surface, it looks like times haven't been better at OE. We may never really know because each side is just going to say "we wish them well" and keep it classy.

 

If he wanted to distance himself from that one must ponder why he gave most interviews and kept most of the presentations during its development.

 

I would personally would guess that he was so little in documentary because he was constantly in conferences presenting the game and worked several projects at same time, like for example Wasteland 2, FTL, Torment Tides of Numenera, Accursed, several novelettes in different projects, acting in webseries/short films, etc.. There is just limit how much one man can do.

[Monte Carlo]

 

What about the Novella that Chris was spouse to write it more then 2 month after the release of Pillars of Eternity and there is no update on his work and now that Chris leaving Obsiadian i want to know if he even going to end it.

be careful what you wish for.  insist on completion has chrisA write that the novella protagonist gets drunk and wanders over a cliff ledge whilst looking for a place to relieve himself... and dies.  the end. 

 

HA! Good Fun!

 

 

Still better than Twilight.

[Enoch]

 

Or maybe he is just bored...but it does seem an odd time to leave, when on the surface, it looks like times haven't been better at OE. We may never really know because each side is just going to say "we wish them well" and keep it classy.

I don't know, Obsidian right now seems stuck on some projects of varying interests for their fanbase and them : they help with Skyforge, they're the main developers of Armored Warfare, etc. Aside from PoE and maybe the adaptation of Pathfinder's Card Adventure Game, they don't seem to have much of the stuff which made them famous on their plate.

 

That's my read as well.  Managing the creative side of a company working mostly on MMO-type stuff doesn't exactly feel like it's in Avellone's wheelhouse. 

 

And, even if GreyFox is right and things have never been better for Obsidian, well, what better time for Chris to cash out his equity interest in the company?  Sell high! 

[Gromnir]

 

Where exactly do all these Sawyer rumors come from? I've never actually seen anything cited, it's always just been pure speculation.

 

As far as I can tell, it comes from people who don't like Sawyer assuming that Avellone agrees with them.

 

the way rumors germinate and spread is curious and amusing.  as you say, some folks don't like sawyer-- he ruined poe. chris mentioned in an interview that durance and grieving mother material had been cut from poe.  *gasp*  so clearly the reason chris left obsidian is 'cause he were escaping the new tyrannical sawyer regime... or something like that. creative free-thinkers is no longer having a place at obsidian.  the way sawyer did not instant reject appeals to remove the divisive limerick also works into the conspiracy theorist's calculus, but am having difficulty balancing that equation.  

 

once the rumor is created it need only be shared by a handful o' like-minded nutters to gain strength.  gotta say pazuzu's name three times before he manifests's, yes... or is it betelgeuse? works similar with rumors.  rumors grow not with evidence but with repetition.  eventual the rumors gets passed along to a place such as this message board and bioware and steam forums and...

 

heck, the rumors might even be true, but is unlikely to be for reasons the rumormongers believe.  for all we know, two years ago josh borrowed chris' copy of Fat Cat Art: Famous Masterpieces Improved by a Ginger Cat with Attitude, and never returned the volume.  and so the feud were born.  is as likely as the theories we has seen tossed about here and elsewhere.

 

HA! Good Fun!

[WorstUsernameEver]

Fat Cat Art: Famous Masterpieces Improved by a Ginger Cat with Attitude

It actually exists. I'm not sure what to think of this.

[damonors]

Well, if we are going to speculate and add rumors, it seems possible to me (based on nothing, but let's not let that get in the way) that he must be leaving to replace one of the head honcho guys who was in charge of DnD who left recently.

 

I mean, why would he leave to go to another computer game company? Going to a big company like Bethesda or Bioware would give him less freedom and control over things. Going to a smaller company like inXile would be (at best) a lateral move. He is leaving a company where he has more creative leeway and one in which he has an ownership stake in, so wherever he goes must be not just a better situation, but a considerably better situation.

 

Is going to head up the product line of Dungeons and Dragons a "better situation"? Maybe, but it is owned by a large faceless and heartless company. But since his interests seem more in line with stories and ideas, then why should we limit ourselves to speculate just on computer game companies?

 

There...I've convinced myself so it must be true.

[Mamoulian War]

 

Fat Cat Art: Famous Masterpieces Improved by a Ginger Cat with Attitude

It actually exists. I'm not sure what to think of this.

 

It must be true then!