I just stumbled upon this over at Kickstarter:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/288710427/pillars-of-history/comments

 

They are even making a game similar to Obsidian's Pathfinder adventures.

I'm sure that the guys at Obsidian are open-minded about stuff like this, but had it been Bethesda, this would get a cease and desist letter in no time.

Edited July 4, 20178 yr by IndiraLightfoot

I don't see how this is close enough to warrant any such action - it looks much more similar to Vikings: Expedition than Pillars of Eternity or the Pathhinder games.

 

And the more RPGs the merrier.

Hehe, yeah!

 

I mean, I still recall how Bethesda grabbed the throat of the Mojang studio, when they tried to launch Scrolls after their Minecraft success story, just because that name was too similar to Elder Scrolls, so imagine the wrath over at Obsidian: Pillars of History - Pillars of Eternity.

I hope they don't. I think the whole idea of patenting common (or even uncommon) words is quite problematic. Of course 'Pillars of X' is similar and I might avoid the title, because it does seem like it wants to ride coattail. But there are Pillars of Light, Might or Reality in fiction and games - even the popular book 'The Pillars of the Earth'.

 

Bethesda lost a lot of respect from me, when they decided to bully other developers over the word "scroll" - every RPG before the existence of Zenimax and Bethesda used that word. 'Pillars' are older than any of the firms in question too.

Indeed. In the ideal world, you could name your new game Scrolls or Pillars or whatever with guaranteed impunity and thus no worries about any legal eagles.

Sounds like "Pillars of Scrolls" would be a great title...

Reminds me awful lot of Divinity: Original Sin, the town looks to be very similar at least.

 

I wonder what the combat will consist of.