Obsidian teasing about a new project on Twitter

[Flouride]

 

They had 4½ teams few months ago:

Deadfire

Tyranny DLC's (most likely 2nd DLC pack incoming knowing Paradox)

Pathfinder Adventures (not sure if they stopped working on this after the recent pack release)

Indiana (Cain & Boyarsky)

½ of a project that they seemed to like.

 

I knew they had some ancillary thing that I wasn't sure about, and I was intentionally not counting the pathfinder team as it seemed to dwindle down to just a small content team. It's development and engineering phase had largely already wrapped up.

 

 

I think the team size has pretty much stayed the same, around 10 during Pathfinder's development with at least some members splitting time on other projects as well.

 

[Aarionn]

I would so much like to see them make NWN 3. With updated tools that are even better than NWN ones. That game would thrive for decades! New persistent world servers and modules! 

 

Eh.... wishes...

 

Edit:

 

P.S. Obsidian please do not make this game without us. Fig or Kickstarter... I want to be a part of the process and I am sure I am not alone. 

 

And also - Signed CE )))))

Edited November 10, 2017 by Aarionn

[IndiraLightfoot]

I would so much like to see them make NWN 3. With updated tools that are even better than NWN ones. That game would thrive for decades! New persistent world servers and modules! 

 

Eh.... wishes...

 

Edit:

 

P.S. Obsidian please do not make this game without us. Fig or Kickstarter... I want to be a part of the process and I am sure I am not alone. 

 

And also - Signed CE )))))

If they made anything like this, I'd jump for joy.

[Tale]

Speaking of NWN and Obsidian... I'm actually trying to drag Mephasm into the D&D game I'm about to start playing. Made him the patron Fiend for my Warlock. While I'd love to see them take a shot at 5E D&D, I doubt they'd have a hand on the license.

 

I'm mostly hoping this is going to be Indiana, with them creating a new setting.

[Beyond The Sea]

I'm sure Tim Cain is not one to waste time but an announcement already? They would have to show something, no? Something that at the very least should already communicate a look and feel of the final product. Yes, New Vegas didn't take long to make but engine, tools and assets were already done. I can't imagine Obsidian would open crowdfunding based solely on the Troika reputation.

Edited November 11, 2017 by Beyond The Sea

[Flouride]

I'm sure Tim Cain is not one to waste time but an announcement already? They would have to show something, no? Something that at the very least should already communicate a look and feel of the final product. Yes, New Vegas didn't take long to make but engine, tools and assets were already done. I can't imagine Obsidian would open crowdfunding based solely on the Troika reputation.

 

It's not crowdfunded game. They have a publisher for it.

[Beyond The Sea]

 

I'm sure Tim Cain is not one to waste time but an announcement already? They would have to show something, no? Something that at the very least should already communicate a look and feel of the final product. Yes, New Vegas didn't take long to make but engine, tools and assets were already done. I can't imagine Obsidian would open crowdfunding based solely on the Troika reputation.

 

It's not crowdfunded game. They have a publisher for it.

 

 

How do you know?

[Ethics Gradient]

 

It's not crowdfunded game. They have a publisher for it.

 

How do you know?

 

The Deadfire SEC filing from March of this year.

 

Obsidian currently has four games in development: Pillars of Eternity II; Tyranny DLC; Pathfinder: Adventures; and an unannounced title with a major publisher.

You can finesse the truth a little bit when dealing with fans or the media, but when you're providing information to potential investors, you have to be very careful to stick to verifiable facts.

[Flouride]

 

 

It's not crowdfunded game. They have a publisher for it.

 

How do you know?

 

The Deadfire SEC filing from March of this year.

 

Obsidian currently has four games in development: Pillars of Eternity II; Tyranny DLC; Pathfinder: Adventures; and an unannounced title with a major publisher.

You can finesse the truth a little bit when dealing with fans or the media, but when you're providing information to potential investors, you have to be very careful to stick to verifiable facts.

 

 

Exactly. Not to mention if it was a crowdfunded game they would have been hinting way more heavily about it to build up hype. With publishers comes NDAs and they can't really comment much about anything.

[Beyond The Sea]

 

 

It's not crowdfunded game. They have a publisher for it.

 

How do you know?

 

The Deadfire SEC filing from March of this year.

 

I don't understand lawyer script. Where does it mention this unannounced project?

Edited November 13, 2017 by Beyond The Sea

[kanisatha]

 

 

It's not crowdfunded game. They have a publisher for it.

 

How do you know?

 

The Deadfire SEC filing from March of this year.

 

Obsidian currently has four games in development: Pillars of Eternity II; Tyranny DLC; Pathfinder: Adventures; and an unannounced title with a major publisher.

You can finesse the truth a little bit when dealing with fans or the media, but when you're providing information to potential investors, you have to be very careful to stick to verifiable facts.

Yes indeed. And some stories online also seem to confirm it will be a AAA game, which makes a lot of sense given Feargus has in the past commented on how he'd really like to make a AAA game someday. Since he's mentioned his impending retirement in a few years, now would be that time.

[injurai]

I'm really curious to find out the publisher. I know Obs isn't big on holding publisher grudges, could they be back Zenimax the with the dominatrix they know? I feel like it's not EA given their history in destroying most independent studios they work with, Insomniac is the one that seemed to survive and they have Sony as their angel. It's probably not a first party either, though it could very well be Microsoft. Despite their last attempt falling to the wayside, I still think a different pitch could work, and Microsoft has the pocket for risks. It's probably not a smallish pub like Paradox. Take-Two is good with PC titles, though their recent shift towards aggressive micro-transactions might not work with Obs's style of games. Ubisoft is fighting a takeover so they might not want to take too much risk right now. WB Interactive seems to mostly publish in-house stuff, though they did pub TW2. Namco Bandai doesn't really seem to take risks on western style games. I guess that leaves Activision who haven't really branched out in a while, but have large reserves.

 

I'm kind of betting on it being Sega, Zenimax, or Microsoft. Like I said, I'm curious to see who the partner is, because I think it will suggest the sort of game that we are getting.

[kanisatha]

I'm really curious to find out the publisher. I know Obs isn't big on holding publisher grudges, could they be back Zenimax the with the dominatrix they know? I feel like it's not EA given their history in destroying most independent studios they work with, Insomniac is the one that seemed to survive and they have Sony as their angel. It's probably not a first party either, though it could very well be Microsoft. Despite their last attempt falling to the wayside, I still think a different pitch could work, and Microsoft has the pocket for risks. It's probably not a smallish pub like Paradox. Take-Two is good with PC titles, though their recent shift towards aggressive micro-transactions might not work with Obs's style of games. Ubisoft is fighting a takeover so they might not want to take too much risk right now. WB Interactive seems to mostly publish in-house stuff, though they did pub TW2. Namco Bandai doesn't really seem to take risks on western style games. I guess that leaves Activision who haven't really branched out in a while, but have large reserves.

 

I'm kind of betting on it being Sega, Zenimax, or Microsoft. Like I said, I'm curious to see who the partner is, because I think it will suggest the sort of game that we are getting.

I'm really curious too. And really excited for the announcement. I just hope it will be in a setting that does not involve guns.

[Zoraptor]

Can't really make any serious predictions about who a publisher is until more is known, which may well be when the game is announced anyway. We don't know much at all concrete apart from it having a publisher, everything else is hints that it's a new IP, possibly some sort of post apoc. We don't even know whether it's AAA and what that entails- the big AAA games often have teams that are far larger than Obsidian's entire dev staff. AAA also has no proper set definition, it's a marketing and expectation management term. As such I wouldn't exclude anyone from being a potential publisher at this point. The best 'fit' for the type of games Obsidian makes would be either Paradox, Nordic ('full' AAA highly unlikely from either) or Bethesda (and FONV is probably still their best '3rd party' seller), and you cannot even exclude someone like CDPR if they decided to get into outright publishing.

 

Most of the big publishers- EA, Ubi, 2k, Activision- rarely use external studios, unless they're interested in buying them up.

 

WB Interactive seems to mostly publish in-house stuff, though they did pub TW2. Namco Bandai doesn't really seem to take risks on western style games.

 

WB distributed TW3 as well in the US, iirc. It was distribution though, they fabricated the media rather than funding the game. Atari Europe/ Namco Bandai distributed all three Witcher games outside the US, and TW1 inside it. I'd agree that neither is a realistic prospect anyway.

[Guest]

 

 

 

It's not crowdfunded game. They have a publisher for it.

 

How do you know?

 

The Deadfire SEC filing from March of this year.

 

I don't understand lawyer script. Where does it mention this unannounced project?

 

Two posts up from yours.

[kirottu]

I hope it's going to have loot boxes you can buy with real money. The sheer amount of drama we would have would be epic. I mean, I feel betrayed just thinking about it.

[Beyond The Sea]

Oh, I didn't realize, thank you.

 

What made me doubt a publisher is based on what Tim Cain said. Most recently at something called Reboot Develop. He said Nulb, a town in in Temple of Elemental Evil, had retroactively about two thirds of it's content disapproved by the publisher so soon before release that Troika couldn't change or replace it.

 

And he previously said when he came to Obsidian he had a single condition that he wouldn't have to deal with publishers. Troika went bust trying to find a publisher for their last project, didn't they? I just assumed his and Leonard Boyarsky new game wouldn't have a traditional publisher similar to PoE.

[injurai]

Oh, I didn't realize, thank you.

 

What made me doubt a publisher is based on what Tim Cain said. Most recently at something called Reboot Develop. He said Nulb, a town in in Temple of Elemental Evil, had retroactively about two thirds of it's content disapproved by the publisher so soon before release that Troika couldn't change or replace it.

 

And he previously said when he came to Obsidian he had a single condition that he wouldn't have to deal with publishers. Troika went bust trying to find a publisher for their last project, didn't they? I just assumed his and Leonard Boyarsky new game wouldn't have a traditional publisher similar to PoE.

 

I guess things change. Every publisher contract is different, and depending on how much Obsidian brings to the table themselves, that could change their bargaining power and control over content. Obsidian is also much more proven these days and has a better read on their customers.

 

There are publishers that know how to trust devs, usually because the stakes are lower, and they tend to work with proven developers.

 

Deep Silver and Devolved, for example. I should probably add them to my list.

[Zoraptor]

What made me doubt a publisher is based on what Tim Cain said. Most recently at something called Reboot Develop. He said Nulb, a town in in Temple of Elemental Evil, had retroactively about two thirds of it's content disapproved by the publisher so soon before release that Troika couldn't change or replace it.

 

And he previously said when he came to Obsidian he had a single condition that he wouldn't have to deal with publishers. Troika went bust trying to find a publisher for their last project, didn't they? I just assumed his and Leonard Boyarsky new game wouldn't have a traditional publisher similar to PoE.

 

Troika had publisher troubles with all their titles- Arcanum got needlessly delayed for months (with a pirate version already out), ToEE had those cuts (rumour at the time was due to WotC's supposed moral clauses though, not the publisher Infogrammes) and VtMB had to be delayed until after Half Life 2 launched due to using Source and there was some disputation about funding game fixes during the delay. Wouldn't blame TC at all if he didn't want to deal with publishers with that record. That may just mean he wants management or the game producers to deal with them though and as above there are publishers who let the dev just get on with things. If Obsidian is making and retaining the IP they'd probably have a fair bit of freedom as well.

[Flouride]

Oh, I didn't realize, thank you.

 

What made me doubt a publisher is based on what Tim Cain said. Most recently at something called Reboot Develop. He said Nulb, a town in in Temple of Elemental Evil, had retroactively about two thirds of it's content disapproved by the publisher so soon before release that Troika couldn't change or replace it.

 

And he previously said when he came to Obsidian he had a single condition that he wouldn't have to deal with publishers. Troika went bust trying to find a publisher for their last project, didn't they? I just assumed his and Leonard Boyarsky new game wouldn't have a traditional publisher similar to PoE.

 

I think what he meant was that he doesn't want to be the one who deals with the publishers, not that the company couldn't have publishers on games he works on. Cain isn't a dummy, the 1st project he joined had a publisher, as did Pillars.

 

He just had enough of dealing with publishers personally, he doesn't mind that someone else in the company ( Feargus & other partners) do all that and he can just do what he enjoys.

[AwesomeOcelot]

Pillars wasn't publisher funded, Obsidian didn't have to answer to Paradox at all but you're correct in what Tim meant about not wanting to deal with publishers, he doesn't want to be in the producer or executive role, he wants to be only on the developer side.

[Zoraptor]

Namco Bandai doesn't really seem to take risks on western style games.

 

Seems that may be changing. Some of the things they talk about there would definitely fit Obsidian pretty well, some not so much.

[injurai]

 

Namco Bandai doesn't really seem to take risks on western style games.

 

Seems that may be changing. Some of the things they talk about there would definitely fit Obsidian pretty well, some not so much.

 

 

Very interesting, thanks for the find.

[Blodhemn]

I think what he meant was that he doesn't want to be the one who deals with the publishers, not that the company couldn't have publishers on games he works on. Cain isn't a dummy, the 1st project he joined had a publisher, as did Pillars.

 

He just had enough of dealing with publishers personally, he doesn't mind that someone else in the company ( Feargus & other partners) do all that and he can just do what he enjoys.

Yeah, that's how I took it. As pointed out, both he and Boyarsky didn't seem to enjoy their head positions at Troika. Now they're back to the positions that got them into the industry in the first place.

[redneckdevil]

Any word on this yet?