LordBaztion
Member
how the hell something like Dead Rising 3 gets funded and not an Obsidian RPG.
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Obsidian on why their Microsoft published XB1 RPG Stormlands got cancelled
- Thread starter Nirolak
- Start date
ChosenPredator
Banned
There is tons of people just like him on here you just got to live with it cause they get away with it all the time.
but as for this it kind of disappointed me but Microsoft seem to be super picky what they want and it kind of kills the urge to get one because they don't take much risk anymore and rely on established successful franchises which isn't bad but makes it a boring choice for its userbase.
Spyder_Monkey
Banned
This is not how a business, especially one making entertainment products, is supposed to act.
Yeah I wish they would go non-profit like Sony. UNICEF buying out Sony was probably the best thing to happen to the company.
Buddy...that's how basically every corporation works. Stuff gets green-lit and canned all the time. We just hear about it more with Microsoft because people still have their hate-jerk going for them. That and they aren't half way across the world in Japan where a lot of that stuff isn't made public knowledge on a regular basis unless you're Konami.
Obsidian already did rework it. It came out. It's called Tyranny. You can buy it on Steam right now.
See above.
CrunchyFrog
Member
Publishers are businesses yes, but there's something to be said, especially in a subjective and artistic medium, for diversifying your portfolio.
VincentMatts
Member
By "sell" i mean "good enough to not get cancelled by the publisher while in development" because thats kinda the conversation were having right now.
And im on a small dose of something called reality. You should try it.
edit: Ultimately, if a game needs to be "sold" by a champion that much in order to simply have an opportunity to finish developing the game successfully....then my friend, i hate to break it to you but the game is probably very problematic.
Ive worked in sales for over a decade in my life and not once ive i had to be a 'champion' of a product that was popular. The popular stuff always sold easily and practically sold itself. The only stuff a salesman ever needs to be a champion of, are the products that arent selling. And if they arent selling, theyre doing so (or not doing so) for a very good reason.
Thebeardofknowledge
Banned
I don't know I've enjoyed a lot of freeware and fangames over the years.
Revolutionary
Member
Because they had someone (or many people) high-up at Sony who believed in the game and wanted it released no matter what. That's what this article is about.
When you don't have that, it's pure business and it's easy to see why Microsoft canceled it. It's a shame, for sure (I love Obsidian), but I really can't blame MS for just cutting their losses in something they didn't believe in.
lol, you must be new here
Jaguar Victory
Member
So entitled, lmao. This is why Capcom said no to Inafune.
joecanada
Member
yeah well that shows its not all business sometimes it's about the project or the art. too bad it wasn't more common. and you can still blame MS, its not on you to prop them up, you either like their policies or you don't that's the beauty of being a consumer, you don't have to agree with anything any company does. you can just want stuff lol.
The lack of advocates at Microsoft has been a big problem for Xbox games specifically, but it's also going to be a big problem for Xbox itself. It used to have Ballmer who was willing to put up with poor performance in the hopes of greater gains in the future. He was one of the original visionaries for Xbox so he was going to stick with it through thick or thin. Nadella is a totally different story and the lack of an advocate can be a big reason why we keep hearing whispers about the whole gaming segment there.
Banjo-Kazooie
Member
Heh, ironically you are more cringe worthy than the people you try to make fun of. I'm sure that irony is lost on you though
SEGAvangelist
Member
Why would Sony sign them to make an exclusive game? Horizon: Zero Dawn is about to come out, and Sony has no lack of exclusive JRPGs.
why do you feel there is anything to defend in the first place?
clarknova156
Member
Have to lulz at that kind of acceptable "loss" argument. If a company dumps $80 million into a $10 million budget game and cuts its losses then frankly it has the right to do so. Um sorry things didn't work out for Obsidian but Microsoft likely had its reasons and even if those reasons don't make sense to us they are the ones paying the bills.
Jaguar Victory
Member
Gates is still on the BOD. He still has pull.
And business is booming.
Sword Of Doom
Member
Oversimplifying it a bit aren't we? There are many ways to run a business
Especially for platform owners like MS and Sony I think that's important
Samurai G0SU
Member
LOL OMG. TELL US MORE PLEASE.
How do you think stuff like Crackdown gets a 3 year leash and Sea of Thieves gets greenlit. Clearly they have people pushing for those games
VincentMatts
Member
So should MS now finish 100% of the games that their developers are working on? Surely none of them are bad right?
How would a publisher like MS go about choosing their games exactly to you? Its different than a shooter and therefore lets green-light it automatically? What about if the game isnt fun? What if the game just doesn't garner any interest internally?
In the interview, the guy really sells his game and you know what, i wouldn't expect anything less from someone that is physically working night in night out and relying on this games success to help his company stay financially viable. But reality is, it might not have been something that was particularly interesting or good. No one knows other than them.
We know literally nothing about the game other than what this guy that was actually working on it said about it in an interview. Of course he thinks its good, it was his game, his baby. Of course he'll believe in it.
Fact of the matter is, the key people at MS probably saw this game running multiple times and it did not garner enough interest for them to keep funding it. Thats the reality. Its easy to be on the outside looking in, 'imagining' what this game could have been but ultimately thats all this is: your imagination running wild with no real facts other than this very 'biased' developers opinion.
Freshmaker
I am Korean.
Those risks they take.
Someone didn't actually watch the interview at all
That money to burn.
SenjutsuSage
Banned
Sunset Overdrive
Recore
Killer Instinct
I personally would not call them guaranteed money makers.
Jack The Nipper
Banned
Nothing wrong with releasing it for the fans they got engaged with it. Could always end up better than they think.
They green light bad ideas and aren't always going to be right.
Higher ups didn't want bf in WWI either.
Yep. We have the same in software sales - no champion, no chance.
Oh my. The Thebeardofknowledge defence force active!
What does that have to do with profit and big franchises? All the publishers I listed are dependent on their big hitters.
Yeah, I don't know why people rebel about this.
There is no meritocracy in real life.
gaming_noob
Member
We need Statham to come in to trigger him again.
Surely you don't see that as a measuring stick Microsoft should use, to determine whether they'll publish a game.
Wait, that would explain their anemic output.
Obsidian can't handle making a big budget RPG without using someone else's pre existing work. This would have likely been a huge waste of time and money and wound up mediocre like Alpha Protocol if it ever came out at all.
"there has to be someone at the publisher" who can defend the project and assure the higher-ups the game is going to be good.
More like there has to be someone dumb enough to give Obsidian all that money for a modern big budget RPG when they still mainly make games that fit in more with RPGs made 20 years ago.
"there has to be someone at the publisher" who can defend the project and assure the higher-ups the game is going to be good.
More like there has to be someone dumb enough to give Obsidian all that money for a modern big budget RPG when they still mainly make games that fit in more with RPGs made 20 years ago.
I used to work at Obsidian many years ago. It was on Neverwinter Nights 2, and I absolutely loved those guys. Feargus was just a down to earth dude who called everyone by their first name (even us lowly QA dudes), and was always there to listen to anything you had to say. I was on track to move up the ladder and into an art position, but I unfortunately left the company due to health reasons. I miss those guys. A nice, passionate company to work for. Considering that I've worked at a ton of companies, that's high praise from me. Most of the places I worked for were awful.
This doesn't surprise me, but it's still good to hear. Feargus seems like a great person to work for. Too bad that MCA left.
foolishoptimist
Member
Making games isn't like making Office. It's a creative endevour, and largely a gamble. Only going for guaranteed successes is how you end up with nothing but sequels to previous successes.
Lots of big games didn't work early on. Iteration is often necessary to improve elements that just aren't as fun as it seemed it would be on paper.
The_Spaniard
Netmarble
Truth.
Leyasu
Banned
Heh, ironically you are more cringe worthy than the people you try to make fun of. I'm sure that irony is lost on you though
Just let em get on with it.
Vulcano's assistant
Banned
People mention Scalebound, but I was the most puzzled about Fable Legends. Media coverage was treating that game like it was about to release next month for a long time.
Consider me told
I always regret that I left, but it wasn't feasible for me to keep working there. Chris Avellone was another cool dude there. It always bummed me out that Obsidian never got the mainstream explosion of popularity as Bioware and Bethesda have.
I still hoped that Obsidian would return to Fallout one day. New Vegas, as jank as it is, is so good.
Thebeardofknowledge
Banned
Maybe you need to go back and re-read my post. Because my point was that mircosoft is garbage as fuck as a publisher outside halo/racing/gears this generation and they have showed they will cancel anything they cant make a huge profit on or turn into a franchise.