Obsidian is looking to be acquired by Microsoft.

Spoken like a true NMAer!

That's the spirit.

 

The people primarily responsible for New Vegas being one of the best games ever already left the company, so really, it's not like it matters.

 

It matters a bit. Even though Obsidian haven't made a great game in ages, they are still one of the last well known studios that make isometric cRPGs. Even though PoE and PoEII aren't masterpieces, at least they still scratch the cRPG hitch I have sometimes.

If Obsidian goes down the drain, then it will be a big blow to "old style" cRPGs. We will have indies and little else. I don't like Obsidian that much, but unless a different well known studio starts to make isometric cRPGs, then I hope Obsidian stays afloat.

There is no way indies can show that "old style" cRPG still have good enough popularity to make big studios want to develop some themselves. If Obsidian falls, we can expect to probably never see another cRPG like those from large/well known studios.

 

I get you Risewild but for how long will Obsidian continue to make old style RPGs?
If I understand correctly several of these titles have kept the studio in business but they have not been the major sellers to really revitalize it (hire more people/expand).

We know that the management would really like to focus more on titles that make a load of money, adopting the game design vision of developers like Bethesda Game Studios that appeal to a larger audience.
Even if they are not bought up by Microsoft or Microsoft allows Obsidian to continue to develop isometric perspective RPGs which is doubtful Obsidian itself may sooner or later abandon this type of game.

I do agree that we really need a new studio that focuses more on these "old school" type of games but with a better management department and that doesn't have the same limitations an indie developer has.
Right now Obsidian is not so much the savior of old style CPRGs but rather one of the last vestiges.

I really wish major studios and developers would realize that focusing on triple A products that must appeal to an as wide audience as possible will always remain a gamble and not a guaranteed success and that it is sometimes wiser to do smaller not as expensive products targeted at certain niche fandoms that don't require big returns and can result in modest profits.

 

I was thinking about it and I not only think that the move away from old school RPG's is not only the fault of companies looking for a big demographi but its also the fault of the current cultural zeitgeist which affects a lot of us.

In the 90's stuff like social media didn't exist so even if you had a job you would still get a decent amount of time to yourself and that could be spent on a hobby like video games. A lot of people don't want to invest that kind of time in a video game anymore especially if they actually have a family so they can't really get into slower paced RPG's.

I think in order for the game industry to have a niche for those type of RPG'S again or something similar we need not only a bunch of people to show economic interest in it by buying those types of games but a zeitgeist change as well too. I predict Bethesda's next ES product actually will be a streamlined version of Daggerfall due to Minecraft's popularity.and the zeitgeist change games like MC have currently.

I think the social media/information overload zeitgeist has not only affected the way people see video games but other hobbies too. I would see it as a contributing factor as to why a lot of artists in the underground parts for fandoms like music don't put as much time into songwriting.

I mean I just spent 10 minutes writing this post and another 10 minutes reading everything on NMA where I could have spent that time in consuming media or writing a story or something.

 

Maybe the only thing you can really do, is not to get to attached to some type or form of entertainment really, be it movies, games or books. They are always subject to changes and obviously many of those will not suit us, while millions of other people will enjoy them. I love to rage about it, but honestly I also do not really care about it that much. That Fallout has become a cash cow for a souless company with the intention to make the largest profit possible, sucks but it doesn't give me sleepless nights - well not anymore. For example, I always thought at some point the gaming industry is bound to collapse, all it needs is this one big thing, the next microtransation scheme or DRM measure and it's gone. But, nothing really happens.

 

It's still that way if one wants it to be; I have no Facebook account, and I don't use Twitter or other. If someone wants to talk to me, they have to put some effort into it—and it sure does cut out a lot of the crap. It has to first be important to them.

I predict that their next game will be a streamlined version of FO:76—as per their (probable) plan from the beginning.

It's like the old math problems [sets] from grade school... {32,16,8,4,?,?}
It's not hard at all. {FO3, FO4, FO:76, ?, ?}

 

I agree, but it's also true that the likes of Divinity and Underrail both exist, so I wouldn't exactly say Obsidian is the last bastion.

 

I do still sort of hope that the game industry will take a blow because the current popular game series and franchises become too much streamlined, poor single player mode, and focus on loot boxes (even in single player)

Well after the game crash in the 80s Nintendo and Japanese game publishers rose up so it was not as if that crash really killed gaming. The home computer gaming scene also survived and I am not sure if they really felt it.
If I recall correctly it was mostly the 80s console gaming industry that took a severe blow because games being to similar to another and of poor quality.

 

I doubt it will crash again like that though, since gaming has become somewhat like the movie industry over the last 30 years. You see certain genres and companies come and go, but the industry as a whole not I mean there wasn't really a time, where people stoped or almost stoped watching movies entirely, at least not in my generation. Quality in those industries is reflected by the consumers, in other words, those industries as entertainment industries simply more or less give what the target audiences demand or consume. Right now the mobile market seems to be a big thing, because publishers love the fact hat you can monetize the shit out of it and that it has an incredibly large consumer base and some games are actually pretty succesfull. My room mate for example, was a very avid gamer, just as I was but these days he's mostly playing stuff on his phone, mindless games that are barely better than candy crush. PC gaming won't die for sure, but markets evolve and change all the time. When it comes to AAA gaming though, I really feel like there is for now a huge loss of diversity, if you know what I mean. To many games simply feel cinematic and similar in their approaches, probably because also a lot of games are rather focused on action and presenting that action in a similar way as movies do.

 

Just read that they bought both obsidian and inxile.

 

Start crying soyboys. I for one am glad both inExile and Obsidian will stop making CRPG's and make more modern RPG's.

Thank fucking christ. I am excited to see if both of these devs collaborate or if they'll be heading two of their own projects.

With Microsoft's $$ i'd expect both of these companies to be able to produce something pretty damn good.

 

inxile too?

great moves from M$

 

Brian Fargo

 

So will they merge these two offshoots of Interplay?

 

I don't think so. MS seem to be happy with as many different subsidiaries working for them as it gets, according to their newspost:
https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2018/11/10/obsidian-inxile-join-microsoft-studios/

Also can't wait to see these new exclusive Xbone games from inXile turning NMA into loyal Xbone fans, LOL:

 

Yes, but Underrail is indie, and even though it's a good cRPG (more focused on combat than dialogue though), just by being an indie title, doesn't reach as many people. The difference is that if Obsidian released Underrail, just because they are Obsidian, the game would probably sell 2 or 3 times more and be more noticeable and popular.

That is the power of well known studios. Also Obsidian would be able to release 2 or more Underrails in the time the real Underrail was made. Because they have the manpower and knowledge to do so at a faster rate. Which is another advantage of still having Obsidian releasing cRPGs. They can release them faster and they will attract more people. Making cRPG genre still well known.

Divinity games are developed by Larian, which is also a Indie developer. Although Larian is getting more famous over time and Divinity games are more known and have sold better than Underrail, it still didn't reach what they could have sold if Obsidian brand was on them.

Obsidian, for better or worst, has it's own band of fanboys that will purchase a lot. They are also one of the most (if not the most) popular developer of cRPGs in the media, so they get a lot of attention and free publicity from the gaming media and youtubers and all of that. That's what would disappear if Obsidian went down.

It would be a hard blow to cRPG genre.

 

The future is looking dark, comrades.