In October 2012, they greenlit Pillars of Eternity, a Kickstarted project that will be free of Executive Meddling (by publishers, at least). On August 22, 2012, Interplay revived the old Black Isle brand, but the announcement had little to no impact on Obsidian. They have since decided to get serious about QA work in an interview with Kotaku, CEO Feargus Urquhart said, "We as a company got into a big room and we said, 'We are not gonna make buggy games anymore.'" This came back to bite them in the ass with Fallout: New Vegas their contract with Bethesda specified a tiered bonus based upon the game's Metacritic score. In some instances, Obsidian had their QA budget cut by publishers. This mercenary model is responsible for their buggy reputation, as the release schedule or budget is not as extendable once the deal is made. This results in Obsidian not bearing the financial cost or gain of the failure/success of any game they make beyond reputation or future deals. Obsidian is hired by publishers for fixed amounts of money, rather than being an internal studio or making a game then looking for a publisher to publish it. One thing to note about Obsidian is their business model. This earned them the nickname "Bugsidian". Though most games are fairly bug-free with the final patch installed. and very buggy programming, usually requiring several patches to rectify (or in some cases, fan-created mods). They include deep and thought-provoking storylines on the level of the former Black Isle titles. Obsidian's games have generally been fan favorites. This happened because by that point BioWare switched from producing licensed games based on established franchises ( Neverwinter Nights and Knights of the Old Republic) to their own original universes, and in the case of KOTOR, recommended Obsidian to LucasArts as an alternate developer for the sequel. Since then, Obsidian has formed strangely fond relations with fellow RPG company BioWare, to the point that its first two titles were sequels to BioWare games using modified versions of the originals' Aurora engine. Most of the former Black Isle developers, including its founder Feargus Urquhart and writer/designer Chris Avellone, moved on to found a new game development company. Following long-standing disagreements with Black Isle Studios, its parent company Interplay laid off most of its staff. They focus mostly on RPG's, and are famous for their writing, interactivity with the game world, and ambitious projects. We’ll see what happens after Starfield and keep you updated on any further developments in this story.Obsidian Entertainment is a game development company established in 2003. Still, hope springs eternal and we’ve seen what Sawyer and Obsidian can do when given the baton. It's worth noting that Bethesda has said another Fallout game will happen, but not before Starfield and the next Elder Scrolls are done. It really depends on what the moment is and what the team looks like.” “but when it’s part of a larger IP and franchise it has to kind of work within a larger vision of ‘what is Fallout?’ and I don’t get to decide everything about that, it’s not my thing… I don’t know, I think there’s lots of cool opportunities. “Working on something like Pentiment, which is just its own thing in the middle of nowhere, I can kind of make decisions more or less however I want,” Sawyer continued. Sawyer had more thoughts on the matter too, especially regarding what kind of creative freedom he and his team would have on a Fallout game versus one of Obsidian’s original IPs like the recently released Pentiment. Bethesda has said that Fallout 5 will happen, but not until Starfield and the next Elder Scrolls are done. The New Vegas director also shared that the game’s creation was “a crazy development because it was only 18 months,” but that it was ultimately a fulfilling project. “I love Fallout, I love the setting, I could see myself working in it again, but you know, we’ll see where the future takes me,” Sawyer answered. It was there that Sawyer was asked about his thoughts on Fallout and if he would ever do another game in the franchise after New Vegas. Sawyer shared his thoughts on a new Obsidian-led Fallout during a recent interview on Kinda Funny Games. Obsidian design director and Fallout: New Vegas director Josh Sawyer recently shared that if the opportunity ever came up, he wouldn’t mind having another go at a game in the Fallout franchise, though he did add that the situation would have to be right. Obsidian’s one-time take on the franchise was a fairly stellar trip and its director wouldn’t mind going back for more. When it comes to Fallout, New Vegas is largely considered to be the best the series has ever offered.
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