Obsidian Entertainment

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Obsidian Entertainment, Inc.

logo
legal form Incorporated
founding June 12, 2003
Seat Irvine , California
United States
management Feargus Urquhart
Number of employees 200 (2019)
Branch Software development
Website www.obsidian.net

Obsidian Entertainment is an American video game development studio based in Irvine , California . The studio was founded in 2003 by former employees of Black Isle Studios and specializes in the development of computer role-playing games . It became known, among other things, with the games Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords and Neverwinter Nights 2 . Obsidian Entertainment has been a subsidiary of Microsoft since November 2018 .

history

Foundation and first publications

Obsidian Entertainment was founded in 2003 by game developers Feargus Urquhart ( CEO ), Chris Avellone , Chris Jones , Chris Parker and Darren Monahan . The name was created as a reference to Black Isle Studios , for which the founders previously worked in leading positions. There they were involved in the development of role-playing games such as Fallout 2 , Planescape: Torment or the Icewind-Dale series . Since many employees of the Black Isle Studios found a new job at Obsidian after its closure in December 2003, the company is sometimes viewed as its unofficial successor.

Through the existing business relationships with the Canadian developer BioWare , Obsidian received the order to continue the successful BioWare role-playing games Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic ( KotOR , for LucasArts) and Neverwinter Nights (for Atari). Obsidian's first project, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords , was released in the USA at the end of 2004 for the Xbox , the Windows version and the German-language versions followed in early February 2005. In early November 2006, Obsidian released Neverwinter Nights 2 . In 2007 and 2008 the extensions Mask of the Betrayer and Storm of Zehir followed one after the other . Both games were generally well received, but at the same time KotOR 2 was heavily criticized for its unfinished appearance and Neverwinter Nights 2 for numerous bugs. Since the following projects also contained noticeable bugs, Obsidian increasingly gained the reputation of being a manufacturer of buggy games.

First in-house developments and further license updates

On 13 December 2006 it was announced that Obsidian an RPG for Sega based on the Alien -Spielfilme of 20th Century Fox will develop. The alien role-playing game was code-named "Project Connecticut" and was to be published under the title Aliens: Crucible . However, in 2009 it was announced that work on the title had been discontinued. In addition to aliens , Obsidian has been developing Alpha Protocol for Sega since 2006 , a spy role-playing game in the style of the films about agents James Bond , Jason Bourne and Jack Bauer . After several postponements, the title finally appeared on May 28, 2010 for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and the Windows PC. Alpha Protocol received mediocre ratings. Above all, the plot was praised.

From Bethesda Softworks , creators of Fallout 3 on the basis of, Obsidian Entertainment was commissioned 3 Fallout technology another offshoot of the Fallout series to develop. The game was released on October 22, 2010 under the name Fallout: New Vegas . It received good reviews from the trade press and was praised as a good successor to Fallout 3 , even if the title contained bugs in places. In addition, the technology is outdated and does not contain any great new innovations.

On June 17, 2011, the Japanese publisher Square Enix published the third part of the Dungeon Siege series developed by Obsidian . Dungeon Siege 3 used a graphics engine developed by Obsidian for the first time, called Onyx, which was originally intended to be used in Aliens: Crucible . With this project, Obsidian introduced a new quality assurance process to counter its reputation as a developer of bugged games. In fact, the otherwise mediocre rated Dungeon Siege 3 was praised in the reviews for its low error rate.

South Park and Pillars of Eternity

In October 2009, the two South Park inventors Matt Stone and Trey Parker approached Obsidian to develop an RPG for the television series. Initially financed by Viacom , Obsidian and South Park Digital Studio signed a publishing contract with the US publisher THQ at the end of December . At the beginning of December 2011, the companies jointly announced the title South Park: The Stick of Truth via an exclusive article for the US game magazine Game Informer .

In March 2012, the company had to lay off 20–30 employees when work on the so-called “Project North Carolina” had to be stopped due to the withdrawal of a client. Since the company lacked a follow-up project, it was threatened with closure. In the same month, the developer Double Fine Productions managed to collect more than three million US dollars from private supporters for the Broken Age adventure with the help of the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter.com , thus demonstrating an alternative to the order model by a publisher. Joshua E. Sawyer and Adam Brennecke therefore began working on a pitch at Obsidian . On September 14, 2012, Obsidian finally announced the funding of a role-playing game with the working title Project Eternity through Kickstarter. In the funding period from September 14th to October 16th, at least $ 1.1 million should be collected. This goal was achieved after just two days, on September 16. Ultimately, Kickstarter had raised a total of US $ 3,986,929 by October 16, 2012, when Project Eternity was the crowdfunding platform's most heavily funded game software project. Alternative financing options allowed the total to be increased again to 4.3 million. In December 2013, Obsidian announced the game's final title, Pillars of Eternity .

In January 2013, THQ was broken up due to bankruptcy and the goodwill was auctioned. Ubisoft secured the publication rights for South Park: The Stick of Truth from the bankruptcy estate . After the date had been postponed several times, the completion of the development work was finally announced on February 12, 2014 and the start of sales was set for March 4 (North America) and March 6 (Europe). The game had sold around five million times by February 2016.

Pillars of Eternity was published in March 2015 and received mostly good to very good ratings. It had sold around 700,000 times by February 2016. In June 2015, co-founder Chris Avellone left the development studio after personal and business differences with the company management around Feargus Urquhart. This was followed by the add-on The White March , which was already announced in the financing of Pillars of Eternity and was published in two parts on August 25, 2015 and February 16, 2016. In March 2016, Obsidian and Paradox Interactive announced the role-playing game Tyranny . The project, which was based on the technology of Pillars of Eternity , was based on a story concept that had been revised and taken up again and again internally since 2006, which, among other things, had already been in development as North Carolina in a version entitled Stormlands (see above). It plays under the premise that evil has already won the battle for the game world and the player has to do jobs on behalf of the ruler. In April 2016, former Fallout developer and Troika co-founder Leonard Boyarsky joined the company.

In January 2017 the sequel to Pillars of Eternity was announced. Like its predecessor, Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire was financed via a crowdfunding platform, but via the Fig platform, which specializes in computer games and offered an additional opportunity to participate as a small investor ( crowdinvesting ). The minimum amount of 1.1 million US dollars was reached after just one day. The final amount after the month-long promotion was $ 4.4 million, making the amount raised surpassing its predecessor on Kickstarter. Pillars of Eternity 2 was released on May 8, 2018 for Windows, Mac OS and Linux. According to an investor, however, the sales figures remained below expectations, an estimate based on the profit distribution assumed around 110,000 copies sold.

Takeover by Microsoft

On November 10, 2018, Microsoft announced at its X018 fan event in Mexico that it had taken over Obsidian Entertainment and inXile Entertainment . Obsidian justified the acquisition with greater financial stability for the studio. In the press, this was seen as Microsoft's attempt to catch up with its competitor Sony ( PlayStation ) in the area of ​​exclusive titles. In the same year Microsoft had already taken over the development studios Ninja Theory , Compulsion Games , Undead Labs and Playground Games .

On December 6, 2018 Obsidian announced in The Game Awards 2019 that Tim Cain and Leonard Boyarsky largely conceived sci-fi role-playing game The Outer Worlds of playing in an alternative future and a further development of loud Boyarsky Fallout: New Vegas to be should. It launched in October 2019 and received favorable reviews.

On November 14, 2019, the game Grounded was announced as part of the X019 event in London . The game is Obsidian's first project to be released under Xbox Game Studios . This means that Grounded will be released exclusively for Windows and the Xbox One . The game was in development before it was acquired by Microsoft. On July 23, 2020, Obsidian Entertainment also presented the fantasy role-playing game Avowed , which is supposed to play in the first person perspective .

Trivia

For unannounced games, Obsidian internally assigns the name of a US state as a project name (e.g. "Project Connecticut" for aliens: Crucible ). Projects at Black Isle Studios have already been named in a similar way. Here, however, the names of US presidents were used, e.g. B. "Project Jefferson" for the never released Baldur's Gate 3 - The Black Hound or "Van Buren" for a Fallout 2 successor that has also been discontinued .

Games

title Platforms publication
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords Windows, macOS, Linux, Xbox 2004
Neverwinter Nights 2 Windows, macOS 2006
Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer Windows 2007
Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir Windows 2008
Alpha Protocol Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 2010
Fallout: New Vegas Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
Dungeon Siege 3 Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 2011
South Park: The Stick of Truth Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One 2014
Pillars of Eternity Windows, macOS, Linux, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One 2015
Skyforge Windows, Playstation 4, Xbox One
Pathfinder Adventures Android, iOS, Windows, macOS 2016
Tyranny Windows, macOS, Linux
Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Windows, macOS, Linux, Nintendo Switch, Playstation 4, Xbox One 2018
The Outer Worlds Windows, Playstation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch 2019
Grounded Windows, Xbox One, Xbox Series X 2020
Avowed Windows, Xbox Series X in development

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jonas Mäki: Obsidian Entertainment has now reached 200 employees ( en ) In: Gamereactor . August 24, 2019. Retrieved November 29, 2019.
  2. ↑ Bethesda Softworks : Bethesda Softwork announces Fallout: New Vegas for fall 2010 . In: Official press release . February 4, 2010. Retrieved September 5, 2011.
  3. ↑ Mike Schramm: What's in a Name: Obsidian Entertainment ( English ) In: Joystiq . AOL . February 25, 2011. Archived from the original on July 15, 2012. Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved March 7, 2012: “ And eventually Obsidian got on that list, because we were Black Isle, and what's something like that? And someone said there's that Obsidian thing, that glassy, ​​magma stuff, and we put it on there. " @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.joystiq.com
  4. ↑ Robert Purchese: Planescape: Torment re-released at last ( English ) In: EuroGamer.net . EuroGamer Network. September 28, 2010. Retrieved March 24, 2012: “ The game was developed by Black Isle Studios (now Obsidian Entertainment, more or less) and was published by Atari. "
  5. ↑ a b c Jason Schreier: The Knights of New Vegas: How Obsidian Survived Countless Catastrophes And Made Some Of The Coolest Role-Playing Games Ever ( English ) In: Kotaku . December 17, 2012. Retrieved April 5, 2013.
  6. ↑ Alec Meer: Only Way To Be Sure: Lost Aliens RPG Art ( English ) In: Rock, Paper, Shotgun . January 24, 2011. Retrieved March 7, 2012.
  7. ^ Aliens RPG: Development discontinued , in GamersGlobal.de, June 27, 2009, last accessed on May 28, 2010
  8. ^ Peter Steinlechner: Alpha Protocol: Role-playing game with Bond, Bourne and Bauer , in: Golem.de , March 17, 2009, last accessed on May 6, 2010
  9. ↑ Alpha Protocol on critify.de
  10. ↑ Game reviews on critify
  11. ^ Andresito: Entrevista con Chris Avellone ( English ) In: El Pixel Ilustre . August 18, 2011. Archived from the original on October 30, 2011. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved September 26, 2011. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.elpixelilustre.com
  12. ↑ Dan Ryckert: January Cover Revealed: South Park ( English ) In: Game Informer . GameStop . December 1, 2011. Retrieved December 2, 2011.
  13. ↑ Layoffs at Obsidian Entertainment
  14. ↑ Pillars of Eternity: RPG saved Obsidian from extinction
  15. ↑ Obsidian Entertainment: Project Eternity ( English ) Kickstarter.com . September 14, 2012. Retrieved November 8, 2012.
  16. ↑ Eddie Makuch: Obsidian's Project Eternity RPG fully funded ( English ) In: GameSpot . CNET . September 18, 2012. Retrieved January 18, 2013.
  17. ↑ Robert Purchese: Obsidian's Project Eternity most funded video game ever on Kickstarter ( English ) In: EuroGamer.net . EuroGamer Network . October 17, 2012. Retrieved November 15, 2012.
  18. ↑ Project Eternity: $ 4.3 million for the new Obsidian RPG . In: Buffed . Computec Media Group . December 4, 2012. Retrieved January 18, 2013.
  19. ↑ Matthias Dammes: Pillars of Eternity: New name, gameplay trailer and backer portal for Project Eternity . In: PC Games . Computec Media Group . December 11, 2011. Retrieved February 18, 2014.
  20. ↑ Andrew Goldfarb: THQ Dissolved, Saints Row, Company of Heroes Devs Acquired ( English ) In: IGN . Point Davis . January 23, 2013. Retrieved February 23, 2014.
  21. ↑ Chris Pereira: South Park: The Stick of Truth Goes Gold ( English ) In: IGN . Point Davis . February 12, 2014. Retrieved February 23, 2014.
  22. ↑ Mike Futter: Five Million Copies Of South Park: The Stick Of Truth Have Been Shipped . In: Game Informer . GameStop. February 11, 2016. Archived from the original on February 11, 2016. Retrieved on February 11, 2016.
  23. ^ Pillars Of Eternity Expansion Out, More Pillars Coming. In: Rock Paper Shotgun. Retrieved May 21, 2016 .
  24. ↑ Robert Purchese: Chris Avellone leaves Obsidian Entertainment . In: Eurogamer . June 9, 2015. Accessed June 9, 2015.
  25. ↑ Maurice Weber: "Obsidian wanted to forbid me to ever make RPGs again" - Chris Avellone wants to fight Pillars makers with tooth and nail. In: Gamestar. May 4, 2018, accessed December 1, 2019 .
  26. ↑ Pillars of Eternity's The White March Part One expansion is out this month. In: pcgamer. Retrieved May 21, 2016 .
  27. ↑ Pillars of Eternity: The White March Part 2 delayed until February. In: Eurogamer.net. Retrieved May 21, 2016 .
  28. ↑ Obsidian announces Tyranny, a dark new isometric CRPG where you're the bad guy. In: PCWorld. Retrieved May 21, 2016 .
  29. ↑ Nathan Grayson: Tyranny emerged From The Game That Nearly Sank obsidian. In: Kotaku. Retrieved May 21, 2016 (American English).
  30. ↑ Diablo 3: Lead World Designer Leonard Boyarsky now at Obsidian. In: Eurogamer.de. Retrieved May 21, 2016 .
  31. ↑ gamestar.de: Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire - Crowdfunding cracks 4.4 million US dollar mark
  32. ↑ Pillars of Eternity 2: Investor reports poor sales . In: PC GAMES . ( pcgames.de [accessed on November 12, 2018]).
  33. ↑ Microsoft takes over game studios inXile and Obsidian . heise.de. November 11, 2018. Retrieved November 12, 2018.
  34. ↑ Obsidian & InXile - Microsoft buys studios behind Fallout & Wasteland . ( gamestar.de [accessed on November 12, 2018]).
  35. ^ Three things we learned about Obsidian's new RPG, The Outer Worlds
  36. ↑ Géraldine Hohmann: Avowed: New role-playing game pushes into the gap between Skyrim and Dragon Age. In: GameStar . July 23, 2020, accessed July 24, 2020 .
  37. ↑ Josh Sawyer : Formspring message in September 2011 ( Memento of 27 March 2015, Internet Archive ) (English). Retrieved October 6, 2011. "Obsidian's names are similar, US states in order of their incorporation to the union. We use this scheme because there is an order to it, but the names have no connection to the project itself."