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After adding five studios this year, the Microsoft shopping cart has not been filled yet. The publisher announced the acquisition of Obsidian Entertainment, one of the industry's best role-playing game development houses.
Microsoft announced the announcement today in Mexico City, about its X018 fan event, where it also announced that it has acquired InXile Entertainment, another excellent RPG studio (oddly enough, but Obsidian and InXile trace their origins back to the past). at the death of Black Isle, one of the leaders of the RPG game in the late 1990s and early 2000s). Microsoft now has 13 game development teams under its banner after acquiring four studios earlier this year – Ninja Theory, Playground Games, Compulsion Games and Undead Labs – and started The Initiative in Santa Monica.
The focus is on ensuring that Microsoft has enough exclusive games to attract users to its ecosystem. And it's not just about consoles, because the publisher must integrate games into its Xbox Game Pass subscription program, especially PC (and Obsidian, like InXile, is a studio designed on PC). Kotaku said the acquisition was made last month, although Microsoft and Obsidian have not yet confirmed it.
"Obsidian has a long tradition of creating deep RPG gaming experiences and vast, attractive worlds," said Microsoft. "We could not be more excited about being able to add their expertise to Microsoft Studios while allowing the studio to leverage its talent and vision to fully realize its creative ambitions.
"Obsidian's ability to work with so many developers shows that they are creative, flexible and reliable. We are particularly impressed by their solid execution in projects such as Star Wars: The Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, Fallout: New Vegas, South Park: The Stick of Truth and Pillars of Eternity. "
2018 was a good year for Obsidian. Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire debuted in May with many critics. I thought not only that it was better than its predecessor, but it was also my favorite game of the year.
Microsoft declined to disclose by email how much he had paid for Obsidian. He also stated that "there are no planned changes for the Obsidian team. We are committed to giving the studio the means to maintain its creative and independent culture. I received the same message: "No changes are planned for the Obsidian team" when I asked if the studio's leadership was coming up or if we were withdrawing.
A new pillar
Obsidian opened in 2003, shortly after the closure of Black Isle. His first game was called Star Wars: The Knights of the Former Republic II – The Sith Lords, who were hailed by the critics for his story. There were some problems, feeling incomplete because of the cut of content (which the community modders later added) However, his reputation has only increased in recent years, as has the representative of its second version, Neverwinter Nights 2006, in 2006.
2010 would bring the game that helped define Obsidian – Fallout: New Vegas. This is the best post-Fallout 3 game, and some consider it the best release of the studio. But Obsidian missed his metacritical score bonus by a lean spot, which caused a financial crisis within the company.
Top: Pillars of Eternity was Obsidian's first foray into crowdfunding.
Image credit: Paradox
The next project would save him.
Obsidian became one of the first video game studios to use Kickstarter when it announced Project Eternity in 2012. This project would have nearly 74,000 contributors and nearly $ 4 million worth of projects. promising contributions. crowdfunding site.
The studio would create some games under publishing contracts – Pathfinder Adventures, Tyranny and South Park: The Stick of Truth – before returning to crowdfunding in 2017 for Pillars of Eternity II, raising more than 4.2 million dollars on Fig. donors can get a return on their promises).
Figgy situation?
The question of leadership could be important. Obsidian founder and CEO, Feargus Urquhart, sits on the advisory board of the crowdfunding platform. He also participated in the launch of 2015, alongside its founder, Justin Bailey, former Chief Operating Officer at Double Fine; Brian Fargo, CEO of InXile; and Tim Schafer, CEO of Double Fine. Obsidian raised funds for his latest game, Pillars of Eternity II: Deadire, on Fig.
I asked Microsoft and Obsidian if this ended crowdfunding for role-play developer projects and would update as soon as I receive a response.
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