Bethesda Softworks - Turned Down "A Game of Thrones" Title

Todd Howard has told EGM that Bethsoft passed on the opportunity to work with G.R.R. Martin's A Song of Fire and Ice IP. As we know, Cyanide Studios ended up with the license, apparently because Bethsoft is too focused on their own IP:

So why didn’t they take the leap? According to Howard, the idea of a partnership was very tempting, but the team was just too invested in their own IP.
“We wanted to do our own world. That’s where we wanted to put out time into. Before we were even making Skyrim, there was a conversation with George R.R. Martin’s people. They thought it would be a good match—and so did we, actually—but then we thought about if that was where we wanted to spend our time. It was tempting, though.”

More information.

Translation:

"G.R.R.M. wanted too much back end."

I'm a fan of the books but I think they'd make a terrible video game.

That's a bit of a shame… I imagine Bethesda would gave created a very impressive open-world version of Westeros to explore for countless hours, and it probably would have felt much more unique than a new Elder Scrolls setting. Then again, strong story-telling would be central to a Game of Thrones RPG, and…well, that's obviously not Bethesda's strongest area, to put it gently.

I read the first two GoT books and, meh, wasn't impressed.

In some ways, I think "A Game of Thrones" would work better as an RTS than an RPG. Armies, heroes, a battle for control of the land…

Originally Posted by khaight
In some ways, I think "A Game of Thrones" would work better as an RTS than an RPG. Armies, heroes, a battle for control of the land…

Evidently Cyanide had the same thought.. 'A Game of Thrones: Genesis' gets released at the end of the month.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Game_of_Thrones:_Genesis

Official site - http://www.agot-genesis.com/

Originally Posted by JDR13
Evidently Cyanide had the same thought.. 'A Game of Thrones: Genesis' gets released at the end of the month.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Game_of_Thrones:_Genesis

Official site - http://www.agot-genesis.com/

They have a rts and a rpg coming out.

Originally Posted by Nerevarine
That's a bit of a shame… I imagine Bethesda would gave created a very impressive open-world version of Westeros to explore for countless hours, and it probably would have felt much more unique than a new Elder Scrolls setting. Then again, strong story-telling would be central to a Game of Thrones RPG, and…well, that's obviously not Bethesda's strongest area, to put it gently.

I shudder to think with what Beth's barely educated writers would have come up with regarding the dialogue. This is where GRRM really shines: Dialogues - natural, passionate and never chliched. That is exactly what Bethesda's authors are not.

"Lord Stark is now unconscious"

Thanks, God…

Thanks freaking GOD!!!

Also, "I saw a wildling the other day…"

They probably would have been stretched too thin. It's a good thing that they know their own limitations.

You know what would be awesome? And open world LOTR game by Bethesda. Yes, I know about the LOTR MMO, but I'm talking about an Elder Scrolls type game. I would love to get to explore all those places that I have seen only on maps drawn by Tolkien, places that have only been shortly mentioned either in the story, or in the appendixes.

Never gonna happen, of course. Maybe some other company will try it out some day.

Originally Posted by tuukka
They probably would have been stretched too thin. It's a good thing that they know their own limitations.

You know what would be awesome? And open world LOTR game by Bethesda. Yes, I know about the LOTR MMO, but I'm talking about an Elder Scrolls type game. I would love to get to explore all those places that I have seen only on maps drawn by Tolkien, places that have only been shortly mentioned either in the story, or in the appendixes.

Never gonna happen, of course. Maybe some other company will try it out some day.

I've mentioned this several times here at the watch - I agree, it is a shame that LotR is never used beyond the main story. There's 3000 years of interesting stories to tell and cultures to explore. Given the amount of details Tolkien put into his setting, it could work out really well in various RPGs, but only with new stories (not related to the books).

Personally, I'd probably prefer a Piranha Bytes or Obsidian LotR game, given their superior writing, but Bethesda tends to get the whole open world thing right at least.

@ Maylander, Tuukka: absolutely agree - a cRPG or some such set in one of the earlier epochs of tolkien's world, would be amazing. I've even thought of trying my hand at that ;-) - but seriously, who would you trust to write a new adventure in Middle Earth (or perhaps Numenor?) - I shudder when i think of some of who might try :-( And then there's the little issues of the evil %#@!! who own the rights to all things "middle earth" (?) - they simply kill everything they disapprove of - like MERPS (RIP). My blood boils when I think of that… So, until Middle Earth is freed from their tyranny, I doubt we'll see anything but dull movie knock-offs.

Someone dared to tell Martin to shove off?
Somehow, I love Bethesda more today.

They would have likely turned it into an Elder scrolls clone. With equally bad writing.

Aren't The Elder Scrolls as big a name if not bigger among gamers than "A Game of Thrones"? They'd essentially be making a TES clone with a less popular IP with the creative hurdles making a game in someone else's IP entails as well as having to share the profits.

Didn't this get shopped to Obsidian too?

Originally Posted by KapitanUnterhosen
They'd essentially be making a TES clone with a less popular IP with the creative hurdles making a game in someone else's IP entails as well as having to share the profits.

That's a great point. Beth would have ended up with two massive, somewhat similar fantasy franchises, one of which they would not completely own.

Game of Thrones is in setting too close to Bethesda's own series. I don't think they are against working on other franchises (see Fallout 3) as long as it gives them a different setting to work on.

It's interesting to see that Bethesda was bought up by Zenimax (with alot of Hollywood in the board) to work on movie games (it was worded more eloquently like hollywood meeting interactive entertainment). It seems that after the Terminator games and the failed Stargate game I just recently learned about coupled with the success of Arena and Daggerfall has changed their attitudes to licensed work considerably.

The problem of licensed properties from other media is that the media probably already has inspired games that used elements of the original property but used their own brand and gameplay. When the licensed game finally comes around it falls short in comparison to the unlicensed similarly themed game-series that have been around longer.

For example the expensive Godfather game felt like a GTA clone.

BTW doesn't Obsidian work with another studio on a Wheel of Time game? I never heard of them being offered Game of Thrones, but it is possible because I think they probably would have approached several studios before ending up at Cyanide.