InXile Entertainment - Interview with Brian Fargo on Acquisition

Eurogamer talked to Brian Fargo about the recent Microsoft acquisition of InXile Entertainment.

How long has the deal been in the offing?

Brian Fargo: I'd have to think about when the exact day was it became very real, but the conversation started back in April, and as you might imagine with Microsoft, it's an incredible vetting process you need to go through, both as a person and a company. Yeah, it takes quite a while.

Who approached who - what was the reasoning behind it?

Brian Fargo: I've known Noah Musler a long time [Microsoft business development bigwig who has old ties with Feargus Urquhart and Obsidian as well]. He dropped me a message one day and said, 'Hey, um, I have a crazy idea - you want to come up and talk about something?' I said, 'Sure, let's do it.'

For me, it's always… My goal is to always get my company in a safe harbour so we can spend as much time as possible working on our games and honing our craft. That can come if you sell 2 million units - that's a great way to get there which everyone hopes for. Or, a deal like this. But at the end of the day that's all I ever cared about.

What is the state of the studio - how big is inXile right now?

Brian Fargo: We're roughly 70 full-time people and probably another 15 contractors that we keep busy all the time, so we're a good size.

It's interesting if you think about 2012, when the crowdfunding revolution happened. You had myself and Double Fine and Obsidian shortly thereafter - and even Larian [Studios] for that matter. The budgets back then were $5m, $6m, so we'd raise $3m from Kickstarter, maybe do another couple of million in Early Access, throw in some more of our money, and you'd be pretty close to having your costs covered.

But since then, the category of what we all consider to be double-A has raised from $15m to $20m in that short period of time. The landscape has changed greatly since then.

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That rumor from last April turned out to be despite many saying it would never happen. As for the buyout I'll take a wait and see stance till they announce the new games.

Well Fargo sounds really up beat about the buyout, I guess only time will tell. More resources and QA certainly can't hurt though.

Honestly, this should all mellow out into a huge positive for the gaming community, as long as the principle parties are still allowed creative freedom. Time will tell, for right now I'm staying positive.

Fargo said he was going to retire so he cashed in of course he is upbeat.

Originally Posted by Carnifex
Honestly, this should all mellow out into a huge positive for the gaming community, as long as the principle parties are still allowed creative freedom. Time will tell, for right now I'm staying positive.

But that's always the rub, isn't it? How long will it be before a huge corporation like Microsoft starts getting all corporatey? That company doesn't leave me with a ton of fond memories as a gamer.

Originally Posted by Saxon1974
Fargo said he was going to retire so he cashed in of course he is upbeat.

Yeah gotta figure he is making a ton of money on this whole deal, why else would someone cancel their retirement.

I dunno. Usually it goes:

1) Make a lot of money.
2) Retire.

Or did I miss the <sarcasm> tag?

Not sure if that was a response to what I said, but if it was, then I have no idea what you mean.

The thing that strikes me about the acquisition is how it brought to mind EA, Activision, and Zenimax: All companies that acquired well known franchises. Diablo and Fallout '76 are the latest examples of what happens when the corporate mentality holds the proverbial purse strings. In the long term I really don't see M$ doing anything different but someone please convince me otherwise (no I am not being sarcastic in case it comes off that way).

Originally Posted by Rills
The thing that strikes me about the acquisition is how it brought to mind EA, Activision, and Zenimax: All companies that acquired well known franchises. Diablo and Fallout '76 are the latest examples of what happens when the corporate mentality holds the proverbial purse strings. In the long term I really don't see M$ doing anything different but someone please convince me otherwise (no I am not being sarcastic in case it comes off that way).

They let Bungie go their own way and continue to exist as a developer. We will have to wait and see.

Interesting interview. Thanks. I'm sure the Microsquish noose will be slack… at first.

Eh, sure Microsoft might get overbearing and strangle the company to death 5-7 years into the future, but I can't imagine that InXile was swimming in money after the sales of Bards Tale IV and Torment (Obsidian might have been in the same boat too, for that matter, with the POE2 sales being so low). So without the buyout they might have gone bankrupt for all we know. If that was the case, then anything they make before Microsoft tightens the reins and focus-groups their games to death might be a bonus that we otherwise wouldn't have had.

They did not talk about the platforms, right?

Microsoft is currently stuck between 2 strategies,
1) is to push games to the XBox only through their new studios or
2) to grow Game Pass which is actually a service with monthly fees and will be independent of any platform as they did for many of their business offering softwares with their new CEO. SQL Server is available now on Linux.

We will see when they really decide that or if they go slowly..

I've mixed thoughts on this whole outcome to be honest. I find it philosophically hard to reconcile with InXile's strongly voiced "anti-publisher" line of thinking in their Kickstarter videos (remember the interview with the kid?) and then to now see them going for the security blanket and cash laden comforts of Microsoft's embrace. It's hard not to get a faint whiff of hypocrisy and a small sense of betrayal from one perspective, but then again such is the nature of survival in this business I suppose. If it only helps them make the games they want to make, then so be it.

I'm very curious naturally to see the direction of the company going forward and whether the "hands off" rhetoric really holds up to scrutiny. Although I suspect somehow after BTIV's failings, I won't be the target market for any more of InXile's future releases.

Interesting interview indeed! If everything he said is true he seems like a chill and generally good guy. I didn't have this impression before.

From these deals I think in the long run (5-10 years) we'll either get streamlines AAA games (as from EA/Bioware) or the studios will be closed down.
Inbetween we could get indeed a few "classic" games with a higher production level and more polishing.

All in all I think it's a good deal. I don't think the studios would have survived much longer in their current size.

Originally Posted by Morrandir
Interesting interview indeed! If everything he said is true he seems like a chill and generally good guy. I didn't have this impression before.

From these deals I think in the long run (5-10 years) we'll either get streamlines AAA games (as from EA/Bioware) or the studios will be closed down.
Inbetween we could get indeed a few "classic" games with a higher production level and more polishing.

All in all I think it's a good deal. I don't think the studios would have survived much longer in their current size.

100% agree as crowdfunding ran it's course & wasn't sustainable for Obsidian & InXile anymore. One of my major worries is future games will require the MS Win 10 App.

I agree Couch not looking forward to being forced to use Win 10. As long as WL 3 is not forced to use it I guess I will judge the games as they come out as to weather they are worth switching for.

Yeah I'm sure you are right about all of computer users being forced onto Windows ten, but hopefully that will be quite some time in the future.

One thing is sure, Brian Fargo would be an excellent politician. He says the absolute opposite of what he said 5 years ago without embarrassment. That is the main quality of any politician.