Obsidian Entertainment - Steve Escalante Interview

Silver · February 18, 2018

MCV interviewed Steve Escalante of Versus Evil and asked him about working with Obsidian.

However, with Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire, Versus Evil seems to be upping its game.

“Before I started Versus Evil, I was at Bethesda for five years. We’ve all worked on big triple-A projects,” general manager Steve Escalante tells MCV. “So to dive into something like Pillars of Eternity really expands the knowledge that we’ve always had.

“We are starting to focus on more genres that make sense for us as a publisher, that complement the experiences that I’ve had in my 18 years in this business. And RPG as a genre happens to be one of them.”

Picking up this specific project was a no-brainer for Versus Evil, Escalante explains: “First and foremost, it’s Obsidian and they are one of the top-tier RPG developers. Plain and simple. Having been a fan of RPGs for most of my life, it was a bit of a geek-out phase for myself going ‘Wow, this would be really amazing if we can work with the Obsidian teams’.”

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Maylander · February 19, 2018

I always find it strange when people expect sequels to sell better than the originals. Why would they? Sure, it happens from time to time, but usually because the games in question are separate, both in terms of story and often release time (Fallout 3 being very separate from Fallout 2 in every way is a good example).

In this case, however, it builds directly upon its original. Why would it somehow sell better? Who's starting with the 2nd game in a case like this?

azarhal · February 19, 2018

I bought BG2 before BG1. I didn't hear of BG1 until near BG2 release. Money-wise I couldn't afford both games. I went with the newer one, then bought a complete pack of BG1 on sales a few years later (back when purchasing stuff online wasn't a thing and there was no EBGames near where I lived, I was lucky to find a copy in a random electronic store). Something similar happened with The Elder Scrolls, I haven't heard of that series until Morrowind was announced.

I've seen quite a few people asking if they need to have played POE1 to play Deadfire, so I'm probably the only one with cases of "near heard of this series until sequel X".

I know that some games with sequels have an increase in sales near the sequel release too. So in the end, the first game has more total sales, but in term of near release sales, the sequels has more.

BoboTheMighty · February 19, 2018

Maylander said:
I always find it strange when people expect sequels to sell better than the originals. Why would they? Sure, it happens from time to time, but usually because the games in question are separate, both in terms of story and often release time

If it does well, it's more than logical. Not sure in this case though, Larian did a better job of bringing crpgs to modern audience, this appeals more to ye old grognards.

Obsidian Entertainment - Steve Escalante Interview

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