Microsoft - Acquires Obsidian and InXile

I wonder if Microsoft is planning on getting the D&D licence?

It would make the most sense to have Obsidian/inXile to make a new CRPG using DnD 5e rules.

Obsidian has already worked with Matt Mercer and crew with PoE2, maybe they should work with them again and do a DnD RPG in the Critical Role setting.

Well I also forgot don't Obsidian have another game with Take 2, and it's being made by Fallout co-creators Tim Cain and Leonard Boyarsky. Is it now canceled also?

Link - https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/...ished-by-take-twos-new-label-private-division

Couchpotato said:

I'm waiting for the announcement Owlcat Games and Larian was bought by Sony.:lol:

Wait a minute maybe Fargo's tweet about Baldur's Gate 3 was tied to this announcement. Seriously the pieces of the puzzle are coming together.

Will it be Obsidian or inXile?

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Don't say things like that I want Owlcats to keep their independence. Also, there will be no more BG games in my book

Drithius said:

A single game hardly qualifies as a pedigree. And I find Larian games pretty monotonous after the first dozen hours of gameplay or so, Divine Divinity not withstanding.

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Whether a single game qualifies as a pedigree or not, I sure am enjoying the hell out of it, more so than anything Obsidian or Inxile produced

Well, I guess both companies will now tick along. Personally, I agree with Couch and think they will produce more streamlined games now.

Couchpotato said:

Nope

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sucks, donut?

Obsidian and InXile are 5th and 6th studios Microsoft bought this year (all 50 to 100 devs sized), the first that focus on RPGs. They join:
- Undead Labs
- Playground Game
- Ninja Theory
- Compulsion Games

Note that Microsoft owns the Shadowrun game IP (HBS licensed it from them) and Fable too.

Minecraft basically has a rpg mode now and Microsoft is pretty much responsible for it too.

Couchpotato said:

Wait I also forgot don't Obsidian have another game with Take 2, and it's being made by Fallout co-creators Tim Cain and Leonard Boyarsky. Is it now cancled also?

Link - https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/...ished-by-take-twos-new-label-private-division

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Microsoft might pay Take-Two to get the publishing rights back. This happened with Mass Effect and SWTOR when EA bought BioWare, EA replaced the original publishers for those games.

Couchpotato said:

Well I also forgot don't Obsidian have another game with Take 2, and it's being made by Fallout co-creators Tim Cain and Leonard Boyarsky. Is it now canceled also?

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Project Indiana wasn't necessarily under Take 2; it was just the rumour mill theorycrafting. It's all too possible that it's under nobody and still in pre-production, Tim-Cain-with-a-bag-on-his-head status.

But it does beg the question on whether the project was deliberately itemized in contract negotiations. Someone near Irvine, California check to see if Tim & Leonard look flustered!

AAA Arcanum 2 sounds lovely btw.

Wondering whether their games will be offered in steam in the future or whether they will be exclusive to Microsoft Stores...

AAA Arcanum 2 made by Microsoft sounds awful.

Drithius said:

Project Indiana wasn't necessarily under Take 2; it was just the rumour mill theorycrafting. It's all too possible that it's under nobody and still in pre-production, Tim-Cain-with-a-bag-on-his-head status.

But it does beg the question on whether the project was deliberately itemized in contract negotiations. Someone near Irvine, California check to see if Tim & Leonard look flustered!

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Didn't know that thought it was supposed to be a division of Take 2.

azarhal said:

Note that Microsoft owns the Shadowrun game IP (HBS licensed it from them) and Fable too.

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Well rumor is that Microsoft is looking to reboot Fable, and a new Shadowrun game developed by someone other then HBS sounds good. Though others probably don't.

Kordanor said:

Wondering whether their games will be offered in steam in the future or whether they will be exclusive to Microsoft Stores…

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They might but it would be a bad decision if every game was.

Couchpotato said:

Well rumor is that Microsoft is looking to reboot Fable, and a new Shadowrun game developed by someone other then HBS sounds good. Though others probably don't.

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I'm sure there are many out there who enjoyed games developed by HBS, but it felt too much of strategy game for me than an RPG - so I agree with Couch, it will be good to see Shadowrun developed by another company.

purpleblob said:

I'm sure there are many out there who enjoyed games developed by HBS, but it felt too much of strategy game for me than an RPG - so I agree with Couch, it will be good to see Shadowrun developed by another company.

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Just hope it doesn't turn out like the last FPS game from 2007.



Link - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadowrun_(2007_video_game)

Also, worth nothing that the PoE IP isn't part of the Obsidian company, but rather a separate entity known as Dark Rock Industries, whose board members are the founders of Obsidian. Makes you wonder how this was handled and whether Feargus and crew retained their rights to the IP.

https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yfDuuGLL...rnity-rights-dark-rock-industries-limited.jpg

Ooh, good catch Drithius!

Drithius said:

Also, worth nothing that the PoE IP isn't part of the Obsidian company, but rather a separate entity known as Dark Rock Industries, whose board members are the founders of Obsidian. Makes you wonder how this was handled and whether Feargus and crew retained their rights to the IP.

https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yfDuuGLL...rnity-rights-dark-rock-industries-limited.jpg

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Yeah remember reading that a few months back with the Avallone debacle before PoE II's release. If I recall they are interested in licensing the IP to other developers.

I watched both inexile and Obsidian's announcement videos. It sounds like both CEOs are saying this won't change their games in terms of core vision and that it will mean better games with more advanced graphics and AI and tech in general. They are both very upbeat about it.

Are they lying, or is this just P.R. stuff that they are saying to calm and pacify their fans? Or, do they really believe this, and we can look forward to much better and cutting edge rpgs from both companies while still retaining an old school rpg philosophy?

Time will tell. I have to admit those announcement videos do give one a bit of hope and optimism about the situation.

Well that sucks greasy giblets. It's hard to imagine anything good coming out of this arrangement. Bugger.

Even with the likelihood of corporate brain eating this may be better than the alternative. Given what we've heard of the sales on PoEII, TToN and BTIV, I wonder if Obsidian and InXile were suffering cash flow issues? Given a choice between bankruptcy and working for Microsoft, I prefer the latter. And while crowdfunding may have saved their bacon in the past I doubt it would work as well for them today.

So I'm sort of surprised InXile has been bought by Microsoft but if I think about it, it makes perfect sense given the recent reception of their games.

"...Bard's Tale IV recently came out and its doing great!"
lol

"Needless to say. I'm not going to be retiring anytime soon"
So much for Brian Fargo's retirement plans. Kind of glad about that.

InXile came as a surprise, since no rumors I know of were leaked. So who is making BG III now? Fargo said he knows, but it isn't him…

With the M$ money it is possible they can make better, more bugfree games, but being forced to buy on the MS store somewhat irks me. I'm no defender of Steam, but a forced fractured market makes everything uncomfortable for the consumer.

We will see how it goes down in the streaming market when Disney and the other Big 6 start their own services or partner up.
Similar trends can be seen in the gaming market. Amazon is planning something with Twitch (giving out free games each month, to ease the jump), MS forcing their store, GoG, Origin, UPlay, etc.

I'm not planning on installing 10 clients or buying 10 abos for gaming or streaming. Might well be, I will have to not play some titles in the future (like I already do with everything Origin or UPlay exclusive).

Edit:
It would also be nice to know what will happen with the Shadowrun and Battletech licenses which are owned by MS. HBS had its shot with the SR games and I wouldn't mind them to go to a new studio. Battletech on the other hand is my favorite game right now (even though, I play RogueTech) and I would love to see where they can take the franchise. Depends on what contract they got I guess.