"Tabletop D&D Has Lost Its Way" Says Pathfinder Video Game Exec

Feargus Urquhart, one of the execs from Obsidian Entertainment, which is behind an upcoming Pathfinder-themed video game, told Polygon why the company chose to go with Paizo rather than WotC for tabletop fantasy inspired games. "One of the reasons we actually went with Pathfinder was ... how do you say it? I'll just say it: We were having a hard time figuring out how to move forward with Dungeons and Dragons." The issue, he says, is that "D&D is a part of Wizards of the Coast and WotC is a part of Hasbro" and that he would "love to see D&D be bought by someone and become what it was before... Become TSR again."

Of course, TSR went bankrupt, so I'm not sure wishing that on somebody is a kindness.

Urquhart is a long-time D&D video game exec, having worked on games like Neverwinter Nights 2; he points out that "I'm probably one of the people who has one of the most electronic D&D games that they've worked on". Now, of course, his company has moved on to Paizo's Pathfinder.

The upcoming Obsidian video games will be based on the Pathfinder games - specifically a tablet game based on the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game, due in the next few months. The studio is, of course, known to tabletop RPG fans for D&D games like Neverwinter Nights 2. Urquhart did hint at non-card-game based projects, saying that "We're thinking about how can we take traditional RPG stuff and put it on the tablet. No one has solved it really."

You can read the short interview here.

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[Astrosicebear]

So, basically is he critiquing the release schedule, or lack there of, the uncertainty of the life span of this edition* and the fact that D&D has a lot more people looking over its shoulder and meddling with it**.

He is right.


*At any time some new VP at Hasbro could say "What is that department that employees 13 people? It cost that much for that little revenues!? Off with its head!"

**Like the lack of ebooks and OGL is likely a decision made at the top. They probably have a compagny wide policies on licenses that are none negociable. Paizo has more room for negociations.

I guarantee you that the first year earnings for D&D will pay for those 13 salaries for at least 3 years.

 

[The_Gneech]

I read the: "We were having a hard time figuring out how to move forward with Dungeons and Dragons." as: "We can't get a licensing agreement with WotC". Which is a bit sad.

Yeah, that's kinda what I'm seeing too. It's not any kind of a statement about 5E (or even 4E), it's all about the business angle, as far as I can tell.

I'm sympathetic; I've long been of the opinion that too much money involved poisons any kind of hobby. But it's also the kind of thing that is probably best groused about in a bar with friends, rather than in an interview as a game company exec.

-TG

 

[Celebrim]

My guess is that the Paizo/Pathfinder licence cost less than the WotC/D&D one. This exec is simply trying to disguise a business decision as one relating to the merits of the two franchises. Sorry, Mr MBA, we're not fooled.

I believe you are the one fooling yourself.

Let's say you are right, and you probably are, that the Pathfinder license went for a song compared to the D&D price. Even if that was the deciding factor in a publisher like Obsidian, the fact that they didn't consider the D&D brand and D&D IP to be worth paying extra for means that the D&D brand is in big trouble. D&D in the past had significant brand identity, and Obsidian is known for cashing in on existing IP's value by making sequels to successful titles. Take a look at the production history of D&D branded video game titles between 1988 and 2009 and then post 2009 and tell me how the only problem here is that D&D is overpriced.

Yes, but why is it overpriced?

 

[Kramodlog]

I guarantee you that the first year earnings for D&D will pay for those 13 salaries for at least 3 years.

Well, some stranger on the internet just garantied me something about the cost and revenues of a product it has no information on.

I guess I can trust him.

 

[Mercurius]

Aside from whether or not the author is exhibiting sour grapes and what not, there is an angle on this I want to tease out that seems to be getting lost in a bit of wagon-circling. I agree with the sentiment that D&D - as a game and brand - would be better served with a smaller company. By "smaller" I don't mean "small" but basically a company that prioritizes D&D the tabletop RPG, not D&D the brand.

I don't think his criticism is waged at the game itself because, as some have mentioned, 5E is the most "TSResque" form of D&D since, well, TSR. But I think it is the fact that D&D is now in a little corner of Wizards of the Coast, which in turn is a part of Hasbro. I'd rather see D&D be center stage and thus prioritized. Right now it feels a bit like Milton in Office Space.

 

[Barantor]

Well, some stranger on the internet just garantied me something about the cost and revenues of a product it has no information on.

I guess I can trust him.

I don't know about 13 years, but being the top seller on Amazon surely brought WoTC a lot of cash with the core books.

Uruqhart just wants to stir the pot like normal, the majority of his games made with Obsidian are sequels to games that did better and couldn't live up to their hype. I don't know why Pathfinder picked him, probably just because he has a history with D&D games and they are banking on that working.

He is trying to make comparisons of companies like EA to Bioware with Hasbro to WoTC and I don't think all of them work because of the differences in media.

 

[Agamon]

Obsidian, meh. WotC should license to Telltale Games to make an awesome story-driven adventure game, that would be fantastic.

They got a license to make Tales from the Borderlands, and Borderlands IP is Gearbox, Feral, and 2k. Or Game of Thrones, a game based on a show based on a book? These couldn't have been simple licenses to obtain, but they got them.

 

[Ravenheart87]

I would license Eye of the Beholder to Almost Human.

 

[Cybit]

Obsidian, meh. WotC should license to Telltale Games to make an awesome story-driven adventure game, that would be fantastic.

They got a license to make Tales from the Borderlands, and Borderlands IP is Gearbox, Feral, and 2k. Or Game of Thrones, a game based on a show based on a book? These couldn't have been simple licenses to obtain, but they got them.

Problem is now that Telltale has a backlog of games as it stands. Would be hard to get a game any time soon from Telltale.

 

[delericho]

Paizo has been generating a lot of adventure & setting content that can mined for computer games. WotC hasn't, really...

Actually, they have, or at least they've been trying: note the recent emphasis on "storylines", and especially "Tyranny of Dragons". Sure, you can question the quality, but that's subjective - as I said, they've been trying.

(And, in fact, that reminds me: there's apparently a ToD expansion for the Neverwinter MMO.)

I guarantee you that the first year earnings for D&D will pay for those 13 salaries for at least 3 years.

While numerically that may be true, Hasbro won't think like that. In fact, I don't think they legally can think like that - as a publicly-traded company they're required to try to maximise shareholder value. So it's not enough for D&D 5e to have made big bucks last year - the question is always "what have you done for me today?"