"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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[Ridley's Cohort]

Secondly, almost all of the sells were at 30% or higher discounts, which means that WotC was agreeing with Amazon to take a hit on their profit per item.

Not necessarily. It is perfectly normal for a game publisher to sell to distributors at ballpark 30% of the cover price. Amazon is both a distributor and a retail outfit. They have room to decide to cover that discount as a business decision.

In fact, that may well be the profit maximizing choice. How many people would have bought from Amazon at 0% discount? At 10% discount? Frankly, even at 20% discount, I probably would have just driven over to my FLGS, but the combination of large discount and convenience of getting it in the mail won me over.

 

[Derren]

Its interesting to see how aggressive posters here become when someone criticises D&D.

And don't hold your breath for another D&D video game. WotC has not a good track record with elecronic products and with the small team and budget D&D has now its unlikely that they risk it again.
And it is even more unlikely that a publisher, especially the good ones, ask for the D&D license as it is simply a shadow of its former self and Hasbro/WotC too much of a control freak. They are better off with creating their own fantasy world.

And the currently running D&D games are either on life support (DDO) or are losing a lot of customers (Neverwinter as mentioned in PerfectWorlds financial report).

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

TSR licensed to anyone for anything at probably a very low price. That's how we ended up with the Dungeons & Dragons movies. It is only by luck that Interplay licensed the D&D games.

You say that as if it were a bad thing. Who did not love Snails?

 

[billd91]

You say that as if it were a bad thing. Who did not love Snails?

The theater audience where my friends saw the movie cheered when Snails got cacked. I'm sure those were cheers of dismay and sympathy.

 

[Elsenrail]

I would really welcome a new D&D cRPG. Baldur's gate, Icewind Dale and Plancescape Torment is what brought me to D&D actually. I'm looking forward to Pillars of Eternity and Torment Tides of Numenera as they resemble these classic games. However, there is one developer who made its mark by selling BG, ID, PT in Poland (they were a huge success). It's CD Projekt, the creators of the Witcher. If these guys can get the licesnse, then we would have a spectacular game, no doubt.

 

[billd91]

In fact, that may well be the profit maximizing choice. How many people would have bought from Amazon at 0% discount? At 10% discount? Frankly, even at 20% discount, I probably would have just driven over to my FLGS, but the combination of large discount and convenience of getting it in the mail won me over.

Chances are the discounts weren't profit maximizing - Amazon's profitability isn't high, never has been. Their strategy seems to be marketshare maximizing, something that could lead to high profits in the long run after they squeeze out competition.

 

[Derren]

It's CD Projekt, the creators of the Witcher. If these guys can get the licesnse, then we would have a spectacular game, no doubt.

Why would they want the D&D license and deal with WotC when they have the Witcher where they can do what they want with it?

 

[Carl H]

I actually think snails is one of the only good things about that movie...

 

[Zaran]

Forgive my skepticism, but to me this looks like a comment out of spite more than an objective assessment of the matter. The fact that WotC doesn't want to make yet another D&D game in the vein of NWN may as well be because such games don't sell as they did in their time, like it or not.

Also, if "becoming TSR again" means "turning on the supplement treadmill and crashing down"... then, no thanks!

A lot of beloved settings came from TSR days. People are clamoring for Planescape, Dragonlance, Spelljammer and Al Qadim. I seriously doubt the fall of TSR was entirely because they put out too much.

 

[Wolfskin]

A lot of beloved settings came from TSR days. People are clamoring for Planescape, Dragonlance, Spelljammer and Al Qadim. I seriously doubt the fall of TSR was entirely because they put out too much.

I clamor for these settings as well, but IMO TSR published too many supplements and boxed sets long after it was profitable to do so. It may have not been the only reason behind the fall of TSR, but I think it was one of the causes.

EDIT: for instance, I loved 4e Dark Sun and long to see a 5e version, but I don't think we need twenty-something supplements for a hypothetical 5e Dark Sun.