"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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[Remathilis]

Obsidian's best computer RPG to date (NWN2: Mask of the Betrayer) was based on 3.5E by WotC...

Feargus used to control Black Isle Studios, who developed Icewind Dale as well as Knights of the Old Republic 2. They've always been Bioware-lite IMHO; but solid enough.

 

[Eejit]

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.

I think from looking at D&D branded games currently that Neverwinter MMO could be the stumbling-block.
i.e. somebody already has and is continuing to use the CRPG rights to at least Forgotten Realms, if not all D&D settings.

 

[Kramodlog]

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.

But does it cover the cost of production of the books? What is the profit margine on those books? People have been working on it since 2012. What were the revenues/cost for that time (e.g. DnDClassics, DDI)? What will be the revenues for this year? One adventure, one board game and declining sells for the core books?

 

[Agamon]

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.

I don't think the studio went from just making one or two games at a time (back in the Poker Night, BttF, Jurassic Park days) to having 4 consistent IPs going without some growth.

Plus, the genre is expanding to other studios, thanks to TTG's success. Dontnod's Life is Strange is really well done, so far.

 

[Eejit]

Feargus used to control Black Isle Studios, who developed Icewind Dale as well as Knights of the Old Republic 2. They've always been Bioware-lite IMHO; but solid enough.

Mask of the Betrayer was better than either of those games. It's Obsidian's best and his best. I think it's odd that he harks back to pre-3.5 as his glory days.

 

[Coredump]

1) An opinions from a company contracted to a competitor has to be immediately suspect.

2) We have no idea what may have happened. DnD could have been too expensive, or they may have wanted a bigger (or smaller) initial commitment, or they may already be in talks with someone else, or.... tons of things.

3) They are putting out an app based on a card game, not the RPG.


But last of all... I think if I were Obsidian, I might prefer Pathfinder... it has a lot more 'crunch', and I think crunch is much more necessary in a computer game than in a RPG. I actually think computer games is what led to the crunch explosions of the past. Most (not all) of DnD would come off as fluff in a computer game.

 

[variant]

Obsidian seems to jump from one publisher and license to the next. They've probably burned a lot of bridges over the years. Every time they release a game that is incomplete, poorly thought out, or buggy, they always say it is the fault of someone else. You can only do that so many times before they stop working with you or ask for concessions to guarantee you don't pull stuff like that again.

 

[Henry]

I seriously doubt Obsidian couldn't afford the D&D license if they really wanted it -- most of the more popular computer game manufacturers operate in different stratospheres than D&D where RPG licensing is concerned. Ubisoft, one of the publishers who work with Obsidian, had sales fiigures of over a BILLION dollars last year; Obsidian has job postings for developers in the six figure range, and apparently employ something like 100+ people.More likely, it was a difficulty in working out licensing - work for hire WotC seems to handle pretty efficiently, but licensing, let's admit, is not one of their strengths from what we've seen.

 

[Carl H]

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.

I'd happily wait on them.

 

[variant]

I seriously doubt Obsidian couldn't afford the D&D license if they really wanted it -- most of the more popular computer game manufacturers operate in different stratospheres than D&D where RPG licensing is concerned. Ubisoft, one of the publishers who work with Obsidian, had sales fiigures of over a BILLION dollars last year; Obsidian has job postings for developers in the six figure range, and apparently employ something like 100+ people.More likely, it was a difficulty in working out licensing - work for hire WotC seems to handle pretty efficiently, but licensing, let's admit, is not one of their strengths from what we've seen.

What does UbiSoft's sales figures have to do with Obsidian? They published a single game of theirs.