Obsidian got fucked by Bethesda

[Malpercio]

I don't know who i hate more, Metacritic or Bethesda... no, actually i know.
Fucking Bethesda.

 

[toro]

First they starve them and then they buy them. In other words, Obsidian is fucked. They have to choose between self-publishing and kickstarter. And from this point onwards, I don't think MCA will ever work with Bethesda.

 

[curry]

Never giving Bethesda another fucking cent.

Never gave them anything

 

[RogueZombie]

Hey Guys,

It's me Anthony Davis. I don't have my old account anymore after the dark time when RPG Codex went down or got moved.

I don't really have anything to add to this discussion. Instead I thought I would talk to about my favorite scene from Empire Strikes Back. You remember when Han and Leia go to visit Lando on Cloud City - and then Lando surprises them by having Darth Vader there. I love that line where Darth Vader says regarding the deal Lando had with him, "Pray I don't alter it any further", referring to the deal.

Yeah, that was great.

Good to see you guys are back up and running again!

 

[Roguey]

Pretty much all publishers do this and they've been doing it for years now. Unless they have the leverage to argue against it, all developers are fucked when it comes to these deals.

 

[Infinitron]

RPGCodex twitter person should ask MCA if the tweet was worth it

I hope he gets fired from Obsidian, though, because then he can start his own Kickstarter project

Maybe he planned the whole thing

MCA is a founder and one of the legs that the company stands on, he won't be fired.

 

[LeStryfe79]

At first I thought my rage was due to being drunk, but I was wrong. I'm sober now and nothing has changed. I will hereby devote my life to ruining those fuckers. I will fail of course, but my attempts at least place me on Kodexian highgrounds.

 

[Metro]

Honestly, I can't believe Obsidian let themselves be suckered into such an obvious raw deal. Tying your potential profits to such a fucking random factor instead of actual sales?

This. Why the fuck would agree to base your compensation on fucking Metacritic.

 

[Azalin]

Honestly, I can't believe Obsidian let themselves be suckered into such an obvious raw deal. Tying your potential profits to such a fucking random factor instead of actual sales?

This. Why the fuck would agree to base your compensation on fucking Metacritic.

Because they didn't have many choices obviously,if they did they wouldn't.Not to mention that I have read some articles in the past mentioning these things so it's likely that this is the industry norm and not the exception that many here think

 

[LeStryfe79]

Chris will be fine, and his tweet is a definite . People deserved the truth. I say the codex kickstarts a new game called Scrolls just for fucks sake. http://www.joystiq.com/2012/03/12/mojang-cant-use-scrolls-in-any-sequels-to-scrolls-lawsuit/

 

[Average Manatee]

F:NV makes $270 million (est. at 6 million x $45 each).

Bethesda slips Metacritic $5000 to add a new site's reviews to the score as part of the group of "good" reviewers.

New site happens to have a low score for F:NV and posts their score their first thing.

Bethesda saves $10 million.


Not saying that this happened at all, just that such a remarkably stupid system is, well, remarkably stupid and open to abuse. We already have a system to reward developers proportionately with how well the game does, its called royalties. You don't need to hit some arbitrary threshold to use them.

Also I should probably patent this idea before someone at EA/Activision reads it.

 

[dextermorgan]

^^Yeah, this as well. I find that scenario more than likely to be honest. With that kind of money at stake and unethical "reviewers" dominating the media it's very plausible.

Because they didn't have many choices obviously,if they did they wouldn't.Not to mention that I have read some articles in the past mentioning these things so it's likely that this is the industry norm and not the exception that many here think

Yeah, I'm inclined to agree. I don't think Obsidian had a very strong bargaining position when negotiations were being made.

 

[Renegen]

Somewhat relevant, some of you may know of the New York Times op-ed by an ex-Goldman Sachs employee decrying how all the company does is screw customers.

Well in the comments section of the op-ed, one person said something very interesting. This "screwing your customer" policy is due to the company knowing that their customers don't have a lot of choice and knowing exactly what competitor could offer something better, they benchmark everything they do against other companies in the industry. There even is a benchmark industry that is an expert at figuring out what others do and how far your own company is from standard practices. This proliferation of industry practices is somewhat bad for customers (and employees) because it locks-in very quickly bad practices. Benchmarking is really a form of business collusion (which is illegal btw) and in this case it leads to those with power easily taking advantage of it.

 

[dextermorgan]

I'm going to repeat myself:
Very easy to skew a average with a single outlier. Any example of that here? A "55%" or something? Or did they went all out and got lots of sites giving out 81%?

There is a German review of 70ish out of a hundred that was actually written for Honest Hearts but is counted in the score instead of their NV proper review (which was rated at 88%). Considering they only need one point to get to 85 this may just be what pushed them under.

Honest mistake.

 

[Aldebaran]

Well, I decided to perform a quick search to see if Bethesda, like EA, is one of the companies which uses clever accounting to avoid paying taxes, or even receives money for "net losses". I didn't find that--even though I am sure it happens--but I did find this:

http://dockets.justia.com/docket/colorado/codce/1:2012cv00411/131492/

Probably nothing, but it seems appropriate for the topic at hand.


Plaintiff: Landis Edwards
Defendants: Zenimax Media, Inc., and Bethesda Softworks, LLC
Nature of Suit: Contract - Other Contract
Cause: 28:1332 Diversity - Deceptive Trade Practices

 

[LeStryfe79]

 

[Forest Dweller]

Why is no one talking about the most important part of the article?

Additionally, Kotaku reports that the North Carolina project was to be published by Microsoft, and was intended for the still unannounced Xbox 360 successor console. Our tipster tells us that the North Carolina project was "desperately needed" for the studio's continued survival, which matches reports that Obsidian CEO Feargus Urquhart "choked up" while addressing his employees about the canned project.

Is this for real? I thought Obsidian was doing all right after New Vegas and DS3 which did decent.

 

[LeStryfe79]

Why is no one talking about the most important part of the article?

Additionally, Kotaku reports that the North Carolina project was to be published by Microsoft, and was intended for the still unannounced Xbox 360 successor console. Our tipster tells us that the North Carolina project was "desperately needed" for the studio's continued survival, which matches reports that Obsidian CEO Feargus Urquhart "choked up" while addressing his employees about the canned project.

Is this for real? I thought Obsidian was doing all right after New Vegas and DS3 which did decent.

Bethesda gave Obsidian a paltry sum for New Vegas, which is the whole point of this thread.

 

[Forest Dweller]

I wouldn't call it paltry. By all accounts it was substantial and a SLAM DUNK. They're just not getting any royalties.

 

[Murk]

http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/57290-layoff-hits-obsidian/page__view__findpost__p__1166380

-snip-

Unbelievable. That one mistake cost Obsidian some fat royalties? Somebody needs to fuck up somebody now.

Jesus shit-christ. Depends on how that site is weighted but a 10% difference in scores could potentially change the average by 1 point. Wow.

 

[LeStryfe79]

I wouldn't call it paltry. By all accounts it was substantial and a SLAM DUNK. They're just not getting any royalties.

6 million sold and Obsidian is in danger of going out of business. I'd say that constitutes paltry...

 

[Grimlorn]

It doesn't change it unfortunately. Metacritic had the average score right all along. With that one review at 72. The average score comes to 83.2. With the review changed to 88, the average is 83.7. Still not close enough to 85.

 

[LeStryfe79]

Doesn't change the bullshit Obsidian received for bugs that were always inherent to fallout 3 engine or the fact that Bethesda pushed the game out before said bugs were fixed. They basically set Obsidian up from the start. This also pretty much proves that critics are on the take. New Vegas is an improvement on Fallout 3 in every way except maybe the soundtrack. Let's face it, Bethesda is a complete shit stain that should be avoided if not flat out attacked at all costs. They turned pure 100% shitlord. SHITLORD. SHITLORD.

 

[Volourn]

6 million? Next thing I know someone will claim it is 8mil then 19mil then 24 mil. LMFAO

 

[DemonKing]

Well, it is a shame that Obsidian managed to produce a game that sold 5million+ units but aren't seeing any more reward than a game that hardly sold at all like Alpha Protocol, but at least now they have produced a hit title, which may encourage more producers to give them a shot and/or enable them to demand a better profit-sharing arrangement.