RPG Codex Interview: Chris Avellone on Pillars Cut Content, Game Development Hierarchies and More

[Sentinel]

Canceled my dumpsterfire pre-order.

Fuck Obsidian, I was still willing to give them a chance but not anymore. Gonna send an email with Avellone's post to a couple of my Euro gaming journalists friends, I hope at least some will decide to cover this.

I'd be reluctant to do that. There's still a chance Obsidian tries to get Avellone in a legal mess for that post. If it gets wide coverage that chance might increase.

 

[Infinitron]

I didn’t get anything when I left Obsidian. There were no share payouts, no equity, and this was in addition to the other logistical problems around the departure – the sudden cancellation of my health insurance, problems with my 401K, errors in Obsidian’s accounting, and several existing independent contracts they refused to uphold.

Waaaaaaaaait a minute. "Sudden" cancellation? Why it would be sudden if you'd planned on resigning?

Chris, were you fired from Obsidian?

 

[serch]

Frankly, that shit about using MCA personal problems to force him to sign his soul away when leaving is a truly, really fucked up thing to do. Dont understand then why obsidian has those troubles with evil path questlines in their games

 

[Prime Junta]

If it gets wide coverage that chance might increase.

Too late, the cat's out of the bag. If someone picks up on it is out of our hands.

 

[thekdawg21]

So Chris says nothing for 5 years and then a week before Pillars 2 launches, he suddenly takes a monumental Godzilla-sized dump on entire Obsidian leadership.

This level of pettiness is something I aspire to, I take my cap off to you sir.

I doubt that's what triggered it. Did you forget the title of the thread you're reading?

 

[Sentinel]

If it gets wide coverage that chance might increase.

Too late, the cat's out of the bag. If someone picks up on it is out of our hands.

Well I do hope he has his ass covered then. And that Obsidian aren't cunts of olympic proportions.

 

[Blaine]

DarkUnderlord, might I suggest charging people a small convenience fee to have their Obsidian backer badges removed upon request? Great fundraising opportunity, here.

 

[2house2fly]

If they're dumb. Not all publicity is good publicity.

Especially not a week before the release of your next game

I'm sure the timing of this is just an amazing coincidence.

If you have a bomb, you want to drop it where it'll do some damage, right?

 

[Haba]

But Obsidian are the good guys right? The underdogs!

"This is what we do to someone who we've worked with for decades... imagine what we'll do to someone we don't actually like."

DarkUnderlord, might I suggest charging people a small convenience fee to have their Obsidian backer badges removed upon request? Great fundraising opportunity, here.

Pfft, you don't simply go removing your badges of shame.

 

[Fairfax]

To leverage a sick family member to gain an upper hand in negotiations, if I'm interpreting this correctly, is fucking dispicable, and reason enough for me to never support an obsidian game ever again.

Yeah, the fact they pulled that shit while MCA's mother was fighting cancer is mindblowing. I didn't have much of a reason to support Obsidian already, but now it's a no-brainer.

 

[Chris Avellone]

Waaaaaaaaait a minute. "Sudden" cancellation?

It usually extends a month beyond the date of departure (the time is granted so you can schedule health appts, which you can’t usually do quickly). I got 2 days.

 

[markec]

But Obsidian are the good guys right? The underdogs!

"This is what we do to someone who we've worked with for decades... imagine what we'll do to someone we don't actually like."

DarkUnderlord, might I suggest charging people a small convenience fee to have their Obsidian backer badges removed upon request? Great fundraising opportunity, here.

Pfft, you don't simply go removing your badges of shame.

I will wear my badge as long as I am here, to remind myself of mistakes of the past so I will never again repeat them.

 

[Prime Junta]

Well I do hope he has his ass covered then. And that Obsidian aren't cunts idiots of olympic proportions.

It's unlikely that this shitstorm will do much to their bottom line. Suing MCA, however, might sink them. Mega bad publicity stretched over a long time, it would poison the working atmosphere dividing the place into loyal drones and a fifth column, there would likely be resignations among key people, it would get that much harder to hire new talent, and so on and so forth.

If they're at all smart, they'll hunker down with a curt "No comment" to any inquiries until this blows over. And it will, unless they do something as egregiously stupid as making this into a juicy court case.

 

[Orma]

Waaaaaaaaait a minute. "Sudden" cancellation? Why it would be sudden if you'd planned on resigning?

Chris, were you fired from Obsidian?

They'd have to pay him at least something if that was the case.

 

[Delterius]

DarkUnderlord, might I suggest charging people a small convenience fee to have their Obsidian backer badges removed upon request? Great fundraising opportunity, here.

New tag: I backed CRPG Satan.

 

[Infinitron]

Well I do hope he has his ass covered then. And that Obsidian aren't cunts idiots of olympic proportions.

It's unlikely that this shitstorm will do much to their bottom line. Suing MCA, however, might sink them. Mega bad publicity stretched over a long time, it would poison the working atmosphere dividing the place into loyal drones and a fifth column, there would likely be resignations among key people, it would get that much harder to hire new talent, and so on and so forth.

If they're at all smart, they'll hunker down with a curt "No comment" to any inquiries until this blows over. And it will, unless they do something as egregiously stupid as making this into a juicy court case.

Yeah, if Obsidian were going to do something like that, they should have done it around the time of that Sugarbombed interview back in 2016: http://www.rpgcodex.net/article.php?id=10457

Now, a week before PoE2, maybe a month before Cainarsky is announced - too late.

 

[frajaq]

Waaaaaaaaait a minute. "Sudden" cancellation?

It usually extends a month beyond the date of departure (the time is granted so you can schedule health appts, which you can’t usually do quickly). I got 2 days.

Oh my god man, I'm so sorry you went through this horrible shit

 

[Otterz]

Well, no shit.
If what Chris said about Obsidian's high circles trying to use his family issues to their advantage is true, then I hope the responsible assholes get thrown off a very steep cliff asap.

 

[Alpan]

While MCA's post is definitely a bombshell -- expect it to show up in other gaming websites as well -- and I will think thrice about ever buying an Obsidian game again, I'm not sure the time and the place was the best. Obsidian is not only its upper management; a lot of good people work there and it will be interesting to see if these revelations will have any ramifications for them in the future.

 

[Orma]

We gullibly trusted these 'old-skool RPG' developers, forgetting that it's just another capitalist company at the end of they day.

 

[serch]

As an universal health coverage eurofag, i dont understand what that health insurance cancellation meaned for MCA's mother medical needs. But if it had any, this is the kind of stuff you can never forgive.

 

[Prime Junta]

Obsidian is not only its upper management; a lot of good people work there and it will be interesting to see if these revelations will have any ramifications for them in the future.

We're right in the middle of a massive economic upswing. If Obsidian shut down now, everyone there would be in new jobs within weeks. Now is exactly the right time.

Edit: and the Fearg could always jump on the blockchain bandwagon with Fargo

 

[Haba]

If they're at all smart, they'll hunker down with a curt "No comment" to any inquiries until this blows over. And it will, unless they do something as egregiously stupid as making this into a juicy court case.

I don't think they legally can comment on it.

You can avoid defamation lawsuits entirely by remembering these rules:

1. When discussing an employee’s performance or conduct, discuss it only with people who have a need for the information. Think carefully about who is in the room when you have the discussion. Ask any people who do not need to know about the incident to leave – this may include security personnel, an administrative assistant and so on.
2. Decide in advance how you will respond to employees who ask about the termination. We suggest prohibiting managers and supervisors from making any statement about an employee’s termination. Instead they should say they cannot talk about the matter. Make sure they understand that this includes talking about it “off the record” or with assurances that the other person “won’t tell anyone.” Refer all inquiries to a single person – perhaps the human resources manager.
3. If the termination is causing disruption at work or rumors are spreading about the situation, the employer may want to make a statement to stop these problems. In this case, consult an attorney first to determine what can and should be said.

But then again Obshittian has already displayed great lack of common sense, so maybe we'll get lucky!

 

[Infinitron]

Waaaaaaaaait a minute. "Sudden" cancellation?

It usually extends a month beyond the date of departure (the time is granted so you can schedule health appts, which you can’t usually do quickly). I got 2 days.

Does that mean "yes"?

 

[Blaine]

...it would poison the working atmosphere....

The horse is already out of the barn on that one. When you start to see dangerhairs and nerdy grrrls popping up in a developer's publicity material on the regular, the well has already been poisoned.

I'm not going to get too much into this again since I've already said plenty in the Deadfire megathread, but I'm never wrong about this. I was right about BioWare ages ago, and some of you may not know that I went through almost the exact same spiel when I began cataloging dangerhair inXile employees several years ago.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belshazzar's_feast