Obsidian gets no royalties from Bethesda after missing the target Metacritic score by 1 point

[Dejawesp]

Splitting hairs, but it's more like the deal was for 10 minutes ahead of time, and you got there 9 minutes ahead of time. So yeah, you are kinda a dick. Assuming, of course, that this is 10 minutes ahead of the time that it would normally take to get to the airport, rather than 10 minutes before you HAVE to be there for check ins. IF the second, it would be more understandable for no bonus, but int he first instance he busted his ass to get you there much quicker than normal, and didn't quite make the mark, and for that no cookie!

Somewhere along theline I lost any point this had in relevance to the OT...

And of course Captcha mocks with with 'no-brainer'

The deal was.

"You make new vegas and you get paid this much and a bonus if it gets a meta score of 85 or more"

New vegas gets a meta score of 84 so obsidian get their pay and no bonus as previously agreed upon


Why on earth should obsidian not be held responsible for the agreements they signed? Are they disabled? Do they have special needs? or some other disability that impairs their judgement that makes them unaccountable for their own actions?

Its called taking responsibility. They signed a deal with Bethesda over the development of the game. The Deal was honoured by both parts according to the contract.

No it wasn't. Not really. Bethesda skimped on their end of the deal.

The deal said that Bethesda would be responsible for bug testing the game once Obsidian had finished developing it. Bethesda decided to give the game a cursory looking over, then release the game in a broken state. That was not Obsidian's fault. Obsidian had agreed previously to hand New Vegas over to Bethesda for testing. Therefore, it was Bethesda's duty to make sure the game was as bug free as possible before the game went out.

The game was released, and failed to make the 85 point average due to the fact that most reviewers took points off for the amount of bugs in the game. Therefore, Obsidian's chances of earning their bonus were negatively impacted by Bethesda's unwillingness to properly QA the game, and therefore the responsibility of this whole ordeal lies at Bethesda's feet for not doing the duty they damn well said they would.

The game was no more buggy than any other Bethesda title at launch and there's only so much bug finding a company team can do. Its only when the game goes out to millions of different users with a million different computer setups that the real issues will reveal themselves. There's no such thing as a bug free game. Bethesda did the bug testing on Skyrim, Fallout 3, Oblivion and Morrowind and they all came out buggy and still had Meta scores in the 90+ range (89 for morrowind)

 

[Crazy Zaul]

But Jimquisition already proved that companies using metacritic as a performance measure is massively insane megabullshit. Add a new reviewer like the new 'Sun on Sunday' or something and give it 100 to pull the score up.

 

[Cranky]

I did enjoy KOTOR 2 more than one, so yeah I can't believe they'd do this bullshit to Obsidian.

 

[Dejawesp]

But Jimquisition already proved that companies using metacritic as a performance measure is massively insane megabullshit. Add a new reviewer like the new 'Sun on Sunday' or something and give it 100 to pull the score up.

Yeah I see what you mean. Tiberium Twilight and Postal 3 all got low scores and those games were great so obviously meta critic is broken.


Face it people. Obsidian entertainment played Russian Roulette with Meta Critic as the gun and they lost.

 

[MASTACHIEFPWN]

That's a dick move. New Vegas was better than Fallout 3.

I'll have to agree to disagree with you right there, Jensen.

While New Vegas did have a nice piece of character development with the squad mates (Something I enjoyed very much, and I also enjoyed the followers, you know, NOT DYING IF I DIDN'T HAPPEN TO GIVE THEM 90000 STEM PACKS!!!)
Fallout 3 had a much more intreuging story, It was very much like a 3 act tragedy, with a nice, sound ending. Where as the actual main storyline itself in New Vegas wasn't very intreuging, mainly due to the fact it was devided into 3. You had to play the game 3 times to get the full experence, in my oppenion, and the experences are still somewhat similer. The Idea of being a pawn, or just some lackey for a greater organization didn't sit too well with me, your character was undermined, and your character's devolopment was pretty much ousted in New Vegas.

Both games have there high points, but I must say I highly prefer 3.

OT: This is bullcrap. I wasn't such a huge fan of New Vegas, but those guys deserve something for pouring in there time into such a big project. Sure it was buggy, but it was playable. And cheaping them out of just 1 point, bethesda is just being a big dick.

 

[Dejawesp]

Okay let me explain how business works.

Bethesda is a stock noted company. That means that no single person in the company can decide what to do with the money the company has. It all has to be planned, invested and handled properly and in the best interest of the stockholders.

A CEO is appointed by the stockholders to manage the company in their best interest. He appoints people into other positions in the company but ultimately they all have to operate in the best interest of the companies stock holders. That means making as much money as possible while spending as little as possible.

New Vegas is a business deal like any other, Obsidian agreed to it and so did Bethesda. When the agreement came to fulfilment Bethesda then pays Obsidian the pre agreed amount of money for services rendered within the signed contract.

Now the bonus required New Vegas to reach a Meta Score of 85 which the game did not do. This makes it impossible for Bethesda or its CEO to pay the bonus. Even if they wanted to.

Because its not his money. The money belongs to the company and its stockholders. He can pay a bill for a service the company hired someone for but he cannot give others money away. If he did he would lose his job. Be sued and quite possibly go to jail as the transaction lacking any contractual basis would be fraudulent. It was a clear cut contract that Obsidian and Bethesda agreed to and it played out within the boundaries of the contract and payments were made to the extent that was outlined.

The only way that Bethesda could pay that bonus would be if all stockholders in the company agreed to DONATE the sum of money to Obsidian despite obsidian not fulfilling the contract and that could realistically never happen.

The real insulting part here is not that Obsidian did not get the bonus they had hoped for but that we as a community think so little of Obsidian that we do not expect them to be competent enough to make the calculated decision when it comes to signing a contract like this. We don't consider them competent enough to take responsibility for their actions. That they need to be bailed out of their own mess.

 

[Thoric485]

Welp, i'm sure inXile Entertainment would be happy to have them if the company goes down.

 

[DarkRyter]

Fallout 3 had a much more intreuging story, It was very much like a 3 act tragedy, with a nice, sound ending. Where as the actual main storyline itself in New Vegas wasn't very intreuging, mainly due to the fact it was devided into 3. You had to play the game 3 times to get the full experence, in my oppenion, and the experences are still somewhat similer. The Idea of being a pawn, or just some lackey for a greater organization didn't sit too well with me, your character was undermined, and your character's devolopment was pretty much ousted in New Vegas.

I'm pretty sure that you missed an [http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Wild_Card:_Ace_in_the_Hole] entire [http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Wild_Card:_Change_in_Management] questline. [http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/No_Gods,_No_Masters]

 

[Slayer_2]

Even though I hated Fallout New Vegas (compared to Fallout 3, it was crap), I don't feel this is deserved. However, at least they got paid, the title makes it sound almost like they got nothing for their work.

 

[Pandabearparade]

Fallout spoilers throughout. Don't read this if you haven't played Fallout 3 and New Vegas.

Fallout 3 has great definition of the protagonist, you have a backstory and then find out more as you play.

Funnily enough, Elder Scrolls has done the opposite of this every time and still manages to impress. Some people want to actually play a role in an RPG, not be handed a canned character. We have JRPGs for canned characters (and big swords+hair gel).

In New Vegas they just give you a gun and kick you out in the world with "go kill some people"

Not sure how that varies from Fallout 3, except that the tutorial is shorter. Not really relevant. They're both shooters with lots of things to shoot.

You have no background or personality, no history.

Again, that's intentional. Elder Scrolls does the exact same thing. Fallout 3 gives you one possible background, New Vegas gives you no limits on where your character can be from. I prefer the Elder Scrolls/New Vegas way.

Just a gun and a shooting gallery sandbox.

And some of the best quests, characters and writing outside of a Bioware game this console generation.

Benny? Benny is okay but you only have one conversation with him in the entire game, one and a half if you met him in Caesar's camp.

How many talks did you get with Eden again? Oh, yeah, one. Overexposure to the primary antagonist can be a bad thing. Remember The Lich King in Wotlk, if you played WoW? He lost all of his menace after the third time pointing at you threateningly and making loud bwa-ha-ha noises.


There really is no comparing the quality of the antagonists in New Vegas and Fallout 3, New Vegas wins by any objective measure on this. Note that this doesn't make New Vegas a better game, but c'mon, try to take those fanboy glasses off and look at what is actually there.

Benny is sympathetic, charming, and even a bit apologetic. Caesar has goals, motivations, and fears. In short, these are actual characters with actual psychology behind them.

President Eden is just the world's dumbest supercomputer with the world's most pointless and stupid plan*. Colonel Autumn was just an evil military official with an unconvincing southern accent. Neither of them have a clear goal or motivations that make even a little sense. Good god, I need to stop there before I go on a rant about the horrible writing in Fallout 3 again...

*Not to mention the world's smoothest goddamned voice actor, I love Malcolm McDowell, no one can make bad material gold like he can.

 

[Ragsnstitches]

Okay let me explain how business works.

Bethesda is a stock noted company. That means that no single person in the company can decide what to do with the money the company has. It all has to be planned, invested and handled properly and in the best interest of the stockholders.

A CEO is appointed by the stockholders to manage the company in their best interest. He appoints people into other positions in the company but ultimately they all have to operate in the best interest of the companies stock holders. That means making as much money as possible while spending as little as possible.

New Vegas is a business deal like any other, Obsidian agreed to it and so did Bethesda. When the agreement came to fulfilment Bethesda then pays Obsidian the pre agreed amount of money for services rendered within the signed contract.

Now the bonus required New Vegas to reach a Meta Score of 85 which the game did not do. This makes it impossible for Bethesda or its CEO to pay the bonus. Even if they wanted to.

Because its not his money. The money belongs to the company and its stockholders. He can pay a bill for a service the company hired someone for but he cannot give others money away. If he did he would lose his job. Be sued and quite possibly go to jail as the transaction lacking any contractual basis would be fraudulent. It was a clear cut contract that Obsidian and Bethesda agreed to and it played out within the boundaries of the contract and payments were made to the extent that was outlined.

The only way that Bethesda could pay that bonus would be if all stockholders in the company agreed to DONATE the sum of money to Obsidian despite obsidian not fulfilling the contract and that could realistically never happen.

The real insulting part here is not that Obsidian did not get the bonus they had hoped for but that we as a community think so little of Obsidian that we do not expect them to be competent enough to make the calculated decision when it comes to signing a contract like this. We don't consider them competent enough to take responsibility for their actions. That they need to be bailed out of their own mess.

Dude this site is full of kids or folks who are anti-establishment inclined. No matter how well you describe business works, it's an affront to their frivolous hobby or ultra-idealistic vision of game development.

Being an individual who desires to work for (or at least with) game developers in the future, who has also worked contractual jobs AND knows from experience that the people who hold the money don't take shit not matter how minute, can see how this is just UNFORTUNATE at best.

It is not a crime, it is not the end of all things, it isn't even tragic... these are talented people who can find other studios/companies lining up to hire them and also have the wits of their own to start anew. Game Development IS SRS BSNS.

Also, to those talking like Obsidian are something monumental to the industry, take note that, while SOME of the figures involved have contributed immensely to the industry, the studio itself has a record of working off of old and tested tech, with the only condition of making it better. They have only one original IP (Alpha protocol) and the rest are pre-defined sources.

While a few of the members have been involved in original productions elsewhere, the sad fact is they make games with, more often then not, a fairly comprehensive framework to work off of. The fact they, as a small studio, are notorious for horrendously broken games (With mile long patches, even in old games based on pre-existing engines such as Fallout 2) is baffling considering they are basically given the same development time of a standard AAA game with half the work (if not more) already complete.

The world will still turn.

 

[krellen]

The South Park RPG and a game adaptation of the Wheel in Time books. Though the latter is still in the very early stages.

I'd be willing to bet the recent layoffs are linked to the WoT deal falling through.

 

[krellen]

That's a dick move. New Vegas was better than Fallout 3.

You really think so? I had more fun with the original tbh. In fact Obsidians success kind of baffles me. They only seem capable of creating extended expansion packs that kind of feel amateurish

Did you ever play Fallout 1 or 2?

$100 says you didn't. Or if you did, you only did so after playing Fallout 3.

I'm pretty sure I have never met anyone that played the original games first that prefers 3 to NV. I'm pretty sure such a person doesn't exist.

 

[Kae]

I love obsidian and though this is sad, well I don't think they're closing and for the business deal, well it's stupid as hell but a deal is a deal and that's how those things work , very unfortunate that they didn't make it for 1 point but there's not much that can be done about it, still I hope they get back on their feet and make something really awesome, sadly they're next project is that South Park RPG and I kind off hate South Park so it's really not for me, though I guess I could give it a try just because it's Obsidian but I really don't like South Park at all.

 

[Indecipherable]

That's a dick move. New Vegas was better than Fallout 3.

You really think so? I had more fun with the original tbh. In fact Obsidians success kind of baffles me. They only seem capable of creating extended expansion packs that kind of feel amateurish

Did you ever play Fallout 1 or 2?

$100 says you didn't. Or if you did, you only did so after playing Fallout 3.

I'm pretty sure I have never met anyone that played the original games first that prefers 3 to NV. I'm pretty sure such a person doesn't exist.

I am one such person, as are a number of my friends. Yeah, we've been gaming for quite a while so we were there for games like 1 & 2 when they first came out.