GB Feature: Feargus Urquhart Interview

[GameBanshee News]

Obsidian Entertainment CEO Feargus Urquhart took some time out of his day to chat with us about the projects he's worked on over the years, his decision to leave Interplay, what's next for Obsidian Entertainment, and much more. He even reveals that Obsidian is working on a fourth, unannounced title, and hints that it just might be Baldur's Gate III:

GB: Do you think we'll ever see a third PC-only, non-MMO Neverwinter Nights? Why or why not? Would Obsidian be interested in tackling another sequel?

Feargus: We'd be jazzed about tackling a sequel. We learned so much from making NWN2 and would love to make another one. As for there actually being another one, personally, I would be surprised. If there was, there would be a lot of brand confusion between what Cryptic is doing and what we are doing. What we'd love to do instead is tackle something like Baldur's Gate 3 or create our own new fantasy world - or have we already been doing that?

...

GB: Aside from the Aliens RPG, Alpha Protocol, and Fallout: New Vegas, do you have any other unannounced titles in development? If so, how long have you been actively developing the title(s)?

Feargus: We have been working on another title for the last four months that we can't talk about yet. It's going really well though and the team is really excited. It's using our own internal engine so we are really able to do things our way based upon everything we've learned about making RPGs in the past ten to fifteen years. Don't take that as a silent slam on Unreal - it's not. Our engine, like Unreal, is a tool and different jobs can be done better with tools that are made for them. There are things that our engine may never do as well as Unreal, but likewise there are things that our engine will do that will be better than Unreal.

So did Atari sign Obsidian on to do another Baldur's Gate sequel? Or is Feargus working us up for his own personal amusement? You decide.

[Loki[D.d.G]]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GameBanshee News A part of me hopes that there will be, because I think we can do things in the more single player story based RPGs that you just can't do in an MMORPG. Like I said, I really hope that there is one, with BioWare busy on the MMO; I hope LucasArts gives us a shot at making KotOR III.

I agree with him completely here. By the way, it was a really nice interview... cryptic (jedi talk ) as always, but interesting all the same. Thanks and keep up the good work Buck

[Foss]

Very nice interview.

Quote:

Having said that, my hope is that with something like our engine we can make PC games much more quickly and easily and try to release smaller games that people can buy through download sites. We can then offer extensions (downloadable content) for those games and then build them up to larger games for the people that want that experience.

I am not a fan of downloable content, but I guess I have to get used to it.

Quote:

What we'd love to do instead is tackle something like Baldur's Gate 3 or create our own new fantasy world - or have we already been doing that?

While I would love a BG3, I get more the feeling that the 4th game they are working on will be in a "new fantasy world".

[BuckGB]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Foss While I would love a BG3, I get more the feeling that the 4th game they are working on will be in a "new fantasy world".

I'm undecided which way to take his comment. Given that they already have at least two or three high-profile titles in development (depending on the status of the Aliens RPG), would they set aside a team to start building an entirely new game and engine without first being approached by a publisher?

[Brother None]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GameBanshee News We learned so much from making NWN2 and would love to make another one. As for there actually being another one, personally, I would be surprised. If there was, there would be a lot of brand confusion between what Cryptic is doing and what we are doing.

Uh what? Did I miss something? Cryptic's NWN Online hasn't actually been announced yet, has it?

[BuckGB]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brother None Uh what? Did I miss something? Cryptic's NWN Online hasn't actually been announced yet, has it?

No, it hasn't. Feargus is either assuming the rumors are true or he knows for a fact that Cryptic is working on a Neverwinter Nights MMORPG. As with the BG3 quote, I guess we take it however we want.

[Brother None]

"is doing" is a pretty affirmative statement, and it'd seem natural to assume Obsidian would be involved in a consultative role in NWN Online. Slip of the tongue, I think, and all but a confirmation.

But I guess it's open to interpretation

Good interview regardless

[dragon wench]

Quote:

While I would love a BG3, I get more the feeling that the 4th game they are working on will be in a "new fantasy world".

Is it possible they are considering a BG3, but that they are waiting to see how Dragon Age fares first???
After all, since Dragon Age is apparently a similar type of game, perhaps its success, or lack thereof, would be a temperature gauge for market demand???

[Sannom]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BuckGB I'm undecided which way to take his comment. Given that they already have at least two or three high-profile titles in development (depending on the status of the Aliens RPG), would they set aside a team to start building an entirely new game and engine without first being approached by a publisher?

Well, look at it that way :

--- first, the engine isn't "under construction", it's already done It's probably the engine they created for the Aliens game (Onyx, was it?), and he calls it "new" because it hasn't been shown yet.
--- out of the three high-profile titles, one is a kind of big "extension" (Fallout : New Vegas), another one is very close to release (Alpha Protocol) and one is... indefinitely on hold?