Fallout: New Vegas dev making XBLA RPG

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 1 March, 2011

And a fantasy game and a licensed game.

Fallout: New Vegas and Alpha Protocol maker Obsidian is making an original Xbox Live Arcade action role-playing game.

It's also working on a "great idea for a new world" and an older pitch for a fantasy game called Defiance.

That's in addition to ongoing work on Fallout: New Vegas downloadable content for Bethesda and Dungeon Siege III for Square Enix. Busy, busy, busy.

"As a studio, we have some original ideas and stories to tell," CEO Feargus Urquhart told Game Revolution.

"We have a great idea for a new world we've just started pitching to publishers and we have an older pitch that we really liked called 'Defiance' which is about a fantasy world where, basically, Sauron won.

"Everything isn't happy in The Shire, they didn't get the ring in the fire and the hobbits are all dead. We think that's a cool pitch and we hope to have a publisher pick that up at some point.

"We're also working on an original IP XBLA game, so that hopefully will be out first quarter next year. It'll be an action RPG that's focused on fun, not Dungeon Seige, it's quite a bit different in a different genre with a different camera.

"We also might throw our hat in the whole free-to-play thing. In the game industry there's a lot of different opportunities for all different kinds of products."

And, on top of all that, Obsidian is working on a licensed IP set for a reveal in June.

"When people hear about it they're going to be, 'well you had to do that. there's no option, if I was a developer and I was offered that I would just do it,'" he said.

"I'm hoping that'll be announced around E3."

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (29) Latest comment 1 year ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • LHH #1 1 year ago

    Let us hope it's not full of bugs and barely works on release day.

    Makes you wonder how all those bugs slip through when they're so busy busy busy

  • PixelPirate #2 1 year ago

    Everything isn't happy in The Shire, they didn't get the ring in the fire and the hobbits are all dead. We think that's a cool pitch and we hope to have a publisher pick that up at some point.

    Thats not a cool pitch, thats the idea of a seven year old. And i am also sure EA have already done a "dark" version of what could have happened, also written by a young child, showing little imagination.

  • GamesConnoisseur #3 1 year ago

    Likewise hoping for game breaking bugs free experience... Obsidian certainly have the reputation, but still looking forward to the XBLA Action RPG game.

  • metalangel #4 1 year ago

    Bug Quest: Search For The Patches.

  • Olemak #5 1 year ago

    "Welcome to Generica - a world of dark fantasy, epic betrayl and desperate struggle etc".

  • menage #6 1 year ago

    I'm seriously considering not buying any Obsidian games ever again. Bugs took all the fun out of NV for me.

  • Ultrasoundwave #7 1 year ago

    Im a huge fan of Obsidian.

    KOTOR II, Alpha Protocol and Fallout : NV are all excellent efforts. Will gladly welcome any new game from these guys.

  • Tryhard #8 1 year ago

    Yeah they sound busy,and shows.Too busy to test their products for bugs before release.zingggg.

  • DavidBoring #9 1 year ago

    Everything isn't happy in The Shire, they didn't get the ring in the fire and the hobbits are all dead.

    so, basically it is demon's souls

  • coomber #10 1 year ago

    @Ultrasoundwave

    Totally agree with you. I was hoping the game to be revealed in June was going to be an Alpha Protocol sequel, although I don't see that happening. Wonder what it is...

    http://uk.gamespot.com/pc/action/thewhee...
    Edited by coomber at 01/03/11 @ 13:56

  • Cronan #11 1 year ago

    Everything isn't happy in The Shire, they didn't get the ring in the fire and the hobbits are all dead.

    So, an "edgy" re-imagining of a popular RPG. Oh God.

  • MiniAmin #12 1 year ago

    If this is anything like Obsidian's console games, we can expect 25 hours of gameplay for 400 points \o/

  • Evolution #13 1 year ago

    @PixelPirate

    I don't think he was literally talking about a LOTR game...

    Love Obsidian (despite the bugs), more games is good news.

  • DoctorFinger #14 1 year ago

    Obsidian announced last year that they're working in some capacity on a Wheel of Time game, so that's likely the licensed property he's talking about.

  • Inigo #15 1 year ago

    Obsidian where working on Baldurs Gate 3 before it was cancelled in the same way as the abortive Fallout 3. Hopefully they'll get a second chance with that.

    They new dark fantasy game could be really cool, there at there best when they are working more darker worlds.

  • waynenot #16 1 year ago

    Wonder what the excuses will be this time? No thanks, Obsidian - three buggy, unfinished games is my limit. Start caring about what you do a bit more.

  • Lord_BeeJee #17 1 year ago

    More Obsidian games = me happy
    Somehow fallout nv liked my pc, had a few crashes in dozens of hours playtime and noticed no other big problems. And I liked NV back many time :)

  • Murton #18 1 year ago

    "I'm seriously considering not buying any Obsidian games ever again. Bugs took all the fun out of NV for me."

    Blame Bethesda for using the widely discredited GameBryo engine, it's not Obsidians fault that they were tied to middleware that doesn't work properly.

    More Obsidian games, developed from the ground up rather than using other people's work as a launchpad, can only be a good thing, if for no other reason than it will allow people to see the true talent in Obsidian and restore their reputation as quality RPG makers. Looking forward to Dungeon Siege 3 and while I won't get to play their new XBLA game, I look forward to see what it's about all the same.

  • Crea #19 1 year ago

    I'd love for these guys to have a serious hit. They seem a bit trapped in a cycle of work-for-hire, when every one of their games I've played tells me they have the kind of talent that really deserves to get a bit of financial breathing space.

    An Obsidian game with the development time and resources to do it full justice would be truly excellent.

    On the flip side, great that the company owners are keeping the studio books filled with work.

  • gamerBOB #20 1 year ago

    @menege - I don't know, the start of the game really made me laugh with the spinning head an all :p

  • WinterSnowblind #21 1 year ago

    Every one of Obsidians games has been pretty buggy but this has always been because of the publisher. Bethesda, Lucas and Sega are to blame for the unfinished state of the games, not Obsidian themselves.

  • Machiavellian #22 1 year ago

    Obsidian has been doing a damn solid job with the IPs they are given but they also have a problem of having a lot of bugs in their games as well. I love Obsidian as a developer, they are very talented I just believe they do not have enough QA people to test their work.

  • JayG #23 1 year ago

    I'd love a Alpha Protocol sequel, shame that the original wasn't a success.

  • Roamer #24 1 year ago

    Alpha Protocol was a surprisingly polished and deep RPG, if you ask me. More games from Obsidian can only be a good thing - they are one of the few developers left who still make deep RPG's. I'll pre-order anything they make. Even if it just means buying some Microsoft points one month in advance.

  • Farzlepot #25 1 year ago

    Obsidian's last few games have had an aura of greatness about them, but this has been buried beneath bugs and unfinished concepts.

    And this has always been the fault of the publisher that hired them!

    Take KotOR 2, one of their high profile games. They were rushed to release, and there was no way for them to finish everything properly and iron out the bugs in the time they were allotted. But you just knew that had they been allowed to work at their own pace, it could have easily surpassed the original.

    The same thing with FONV. They were stuck with a crappy engine and had to fit a colossal game into a very short Dev cycle. Had they had more time, what they were working on could easily have trumped FO3 in every way imaginable.

    I have hope that if they work on their own ideas, at their own pace, with their own tech, they could easily create a masterpiece. These are, predominantly, the same guys who ave us the original Fallout, afterall.

  • metalangel #26 1 year ago

    @Wintersnowblind: and who's to blame for all the bugs in Fallout 3? Obsidian weren't involved.

  • Gecks #27 1 year ago

    is this going to be another bug hunt, sir?

  • Ellusion #28 1 year ago

    Bloody hell, please don't mix in any Obsidian with my Dungeon Siege. The FNV fiasco will take a lot of time to rebuild any sort of confidence, in both Bethesda and Obsidian. That Obsidian is still working on FNV frankly scares me. Atleast Bethesda got on the ball and fixed the gamebreaking bugs after a while.

    "Blame Bethesda for using the widely discredited GameBryo engine, it's not Obsidians fault that they were tied to middleware that doesn't work properly."

    Not the case. Several other developers with far less resources have used the Gamebryo engine to make fantastic bug-free games; even incorporating features Bethesda said were impossible and opted for cheap opt-outs (like easily climbable ladders). Methinks it's a classic case of user-error.

  • Daikon #29 1 year ago

    Fallout New Vegas was IMO the best game that came out last year. The most fun I had playing video games in any case, and that's what it's all about.
    Don't let a couple of bugsy-wugsies spoil your fun so much that you have to continuously complain on the internets.
    Looking forward to Obsidian's next project.