Avowed previous in narrative license#

The studio also contacted Ubisoft looking to make a Might & Magic game, but Ubisoft instead ended up contracting with Arkane Studios on that project, which became Dark Messiah of Might & Magic. They approached Electronic Arts, but it did not result in a project. Upon its establishment, the studio needed more capital in order to keep its operation running, and thus needed to gain support from publishers. The team eventually chose 'Obsidian Entertainment', which they thought was strong, memorable, and felt similar to name of their old studio, Black Isle. The list included 'Scorched Earth' and 'Three Clown Software'. When choosing the name of the company, they had prepared a short list of names for them to choose. Parker, Urquhart, and Monahan invested $100,000 to $125,000 into their newly founded company. Īt the time of the company's establishment there were seven employees, including the company's five founders. Urquhart officially left Interplay in 2003 with Avellone, Parker, Monahan, and Jones, and founded Obsidian Entertainment with them the same year. He was in his early thirties at the time, and thought that if he did not start a new company soon, he may become too old to do so. Urquhart became convinced that staying at Black Isle was no longer a 'viable option' for the team, and decided to leave the company. Urquhart and most of the staff members were dissatisfied and frustrated with the cancellation, as the game had already been under development for a year and a half.

This led to the cancellation of Baldur's Gate III: The Black Hound.

Avowed previous in narrative license#

Most of these games were critically and commercially successful, but Interplay's financial situation was poor and the studio lost its license to produce Dungeons & Dragons-based games. At Black Isle they created several role-playing games including Icewind Dale, Planescape: Torment, and Fallout 2, and collaborated with BioWare on Neverwinter Nights, Baldur's Gate, and Baldur's Gate II. Prior to the establishment of Obsidian, they worked for Interplay Entertainment's subsidiary Black Isle Studios. Obsidian Entertainment was founded by Feargus Urquhart, Chris Avellone, Chris Parker, Darren Monahan and Chris Jones on June 12, 2003. Their latest release is the adventure survival game Grounded.Ĭhris Avellone (top) and Feargus Urquhart (bottom), two of the five founders of Obsidian 2003: Founding In November 2018, it was announced that the studio had been acquired by Microsoft and become part of Microsoft Studios (now known as Xbox Game Studios). The team's focus then changed from developing licensed titles to creating original games based on the studio's own intellectual property, including a sequel to Pillars of Eternity.

As a result, Obsidian decided to crowdfund their next game, Pillars of Eternity, a role-playing game played from an isometric perspective, which ultimately became a success and saved the studio from closure.

Due to having so many projects cancelled, the company entered a severe financial crisis in 2012. Throughout the studio's history, many projects-including Futureblight, Dwarfs, Aliens: Crucible, and Stormlands-were cancelled. Other notable works from Obsidian include Fallout: New Vegas, Dungeon Siege III, and South Park: The Stick of Truth, all of which are also licensed properties. The team then developed their first original game, Alpha Protocol, in 2010. Early projects included Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords and Neverwinter Nights 2, both sequels to BioWare-developed games. It was founded in June 2003, shortly before the closure of Black Isle Studios, by ex-Black Isle employees Feargus Urquhart, Chris Avellone, Chris Parker, Darren Monahan, and Chris Jones.Īlthough they have created original intellectual property, many of their games are sequels based on licensed properties. is an American video game developer based in Irvine, California.