Hope For Black Isle Studios

Even with Interplay’s financial instability, J.E. Sawyer and Feargus Urquhart stopped by to post several replies on the official Black Isle message boards, shedding some light on what the developer’s current situation is. Here are several posts that give us some hope that BIS *will* release future RPGs:

Post #1

Okay.

Remember the two projects that Feargus mentioned a while ago? They’re closer to being done.

Post #2

I’ll expand a little bit on the previous statement.

We are not being excessively rushed to finish the projects we are working on. I know that was a fear among some fans. I think Feargus, the producers, and all of the leads believe that we are working on reasonable schedules.

The circumstances that prevent us from announcing our projects are currently completely out of our control. We are just developers. We are working at a brisk pace and, while we are watching the sky, I believe that most of us do not expect it to fall.

I know that, given Interplay’s current situation, a lot of people expect the company to fold and/or for BIS employees to break and run. I think most of us would rather lock on bayonets and keep marching forward.

Post #3

I want to stay at Black Isle and make RPGs with the people here. I do not want to go to Ion Storm, or Ensemble, or BioWare. While I would not mind working at those companies, I would like it much less than working at Black Isle. While I could possibly make more money and have better job security working at those companies, the difference in money is not worth the difference in the type of games that they make.

I have been frustrated in the past with my job. I have considered leaving. At one point, I almost did leave. Eventually, I decided that leaving the company that was responsible for my introduction to CRPGs was more like suicide than staying with it in a time of great difficulty and potential failure. If you don’t understand, believe, or agree with the motivation I have presented, that’s unfortunate. This is what I am trying to save. Black Isle. As overly-sentimental and ridiculous as that sounds, that’s really what I’m trying to do. I may not be that great of a designer, but Chris Avellone is. And Dave Maldonado is. And so are most of the other designers at Black Isle. I enjoy working with them. I enjoy making games with them. If BIS disintegrates, I lose the ability to work and think in their company.

I’m still getting a paycheck. I’m still making games. Though I’m sometimes frustrated with the obstacles that stand in my way, I have decided that I will take the time and risk to overcome them.

Post #4

As a further update on something that affects BIS, Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance is getting extremely laudatory reviews and is selling very well. Snowblind Studios did an excellent job with the title. BIS’ Chris Avellone, Darren Monahan, Kevin Osburn and others also contributed significantly to the final product.

I know some of our PC fans don’t look favorably upon BIS’ involvement in the development and publishing of console titles, but BG:DA is helping us out a lot.

Post #5

BIS is a part of Interplay, as everyone knows; our fate is tied to theirs. Black Isle has had a series of profitable titles and two canceled projects. We know that we have the ability to make good games. We also know that we are fallible. Our two current projects were originally on a tighter (some might say unreasonable) schedule. Now they are on a more reasonable schedule, thanks in part to Feargus.

Objective consumers can view the situation however they want to. When we come out with a new game, they can sniff it, poke it, prod it, look at reviews, and decide whether or not they want to buy it. You exercised this caution with TotLM because you were unhappy with HoW. Other consumers have the same opportunities. Their fate isn’t tied to BIS. Though they may miss our games, there are plenty of other titles out there that can occupy their time.

I was intentionally vague with my initial statement. We are, indeed, closer to being done with our two projects. How close? I won’t even dare to make any estimates on another title’s production schedule unless I go insane. I’m done playing fortune teller. Leave it to meteorologists and political scientists.

And here’s one from Feargus Urquhart:

While I can’t go into detail about how things are going, I can say that things are going fine. We are continuuing to work on our projects and work with external developers on other projects. In fact, we recently signed a new developer to work with us on another out of house project.

Succinctly, our inability to talk about what we are doing is in no way a sign that we aren’t doing anything.