Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire Interviews

With the April 3, 2018 release of Obsidian’s Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire looming on the horizon, MCV spoke with a couple of people involved in the seafaring RPG’s production. Their first interview is with the game’s design director Josh Sawyer. In it, he talks about the crowdfunded nature of Deadfire, the importance of community feedback for such a project, and the future of Obsidian as a studio. Here’s a bit about the latter:

LOOKING AHEAD

Deadfire is certainly not the end of the road for the Pillars of Eternity franchise. Obsidian has about a bazillion ideas for the future of the IP.

“We always have to think about the future even if we are not necessarily working on it,” Sawyer says. “If Deadfire is successful, we are probably going to make a third game, but I also think that there are other possibilities for this IP. I’m working on a tabletop RPG set in the Pillars world. We are also looking at options for things like an exploration first-person style of game set in the Pillars universe. We’re also interested in a turn-based tactics game that is less focussed on exploration and more on tactical combat. A lot of fans have offered opinions on that and I think a game like that could have a broader reach. So really we view the Pillars IP not as something that is just strictly for this style of game, there’s lot more potential for it.”

And that logic applies to other projects: Obsidian doesn’t want to be a one IP, one genre studio.

“Being able to develop and own their own IP is the sort of dream that companies have. And it took us quite a long time to get to the point where we could actually do that, now that we have it we really want to make the most use of it,” Sawyer continues. “Hopefully once we have a solid enough footing we can have additional IPs that we also retain control over. We like doing fantasy games but there’s more to role-playing games than just fantasy. And a lot of us like the idea of more radical RPGs, things like Alpha Protocol… I think people liked working on it because it was a role-playing game that was modern day espionage, which is not often explored.”

Whether or not these projects will see the light of day thanks to crowdfunding remains to be seen however, as Sawyer highlights the uncertainty of the platform… and the pressure of the process on developers.

“Crowdfunding is still such a new thing, even after all these years. It’s unclear how long all of this will be viable. So it’ll be interesting to see where things go in the future.

“I do think that the initial rush is over now. In my mind I’m hoping it settles into something that is a little more predictable, because even though it’s great when you succeed, it’s very nerve-racking and anxiety-inducing to be involved in these campaigns.”

And then, from the other side of the publisher-developer relationship, we have an interview with Versus Evil’s general manager Steve Escalante, where he praises Obsidian as one of the best RPG developers out there and mentions his high expectations for Deadfire:

Picking up this specific project was a no-brainer for Versus Evil, Escalante explains: “First and foremost, it’s Obsidian and they are one of the top-tier RPG developers. Plain and simple. Having been a fan of RPGs for most of my life, it was a bit of a geek-out phase for myself going ‘Wow, this would be really amazing if we can work with the Obsidian teams’.”

He continues: “If you’re a fan of RPGs, [Deadfire] is the one you need to play. Being able to dive into a big RPG again is what I’m the most excited about but the setting and everything that they’ve done is just fantastic. The systems, the stories and the dynamic that they bring with them are just awesome.”

With the title being crowdfunded, it slightly changes what is expected from the publisher. However, Versus Evil is no stranger to this situation.

“We’ve been dealing with crowdfunded titles, The Banner Saga being one of them, so we’re very familiar with the process,” Escalante says. “We need to go into the deal understanding that there are a bunch of promises that have been made to consumers. So really it just affects your initial planning, if nothing else. Crowdfunding campaigns are really interesting because they help build the brand and the excitement.”

Games like Pillars of Eternity benefit from a very keen and vocal community, which helps to spread the word about the sequel. As a result, Escalante has high expectations for Deadfire.

“Putting it plainly we hope and expect that we can meet or exceed the launch of Pillars,” he says. “Our goal is to build on the brand. We hope to not only bring in our former fans, but build on that and expand the audience.”