Archive: 9 posts

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Obsidian Entertainment's Chris Avellone revealed yesterday on Twitter that his company didn't get paid bonuses for Fallout: New Vegas because the game was one point shy of the required Metacritic score of 85. Apparently its publishing contract with Bethesda had a clause in it that said they would get a bonus for hitting a Metacritic score of 85, but because the game came in at 84 they didn't receive any extra money. The sad part of all this is that Fallout: New Vegas raked in over $300 million in sales (on five million units sold) for Bethesda by the end of 2010. Avellone's revelation came in response to a question about Fallout: New Vegas sales: "@Gahzcan FNV was a straight payment, no royalties, only a bonus if we got an 85+ on Metacritic, which we didn't," said Avellone. Yesterday it was revealed that Obsidian had let 20 - 30 employees go, scalping back the teams working on the South Park RPG for publisher THQ and an unnamed next-generation game project.

2012-03-15 23:50:00 Author: Ayneh Posts: 2454

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This is really low. I already had some animosity towards Bugthesda, as they can't be arsed to release a decently polished game, but this is something I'd expect from Activision.

2012-03-16 00:40:00 Author: SnipySev Posts: 2452

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Read this yesterday, sucks that game developers would be stupid enough to rely on one set of opinions instead of how well their game actually did. Hope it doesnt hurt the Southpark RPG, im looking forward to that game..

2012-03-16 00:59:00 Author: Bremnen Posts: 1800

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This is really low. I already had some animosity towards Bugthesda, as they can't be arsed to release a decently polished game, but this is something I'd expect from Activision. Now lets play a game. Let's try to work out how long it would take to clear every bug in a game like Skyrim without them being reported by people playing the game. You need a beta for that, and betas don't work when you need everyone to play every part of the game, because then no one will buy it. Of course there are going to be bugs. And while it is harsh that they were 1 point off, and while metacritic may not be the best thing to judge by, that was the deal and they agreed to it, so you can hardly hate Bethesda for that (and no, for the record I have no particular feelings for or against bethesda).

2012-03-17 20:19:00 Author: Unknown User

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Now lets play a game. Let's try to work out how long it would take to clear every bug in a game like Skyrim without them being reported by people playing the game. You would have thought potential quest conflicts could be detected early on by feeding all questline flags through a simple program. They get patched by the community within days. betas don't work when you need everyone to play every part of the game Frequent crashes, save file corruption and the framerate tanking after you exceed a set save file size have been issues since Fallout 3. that was the deal and they agreed to it, so you can hardly hate Bethesda for that Remember how the return of Obsidian to the Fallout franchise was being painted at the time. In retrospect it's pretty obvious what Bethesda was using them for.

2012-03-17 21:35:00 Author: Ayneh Posts: 2454

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The thing is, this isn't just a Bethesda thing. A lot of Western publishers do this. For example, I remember hearing EA basing Dead Space's developers off this back when that came out, though EA might not be doing that anymore. Anyway, the point being this isn't just a Bethesda thing. Not that I'm endorsing the practice, the opposite. It's just that the problem is way more widespread than you're making it appear :/ As for this particular situation... Well, the same as above. Do any other industries give bonuses based solely on about 40 opinions? I mean, if they had widespread quality checking systems where bonuses were based off more opinions than those 40, then sure. Plus seeing as how different sites review on different number scales, and, well, you all know. Anyway, a bad practice for the entire industry- not just Bethesda.

2012-03-17 22:51:00 Author: RockSauron Posts: 10882

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A perfect example is when you get an 89% as your final grade in a course that would otherwise bring your overall GPA to a 4.0 in college, and your professor is like "lol no kthxbai". Of course, they have the right to say so, but it's such a dickish move.

2012-03-18 10:17:00 Author: Whalio Cappuccino Posts: 5250

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A perfect example is when you get an 89% as your final grade in a course that would otherwise bring your overall GPA to a 4.0 in college, and your professor is like "lol no kthxbai". Of course, they have the right to say so, but it's such a dickish move. It looks like a dickish move to us, but if you sign a contract that explicitly states you need 85% or higher to get a bonus, you need to get that...

2012-03-18 14:46:00 Author: Unknown User

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Sucks but Alex has a point. They realized this was the deal and they agreed to it. Also, for future reference: Bethesda publishing (Hunted, Wet, Brink, etc.) and Bethesda games (Elder Scrolls, Fallout 3, etc.) are two different things. Todd Howard didn't point a mighty finger and say 'NO BONUS FOR YOU' or anything.

2012-03-23 18:56:00 Author: Testudini Posts: 3262

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