14 DAY TRIAL // Developer Obsidian and publisher Paradox Interactive surprised a large number of gamers when they announced that they were entering a deal that would see the Swedish company support the launch of the upcoming Pillars of Eternity, especially when it came to marketing and distribution.
And the company says that if the partnership is successful and other similar projects appear on the market, this might be the first instance of a new long-term initiative.
Fredrik Wester, the leader of Paradox Interactive, tells Rock, Paper, Shotgun that, “It depends on the project and the team, obviously. We want to work with developers who share our vision, to develop great games and deliver more of a full experience to the gamer. We’re talking a lot about fulfilling a gamer lifestyle.”
The publisher will not influence the development of Pillars of Eternity in any way in the coming months, but it will work with Obsidian to make sure that the game is in the best shape possible before it is launched.
At the same time, the two companies are looking for innovative ways to market the old-school role playing game and make sure that it reaches the largest audience possible.
The CEO also playfully suggested that they might be interested in working with InXile, which is led by Brian Fargo, to create a similar marketing and distribution deal for the upcoming spiritual successor for Planescape: Torment.
Feargus Urquhart, the leader of Obsidian, has also revealed that his company has been in contact with a number of other publishers.
He explains that, “We’re just little – 90 million dollars didn’t go into this game, so you get a junior PR person half the time. After having a few conversations, there was one other publisher that we did talk to more. But in the end, Paradox felt like the right choice.”
Paradox Interactive is best known for their grand strategy titles like Crusader Kings II and Europa Universalis IV, but they are also branching into the role-playing space with their all new Runemaster.
Obsidian has long worked in the genre and they are aiming to revive it with the launch of Pillars of Eternity.
The title was entirely funded via a crowd-backed effort and Obsidian has been offering constant updates on the development process, with the most recent info concerning the power of the wizards and druids to deal with crowds of enemies.