Pillars of Eternity - How Kickstarter Saved Obsidian @ Kotaku

Jason Schreier about Obsidian, Pillars of Eternity and how Kickstarter saved them.

In 2012, Obsidian Entertainment almost fell apart. The independent game studio had just suffered a major blow—the cancellation of a big-budget role-playing game they were developing with Microsoft—and they were struggling to make ends meet in the midst of an uncertain, transitional gaming industry.

Josh Sawyer, one of the company’s public faces and the veteran game designer who directed Fallout: New Vegas, suggested they launch a Kickstarter. With crowdfunding, he argued, they could make the one game they all wanted to make—an isometric fantasy RPG—without having to give up creative control to an outside investor or publisher. On top of that, they could own what they made—no longer would they be shackled to a big corporation’s license, like they were with New Vegas, Alpha Protocol, and all of the other RPGs they’d developed since first forming in 2004.

The idea was compelling to some at Obsidian—including a few other staffers who had independently suggested or thought the same thing—but some of the higher-ups disagreed, Sawyer told me. Some were skeptical that they’d even be able to raise over $100,000, let alone hit any sort of reasonable budget for a modern video game. [...]