Fallout New Vegas 'was only entitled bonuses with 85 score'
Downsized California studio Obsidian lost out on bonus pay for the RPG Fallout New Vegas because its Metacritic score was one point below the threshold, a developer at the studio has claimed.
Publisher Bethesda was not permitted to pay additional royalties for the RPG because it scored 84 on Metacritic, according to Fallout New Vegas developer Chris Avellone.
It appears that Obsidian’s publishing contract included a deal that meant the studio would be issued bonuses if the game hit a Metacritic of 85.
By the end of 2010, some 5 million copies of Fallout New Vegas had shipped worldwide, achieving revenue of about $300 million.
@Gahzcan FNV was a straight payment, no royalties, only a bonus if we got an 85+ on Metacritic, which we didn't.Advertisement
— Chris Avellone (@ChrisAvellone) March 14, 2012
Yesterday it emerged that Obsidian had made as many as thirty staff redundant due to a project cancellation.
The studio is developing a South Park RPG for publisher THQ, with speculation suggesting a separate triple-A project has been cancelled.
How can you create a game that makes $300m revenue and then have to lay off staff?
Bob, they don't own the rights to the game. They act just as a contractor for Bethesda. But its kinda frakked up that you miss 5 mil by one metacritic point which isn t even a standart for anything and the fact that they made 300 million bucks but are not granted that bonus anyways. But that shows that obsidian made actually a bad deal.
This is the *real* problem in the games industry, money is not going to the workers, it all goes to the manipulators with the finance and power.
Bethseda were not obliged by law, but that makes it no less right. Are we all just out for ourselves? And if the $300m does not go to the people who made the game, who does it go to?
Obsidian were caught out by a very very bad deal and took a gamble on getting a favourable review, but Bethseda have a social obligation to be *fair*. Contractors or not, signed deal or not they were cheated.
So forget preowned and all that malarkey, $300m was just leaked out of the hands of paying staff to make future titles (minus marketing, etc.).
This is exactly why I've been in SO many arguments with the team about bonuses. Great if you get them after all that hard work, but a total bummer if you don't and have STILL put in all that hard work.
Are they thinking that if they's spent that one extra night working 'till midnight that they'd have got the bonus.
My heart goes out to them.
'Obsidian were caught out by a very very bad deal and took a gamble on getting a favourable review, but Bethseda have a social obligation to be *fair*. Contractors or not, signed deal or not they were cheated.'
No, they have an obligation to follow the terms of the agreement they signed. The childish idea that you should be able to gamble (on bonuses, on your second house selling for more than you spent buying it, on greek bonds) and lose and still collect winnings because it is "fair" is responsible for most of the economic problems in the developed world today. Not everyone gets to drive a ferrari, not everyone gets to bang a supermodel, and not everyone gets to go home from Vegas a winner.
In short, get a job commie.
