An unexpected partnership has been announced today at GDC. Paradox Interactive, publisher of Paradox’s own grand strategy titles, Magicka and War of the Vikings will be publishing Obsidian’s upcoming Kickstarted fantasy RPG, Pillars of Eternity.
“We are partnering up with some awesome world class developers going forward,” says Paradox CEO Fred Wester. “We are partnering with Obsidian Entertainment to bring Pillars of Eternity to market later this year”
Paradox won’t be getting in the way of Obsidian doing their thing, Fred assures. “It’s Obsidian’s project. They retain creative control, it’s their IP. We are going to focus on marketing, distribution and Kickstarter fulfillment. Someone has to send out these T-shirts.”
And Obsidian has a lot of promises to fulfill. “We’ve got four and a half million in backing dollars from people so far,” says Obsidian CEO Feargus Urquhart “Every dollar get from everybody is going into the game. …We made a lot of promises. With the money that we have, we are going to fulfill every one of those promises.” One of these promises is the expansion mentioned in the Kickstarter pitch, and Obsidian is absolutely going to ship Pillars of Eternity this year, he says.
Urquhart didn’t want to go down the publishing route with Obsdian, he explains, which is why they studio is working with Paradox. “”They’re a bunch of crazy Swedes. More seriously… I worked at Interplay for 12 years from 1991 to 2003. I wouldn’t say we’re intimately familiar with publishing… We’re awesome at making games. That’s what we think about every day.”
The relationship may extend beyond Pillars of Eternity. “We look at this relationship as something long term,” says Fred. “We’re not sure where this relationship is going, but we have a good feeling so far.”