‘There’s still room for classic RPGs’, Obsidian says

Titles such as The Witcher III and Skyrim may be the leading names in the modern RPG market, but Pillars of Eternity developer Obsidian says there’s still a huge demand for old-school isometric role playing games.

In an interview with MCV about its new RPG title Tyranny, Obsidian game director Brian Heins said that the performance of recent titles in this sector proves that there is still an audience.

2014’s Wasteland 2 made $1.5m in revenue in four days, while Obsidian’s own Pillars of Eternity sold more than 500,000 copies on Steam in 2015.

Compared to current RPG heavyweights, such as CD Projekt Red’s Witcher franchise and The Elder Scrolls series from Bethesda, these classic RPGs usually don’t look very modern, as most of its prominent entries were released in the late ‘90s and early ‘00s – such as 1996’s Diablo, 1997’s Fallout or 1998’s Baldur’s Gate.

I think there’s absolutely room for classic RPGs like Tyranny,” Heins told MCV.

The success of Pillars of Eternity, Wasteland 2, and Divinity: Original Sin – just to name a few – have shown that there’s a vocal audience that loves these types of games and wants to play more of them. As a fan of this type of RPG for many years, I’m thrilled to be able to develop more of them.”

You can read more from Obsidian on Tyranny in this week’s MCV.