In what could be a blow to Linux gamers who are fans of Obsidian RPGs, Microsoft is apparently close to acquiring the studio.
Kotaku writes:
One person with knowledge of the deal told Kotaku they’d heard it was “90%” finished. Said a second person: “It’s a matter of when, not if.”
So that sounds basically certain, that Microsoft will soon own Obsidian. Both Microsoft and Obsidian declined to comment on the rumour of course, as companies usually do when deals aren't yet finished.
Naturally, this will be a worry to Linux gamers since this could mean future Obsidian titles may not arrive on Linux like they have before. Obsidian has given Linux fans Pillars of Eternity, Pillars of Eternity II and Tyranny recently so it would be a huge shame not to have their next story-driven RPG land on Linux.
Microsoft acquiring anyone always makes me feel quite uneasy, since they could end up requiring future games they publish to be exclusive to their own store therefore locking out Steam. At least if they stayed on Steam and didn't do a Linux version (for whatever reason) of their next set of games, we would have Steam Play's Proton so it wouldn't be such a major issue.
However, Microsoft seems to have done a good job at letting Mojang continue doing their thing with the Java edition of Minecraft so perhaps it will work out okay.
What are your thoughts?
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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The comments on this article are closed.
Sadly, if Microsoft is going to continue to offer Obsiddian native ports to Linux, then they are in fact playing by the rules. Here's Tux, where's bux? So at that point it's a matter of whether the game is any good or whether Microsoft has milked it for everything possible but continue to stamp out new ones like with the Halo series
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linuxjacques Oct 9, 2018
Speaking of Halo. I remember when MS bought Bungie.
Halo was originally going to be a Mac game. :><:
Halo was originally going to be a Mac game. :><:
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Quoting: GuestThey sell cloud computing with Linux on it because otherwise they would be cut out of the market. But the bottom line is their biggest cash cows have traditionally been from monopolies, where they can jack up prices and you buy them or you have nothing. They got the desktop OS and office software, and these have been reliable cash cows for them and formed their springboard for doing many other things.Quoting: tmtvlkotaku lol.
So chances of MS actually buying Obsidian are like... what, ~3%?
I hope you are right.
That said M$ is active on many fronts and they do not need to be dominant on "PC" to make lots of money. They will happily sell you cloud computing with Linux on it if that makes them earn dough.
They tried real hard to get browser monopoly, and for a while it looked like they would succeed. For you youngsters, look up "Spyglass browser" sometime. They tried strenuously for quite a few years to kill all the Unixes and dominate the server space. Fortunately they sucked too bad to compete effectively there; efficiency matters on servers. They didn't notice search as being important until it was too late or they would have tried to monopolize that too.
They would much prefer to monopolize the cloud, sell it with only Windows, create corrupted "standards" jimmied to be impossible for competitors to use, and jack up their margins. They don't do that because they can't, not because they don't want to. So instead they sell what people are buying, and a lot of what people are buying is Linux. And then to make a bit of lemonade from those bitter lemons of defeat they're sucking on, they get some propaganda value from it: "Look! We're not big bad ugly monopolists any more! We luuuuv Linux and open source and open standards (even if the Open Document standard still doesn't work worth $#@! in Office)!" None of this makes MS unusual; all companies would like to have a monopoly on something people need, that's how you make windfall profits. It's just for most, it never comes up.
Mind you, there are probably lots of people working at Microsoft who actually do like Linux and open source and open standards, because Microsoft tries to hire skilled people and skilled tech people tend to like that kind of stuff because as far as I can figure, the more of a techie you are, the more you will find closed getting in your way. And there are doubtless a fair number of others who believe their own company's propaganda. But at the core, MS as a company will stop trying to acquire monopolies and shut down open things around the time of their final de-listing from the stock exchanges.
Last edited by Purple Library Guy on 10 October 2018 at 4:00 pm UTC
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Mind you, I have to admit there's something fitting about Microsoft owning Tyranny.
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I feel like it's more important to buy any remaining Obsidian games on my wish list DRM-free. *walks over to GOG*
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Quoting: slaapliedjeWell, currently Obsidian games are published via Paradox, which is probably a large reason why they have DRM-Free and Linux versions in the first place.Pillars of Eternity II is published by Versus Evil.
As for the rumors, we'll see what happens if it even happens. The games industry is rather cutthroat and over the last few years I've gained an increasing appreciation for just how little in profit margin most companies actually see. Even with crowdfunding or a hit or two, too many medium and large sized companies flirt with bankruptcy all the time. And it's not like it's a cakewalk for small indies either, who often have to go into personal savings to fund projects. It's why I try to buy games I really enjoy at close to full price whenever I can. I wish the best for the Obsidian staff no matter what and hope that there won't be a Telltale-like situation playing out if this supposed deal falls through.
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But wait... Microsoft loves Linux. Remember?
Lolz.
Lolz.
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slaapliedje Oct 10, 2018
Quoting: g000hI think my least favourite acquisition by Microsoft so far was that of Nokia. They didn't outright acquire it, just take it over for a few (7 ?) years. Nokia had just been putting out super Linux mobiles - The N900 and then the N9. Marvellous phones for their generation.
Microsoft's plan seemed to be to demolish the existing phone tech, push Windows mobile onto all new devices, and when things went down the toilet (competing against Apple and Google failed), then they pulled out leaving Nokia with a much worse company to rebuild.
Meanwhile, during the take-over, there was a splinter-group of irked ex-Nokia employees who went to form the Jolla mobile company running their own SailfishOS Linux operating system. Jolla is still running but unfortunately isn't doing as well as it had hoped. Meanwhile, I wish Nokia would resurrect those Linux operating systems (Maemo and Meego) and re-release updated versions on new phones.
Meanwhile, it is perfectly possible that a bunch of Obsidian staff (e.g. More than just the Linux devs) will not be happy with such an acquisition, and will leave Obsidian/Microsoft and form their own new indie splinter-company ;) [And I've seen the same happen before, not just with Nokia / Jolla - "Personal experience."]
I still have my Jolla shirt, but they still owe me like 100 dollars for the tablet I never got.
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slaapliedje Oct 10, 2018
Quoting: KingtabbycatThe chances for a native version of KOTOR just dropped a drastic amount (not to say they were high in the first place!) :S:
KOTOR was developed by Bioware, KOTOR 2 was developed by Obsidian and already has a native release.
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