Apparently Obsidian, creators of Pillars of Eternity and other RPGs, had a chance to create a Game of Thrones game, but ultimately turned the offer down. However, their reason is pretty sound–this was back in 2005, before the books were adapted into the popular TV show. At the time, Obsidian didn’t know how exactly they could turn the source material into a game.
Obsidian CEO Feargus Urquhart spoke to Eurogamer about the decision:
“My feeling was, understanding the IP at the time, it’s about this political intrigue, and people’s connection to the IP is to all these characters – that’s how the books are written, each chapter is a person and what’s happening to them,”
“Other than what weird stuff is going on beyond The Wall, and the dragons, and some hint [of fantasy/magic], there are no magic users, there are no clerics, no thieves. Basically there’s dudes with swords and armour and a little bit of mysticism, but within the main land [the Seven Kingdoms] there’s no goblins, no kobolds…”
“So maybe there could have been something we could have done, but we were starting to think more about open-world RPGs, and we wanted our players to have agency, to be important in the world.”
What it boils down to is that while Game of Thrones is a fantasy series, it was difficult to adapt into an RPG because… well, there isn’t much to fight, and the conflicts were more political in nature. Of course, you have to remember this was before the TV series inserted more supernatural elements to the series.
The Vice President of development Chris Parker has more to add:
“You can’t give the player a character they can play that is important in this world. All of the important characters are all clearly spelled out and you can’t even really go have a conversation with them.”
There is plenty more to read at Eurogamer’s interview.
Would you have liked to have seen an Obsidian developed Game of Thrones title?
[Source: Eurogamer]
