HOT RUMOR: Feargus Urquhart quits

Saint_Proverbius · Post by **Saint_Proverbius** » Wed Apr 16, 2003 2:07 am

[Company -> Update]

I've just recieved anonymous word that our friend, and yours, Mr. Feargus Urquhart has quit <A href="Http://www.blackisle.com">Black Isle Studios</a>, the division he's been in charge of since it was founded in 1998.
 
 Welp, that's just... screwed.
 
 Well, if it turns out to be true.. Good luck on the job hunt, Feargus. You could come write editorials for DAC in the mean time!

S4ur0n27 · Post by **S4ur0n27** » Wed Apr 16, 2003 2:10 am

omg, he won't be able to put his super cool minigun effects in a fallout game!!

Spazmo · Post by **Spazmo** » Wed Apr 16, 2003 2:11 am

I don't buy it. He enjoys screwing us over. I say that if he is not at BIS anymore, he got fired.

Mad Max RW · Post by **Mad Max RW** » Wed Apr 16, 2003 2:11 am

I'll believe it when I see it, but won't be surprised at all if it's true.

atoga · Post by **atoga** » Wed Apr 16, 2003 2:14 am

ooh, a hot rumor. seems more like a cheap trick.
seems like Fergie's just toying with us and trying to make BIS look dumber?

Jimmyjay86 · Post by **Jimmyjay86** » Wed Apr 16, 2003 3:10 am

I found this post over at the BIS board from back in January:

Feargus Urquhart wrote:To put it very succinctly, I did not get into this industry to make crappy games. I think early on I believed in creating the masterpiece, but that is not something I still prescribe to anymore. That's for a number of reasons, but mostly because there is no reason to limit myself to that. If my next game is going to be "the" masterpiece, what is my next game after that going to be - "the real" masterpiece?

As a lot of you have hypothesized - money makes the world go round. We need money to pay our rent, buy clothes, and buy cheezy poofs and Lego Star Destroyers. To get that money we have to draw a pay check. One of my responsibilities is make sure that the 50+ people in Black Isle continue to draw pay checks. I think sometimes that I focus too much on this and it makes me make decisions that are too cash conscious. I've worked somewhat on changing that, but it still has to be in the back of my mind.

So since I need to make sure that people get paychecks, I do from time to time have to compromise games either through limiting the resources that the teams can draw upon or the amount of time they have to make a game. I know from experience that giving a team all of the resources they want is not a recipe for a good game, it's often a recipe for a bad game. And, not giving a team a tight deadline is also another recipe for disaster. Development projects, especially RPGs, are prone to grow like a gold fish in a pool if things are not managed carefully. The problem with that is as they get bigger they are harder to make good games and release them with as few bugs as possible.

The bigger question that I try to answer is not whether we can make a quality game. I know that we can. The bigger question is what should make up that game. Society is always changing and when we need to take those changes into account might sound a little to big picture, but it really becomes pertinent. There was an article in the Atlantic Monthly a while ago about the current freshman of college students at an Ivy League school and how they compared to students of twenty or thirty years ago. It was interesting comment on how society might be changing. Based upon how they are different, should our games be changed? That's the kind of questions I try to answer. Ultimately it is things like that which can help determine whether we can continue to make "good" games, which is a separate issue from quality.

As you can see I'm avoiding a discussion of whether I think I have done a good job. I will of course say that I think I have under the conditions that I have been put under, while others will disagree. My employees tell me that I still contribute positively to the games that are being created in Black Isle. They could just be kissing my *beep*, but at some point you have to take what people say to you at face value.
_________________
Feargus Urquhart
President
Black Isle Studios

axelgreese · Post by **axelgreese** » Wed Apr 16, 2003 3:18 am

Saint_Proverbius wrote:Well, if it turns out to be true.. Good luck on the job hunt, Feargus. You could come write editorials for DAC in the mean time!

I can see it now.... Feargus Urquhart, On the importance of totally bitchin' paricle effecrostzors!

Killzig · Post by **Killzig** » Wed Apr 16, 2003 3:31 am

the source is very reliable.

Post by **DarkUnderlord** » Wed Apr 16, 2003 3:34 am

He gone to work for Fargo?

Jimmyjay86 · Post by **Jimmyjay86** » Wed Apr 16, 2003 3:34 am

Killzig wrote:the source is very reliable.

It better be, it looks like Voodoo Extreme picked it up:

http://www.ve3d.com/

axelgreese · Post by **axelgreese** » Wed Apr 16, 2003 3:47 am

Jimmyjay86 wrote: It better be, it looks like Voodoo Extreme picked it up:

http://www.ve3d.com/

Try and access dac from there.... hehehe

morris · Post by **morris** » Wed Apr 16, 2003 11:29 am

Saint_Proverbius wrote:I've just recieved anonymous word that our friend, and yours, Mr. Feargus Urquhart has quit <A href="Http://www.blackisle.com">Black Isle Studios</a>, the division he's been in charge of since it was founded in 1998.

Welp, that's just... screwed.

Well, if it turns out to be true.. Good luck on the job hunt, Feargus. You could come write editorials for DAC in the mean time!

I wonder if they're hiring for the position... and if I could get hired on a very strict "must make Fallout 3" stance.

Dan · Post by **Dan** » Wed Apr 16, 2003 11:30 am

HAHA, I guess that chat session he had in #Fallout cracked him...

Mr Carrot · Post by **Mr Carrot** » Wed Apr 16, 2003 12:16 pm

bah feargus seemed like he could make FO3 well especially after that empassioned plea about how he didnt like the stuff in fo2.

Jimmyjay86 · Post by **Jimmyjay86** » Wed Apr 16, 2003 1:44 pm

Is there a chat log?

Mr Carrot · Post by **Mr Carrot** » Wed Apr 16, 2003 2:31 pm

I think it was an email or summit.

Dan · Post by **Dan** » Wed Apr 16, 2003 2:48 pm

Jimmyjay86 wrote:Is there a chat log?

Hmmm... Only if someone that was there loged it, I know I didn't...

OnTheBounce · Post by **OnTheBounce** » Wed Apr 16, 2003 3:27 pm

Feargus Urquhart wrote:I think early on I believed in creating the masterpiece, but that is not something I still prescribe to anymore.

It's too bad he meant to say "subscribe to anymore". It's even worse that no one told him about his mistake.

Ah well, it's not like the overly-ambitious, under-educated bean counters and marketing twats would know the difference.

OTB

Saint_Proverbius · Post by **Saint_Proverbius** » Wed Apr 16, 2003 7:27 pm

Mad Max RW wrote:I'll believe it when I see it, but won't be surprised at all if it's true.

It's true. Trust me. 100% fact.

jerman999 · Post by **jerman999** » Wed Apr 16, 2003 7:35 pm

You think he'll go to Troika?

Duck and Cover

HOT RUMOR: Feargus Urquhart quits

HOT RUMOR: Feargus Urquhart quits

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