Although many gamers welcomed the announcement that Obsidian is creating a new RPG, the fact it is being published by Take-Two's new Private Division indie label brought fears that it might contain microtransactions. Thankfully, the developer has confirmed this won't be the case.
When Take-Two released its latest financial report back in November, which revealed that Grand Theft Auto V had become the best-selling game of all time in the US, the company said it wanted some form of recurrent consumer spending---i.e. microtransactions/loot boxes---to be part of all its games.
Thanks to Obsidian's partnership with Take-Two, many speculated that in-game purchases would appear in the Fallout: New Vegas developer's upcoming title. But in a post on its forums, Obsidian wrote: "The answer is simply: 'no.' No microtransactions, of any kind, in our game."
"Far from 'pushing' us to put anything---microtransactions or otherwise---into our game, Private Division has been incredibly supportive of our vision, our creative freedom, and the process by which we work to make RPGs. They have been fantastic partners, and we are extremely excited to work with them through release, to put what we know is going to be an amazing game into as many hands as possible," the company added.
While Obsidian has announced that Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire is scheduled for release in 2018, we know little about the currently untitled RPG. "We wish we could tell you all about it right now... but we're going to hold off until the time is right," the developer said, via IGN.
Given the current controversy over Star Wars Battlefront II and its loot boxes, it's not surprising to see Obsidian explicitly assure fans that similar mechanics won't be appearing in its game.
As well as Obsidian's RPG, Private Division will be publishing Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey, which comes from Assassin's Creed creator Patrice Desilets. There will also be another unannounced RPG from former DICE developers David Goldfarb and Ben Cousins, and an unnamed FPS from Halo co-creator Marcus Lehto's V1 Interactive studio.