Obsidian's upcoming RPG will include 'no microtransactions'

Obsidian Entertainment has announced that its upcoming and as-yet untitled role playing game (RPG) will not include microtransactions, despite being published under Take-Two Interactive's freshly-launched Private Division label.

Private Division was announced late last week by gaming giant Take-Two as a new subsidiary which looks to publish games from third-party studios, including smaller independents. Part of the company's expansion into the indie space which began with the acquisition of Kerbal Space Program in June, Private Division is designed to operate as a standalone subsidiary - but, given its ownership, its launch raised the question of whether companies publishing through Private Division would be required to follow Take-Two's lead on including 'recurrent consumer spending' features, like microtransactions and subscription-based content, in all titles.

Obsidian, named as one of Private Division's first publishing deals in the announcement last week, has become the first company to step forward and deny that this is the case. 'No microtransactions, of any kind, in our game,' a company spokesperson told fans in a forum post following the announcement of the publishing deal. 'We also wanted to say a word about our partnership with Private Division, our publisher on this title. 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.'

Obsidian, which was founded in 2003 by former Black Isle Studio staff and is best known for its work on shooter-RPG hybid Fallout: New Vegas, the Pillars of Eternity franchise, and comedy title South Park: The Stick of Truth, has yet to release any details about its upcoming game, bar that it will be a role-playing game, stating that 'we’re going to hold off until the time is right.'