Obsidian wants to go digital - and kill off used games

Chris Avellone, chief creative officer at Fallout: New Vegas developer Obsidian Entertainment, has a pretty clear stance on the used game trade.

"Our eventual hope is that we can stockpile enough resources to release our own titles digitally," the developer told IndustryGamers.

"Smaller games can be very satisfying projects to work on, and it would be great to do that. But it's going to take time for us to get there; we want to make sure we do it right."

Going digital could mean an end to reliance on publishers, but Avellone has another motivation.

"Of course, one of the greatest things about digital distribution is what it does to reduce the used game market. I hope digital distribution stabs the used game market in the heart," he said, in what I imagine was a fierce, ringing tone, possibly accompanied by an abrupt gesture.

There are other advantages, too - no hard ship dates, for one.

"One of the things I enjoyed with Fallout: New Vegas was that digital distribution of the DLC made things more flexible in terms of getting the content done," Avellone noted.

"You didn't have to worry about production times for discs, and so you could take an extra week if you needed that to get things right."

Obsidian is also responsible for Dungeon Siege III, Neverwinter Nights 2, Alpha Protocol and the upcoming South Park RPG, among others.

Thanks, GoNintendo.