Project Eternity Kickstarter born from the industry's 'lack of opportunity'

Project Eternity, the fantasy RPG Kickstarter title from Obsidian Entertainment was funded in just 24 hours over the weekend, and is currently sitting at a staggering $1,403,473 in crowd funds. Obsidian's Chris Avellone and creator of Planescape: Torment has revealed that his team decided on the Kickstarter route due to a 'lack of opportunity' in the games industry.

Speaking with Kotaku, Avellone made no bones about how excited Obsidian is to be making its own fantasy IP, rather than creating sequels for existing franchises. But creating new IP is tricky in an industry with few open doors he suggested.

Avellone stressed, "Project: Eternity is our opportunity to finally develop our own fantasy RPG world and franchise. Finally. Did I say finally enough? One more time: finally."

"It's not like we've had any lack of ideas," Avellone continued, "only a lack of opportunity or anyone who wanted to finance it. Then Kickstarter came along and a door opened—this was finally our chance to sidestep the publisher model and get financing directly from the people who want to play an Obsidian RPG."

Avellone added, "I'd much rather have the players be my boss and hear their thoughts for what would be fun than people who might be more distant from the process and the genre and frankly, any long-term attachment to the title."

The Project Eternity Kickstarter page has whipped RPG fans into a frenzy for drawing comparisons to Baldur's Gate, Planescape: Torment and Icewind Dale, suggesting that Obsidian's game will attempt to deliver a classic RPG experience.

Project Eternity is currently billed for a 2014 release.