While Pillars of Eternity series director Josh Sawyer is taking a break now that the second game has seen its last DLC released, the creator has recently talked up a potential third sequel.
Sawyer noted (via his Tumblr) Obsidian Entertainment would need to “re-examine the entire format of the game” if they were to greenlight a third entry in the series. Sawyer noted the second game didn’t sell as well as they had hoped, and that it’s not up to him as to whether another sequel will happen.
“[…] I do think that the relatively low sales of Deadfire mean that if we consider making another Pillars game in this style, we’re going to have to re-examine the entire format of the game,” Sawyer said. He said players found the story in the sequel too easy, or that its real time combat was a change-up, but he doesn’t think those were factors in sales.
“It is difficult to know exactly why a sequel sells worse than its predecessor if both games review relatively well,” Sawyer wrote.
He added, “Is it because the first game satisfied the existing need and the audience just wasn’t interested in the second? Is it because awareness was lower for the sequel? Is it because despite the strong reviews and the strong sales for the first game, people didn’t “really” like it? Maybe it’s a combination of all of these things.”
Sawyer noted turn-based Divinity: Original Sin II was both more critically and commercially successful, but real-time Pathfinder: Kingmaker also outsold Pillars of Eternity II.
“I’m sure some of the people reading this think they know precisely why Deadfire sold worse than Pillars 1,” Sawyer said. “I don’t have that confidence, which is one of several reasons why I am leery about trying to direct a sequel. I couldn’t give our (Obsidian’s) audience the game that they wanted and without understanding where I went wrong, I would be guessing at what the problems are and how to remedy them.”
Pillars of Eternity and Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire are both available for Windows PC, Mac, Linux, PlayStation 4, Xbox One. In case you missed it, you can find our review for the original game here and its sequel here (both are highly recommend!).
