Obsidian extols digital distribution

Obsidian Entertainment CEO Feargus Urquhart recently spoke to GameSpot about the developer's use of downloadable content as a measure to combat the used game market. Obsidian chief creative officer Chris Avellone holds a similar opinion, telling Industry Gamers that his studio sees digital distribution as an excellent counter to used game sales.

"I love digital distribution," said Avellone. "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. 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. 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."

Avellone also expressed desire for Obsidian to be able to self-publish digital releases saying, "Our eventual hope is that we can stockpile enough resources to release our own titles digitally. 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."

In addition to other projects, Obsidian is currently working on South Park: The Game, which will be published by THQ for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC.