Rumours regarding Bethesda’s interest in developing a videogame based on Game Of Thrones remain unconfirmed, but there is one former Fallout developer who was approached to create a game based on the popular fantasy series.
In an interview with Eurogamer, Obsidian Entertainment CEO Feargus Urquhart revealed that he turned down an offer to develop a Game Of Thrones game in 2005. Mind you, that’s a full six years before the series ever became one of the most popular shows in the world. Despite this, Urquhart admits that he was very familiar with the original books and that he knew there the stories had potential to achieve mainstream popularity.
“My feeling was, understanding the IP at the time, it’s about this political intrigue, and people’s connection to the IP is to all these characters – that’s how the books are written, each chapter is a person and what’s happening to them,” said Urquhart.
So why didn’t Urquhart jump at the opportunity? Apparently, it was a simple matter of design practicality.
“Other than what weird stuff is going on beyond The Wall, and the dragons, and some hint [of fantasy/magic], there are no magic users, there are no clerics, no thieves,” said Urquhart. “Basically there’s dudes with swords and armour and a little bit of mysticism, but within the main land [the Seven Kingdoms] there’s no goblins, no kobolds…”
Theoretically, Obsidian could have inserted a few of those elements into the universe if they wanted to. However, Obsidian co-founder Chris Parker says there was another important reason the studio declined the offer.
“You can’t give the player a character they can play that is important in this world,” said Parker. “All of the important characters are all clearly spelled out and you can’t even really go have a conversation with them.”
Still, Urquhart did state that the studio could have done what BioWare did with Knights Of The Old Republic which is craft a story that takes place long before the events of the book. Even then, they didn’t know what the series would become and there was nothing that would have suggested that people would have been interested in a game that just took place in that universe.