Seems not
I'll always have a funny stupid story for how I got introduced to the Pillars franchise after getting it missed up with 'Path of Exile' thanks to the identical abbreviation and wrote the entire game off figuring that I'd already played it and Action RPGs weren't my thing. Only after playing Tyranny and hearing people compare it to Pillars of Eternity did I realise I'd made a goof and was missing out on an Obsidian RPG, which is a fate comparable to sacrilege in this brain box. In the time since I think it's wholly fair to attribute Pillars for the revival of the Classic RPG genre (alongside Divinity Original Sin, of course) which has spawned some of the best video games of the past few console generations and ultimately led directly to the resurrection of Baldur's Gate with the spectacular 3. So safe to say, Pillars is a pretty important franchise.
What's more it's a pretty cool franchise for a High Fantasy RPG born in the mid 2010's that actually feels interesting and still plagued with wonderous mystery. Most High Fantasy is either grandfathered in from an age when people still knew how to dream or are these paper thin worlds iterated upon a thousand stories that came before with nothing entirely fresh or new of their own. Pillars felt fresh, and though I can't personally say I find it's world as stark and endearing as Nirn, nor as distinguished and palpable as 'The Witcher Setting'- what I do know about the world is fascinating, and part of the reason I'm always eager for more is to explore the corners of the world I've yet to see and to subtly will the franchise never to return to the Dyrwood because that is most miserable corner of a world that I've ever seen from a fantasy game.
Pillars of Eternity 2 is like a gorgeous thick-coloured dream-style painting brought to interactive life. I loved it's world, the nuances of it's narrative and the spectacular characterisations of the various gods and goddess you are caught between each vying for their own solution to the world's pressing issues. The gameplay was expanded out, the characters felt more fully fleshed out, the writing was immaculate, the adventures were vast and the DLC slapped. Pillars of Eternity 2 was a huge step up from everything the first game tried to do! And it flopped. Totally and completely, the game failed to sell anywhere near the same amount as the first game- and since then the Pillars franchise has been stuck on ice as we wait wondering what Obsidian will do with it next.
I mean that's not entirely true, we know that Avowed is going to pick up the torch of the franchise but... well... Avowed is kind of just another 'Outer Worlds'. A hearty snack, but a stop gap between meals. What we need is a Pillars of Eternity 3. It seems to be what the game wants too, leaving it's ending where it sat at that finale from 2 seems criminal given the implications for the very future of Eora! Just, you know, maybe this time the team can take out a loan to maybe get some marketing underway so that people can actually know this game is coming out without being literally subscribed to the developer's Twitter accounts? That might be a smart move next time around. Although if comments from legendary Obsidian developer Josh Sawyer is anything to go by: it seems we won't be getting a proper sequel for... well, ever.
The original Pillars of Eternity did just spawn out of some experimental vacuum by Obsidian big wigs, but was rather crowd funded with the intent of drumming up found memories of the halcyon Infinity Engine powered days of the original Baldur's Gate games. It was made on the dime of beloved fans who flooded to it, and came out as a spectacular RPG I'm sure much of those backers were very happy with. What I didn't know was that Deadfire was also crowdfunded, which is probably why it didn't land with enough budget for a serious marketing campaign. (Sawyer does imply it's funds weren't outstanding. Which makes everything they did manage with that game all the more impressive.) All of this is to say that whilst I'd very much have thought Pillars would become a stable series of the Obsidian offices, to this day it's never been promoted past that 'small crowd funded project that some of our fans like'.
See, these days Obsidian is one of the many lapdogs at the beck and call of Xbox, scrambling over themselves trying to make an undeniable hit to rival the likes of Playstation's exclusives. Whereas I might expect Pillars to be a key pawn in that grand strategy, upon reflection I might be being naive. Isn't it more of a niche game for a niche CRPG loving audience? Microsoft would never foot the bill for a sequel to a game like that, especially after leaked correspondence revealed that internal Xbox sentiments on Baldur's Gate 3 were entirely dismissive, which is why they lost out on a day-to-day release with Playstation. (Xbox are literally like Tom in the old Tom and Jerry Cartoons- architects of their own misfortune.)
Josh Sawyer has said, albeit in an off the cuff manner, that he would be interested in finally making a Pillars 3 but only if he had the budget and freedom of Baldur's Gate 3- based on the rumours that current exist regarding the game's budget. (I'm not sure if official numbers were ever actually released.) Which on one hand is great to hear, that seasoned creatives are emboldened to be as wantonly reckless as Larian were- seeing magic in the game design space still- but on the otherhand that is a hugely unrealistic prospect given where Obsidian currently is and how they managed to fund their last two Pillars games. Crowdfunding isn't going to make a Baldur's Gate 3, Microsoft might fund one in the wake of BG3's success but that isn't the kind of thing you can bet on knowing them, so Josh may never have the resources he feels are necessary to make a worthwhile Pillars of Eternity 3. Unless...
I mean, things would change if Obsidian put themselves on the map as even more skilled RPG developers than Bethesda, right? Bethesda can surely extract as much funding as they want out of Microsoft in order to support their next middling diversion into abject design insanity, but if Obsidian were to indicate they could secure just as many eyes to the Xbox as Todd can... well, then the purse would be open, no? And how would Obsidian manage that? Maybe by making something big with a guarantee of success. Something with an audience and expectation, which they are well trained to make, with a fanbase that have been starving for a long time and will pounce on anything new. Maybe the path to Pillars 3 lies in the creation of New Vegas 2! (You knew I was gonna bring it back around!)
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