Speaking of Boyarsky, how come he leaves cozy high level position at fucking Blizzard of all places, and goes to Obsidian if its such a horrible place to work?
Leonard would probably tell you if asked, but I will say that he likely would have more creative voice at Obsidian and for all the company's problems, they would probably give him more control over his own work. For example, I believe the company specifically asked the Design Director not to interfere (beyond advice) for their project, which I don't know would be true of every company where you might have many, many people weighing in and changing your work – having a "cozy" job isn't usually something a real creative wants.
Creative freedom is a powerful motivator. Still, Leonard and Tim did leave Feargus/Black Isle once already and may have concluded over time the experience with Feargus/BIS wasn't as bad as they remember – although memory can fade over time, and I wouldn't be surprised if many of the issues that led to the initial departure are starting to resurface as they are reminded of practices they had forgotten about, and the closer you get to the top, the more you see.
There was some mention that Leonard's story for their upcoming game was attacked unfairly by the Obsidian owners as being lacking, when, in fact, PoE2's story had all the same "problems" that were being raised except at a much higher level - but PoE2 got a pass for it. This kind of disparity can get increasingly frustrating over time because it can come across as favoritism. Me, every design and quest arc I've read from Leonard in the past was pretty good, so I'm dubious that there would be anything wrong with his story proposals, and the Obsidian owners are probably the last people I would listen to when it comes to game story critiques.
