With the development of Neverwinter Nights 2 coming to an end, Obsidian was contacted by three different publishers. Electronic Arts wanted Obsidian to develop a role-playing game to compete with The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, and another publisher was also interested in having Obsidian develop a fantasy RPG.[1] The third publisher was Sega, who wanted the studio to develop an action role-playing game set within the Alien franchise.