Follow up post on the narrative tone of Deadfire possibly impacting its reception:
Thanks. I don't think the fans need to convince me/Obsidian/MS of anything. Your support is always heard and appreciated. I think that we need to believe that if we try to make a game in this style again, the existing fans will enjoy it, new players will enjoy it, and ex-fans who were disappointed by Pillars 1 and/or 2 will come back to it. On top of all that, we need to be excited about making it.
Even devs who really enjoy working in the Pillars universe were burned out after the end of Deadfire, especially if they went on to work on the DLCs. To put in all of that work and have the game limp over the finish line, sales-wise, doesn't get people jazzed up about rolling on to a sequel.
Ultimately I think this is a matter if internal will and belief rather than something that requires external validation.