Not really. Bethesda was the highest bidder, but not the only one. There would have been a Fallout 3 sooner or later anyway.

Who were the others? (I am I going to get really sad if you tell me?)

One of the potential bidders was Activision, who would have published a Fallout 3 by Troika Games, founded by some of the original developers of Fallout (and yes, I know that Troika collapsed soon after that, but they wouldn't have if they had gotten the license, since Activision wasn't interested in a generic post-apoc RPG). They would have just licensed the rights to make one new Fallout game at first, though, so Bethesda licensing the rights to 3 titles at once (and later buying the franchise as a whole) was preferrable to Interplay.

I doubt Bethesda is doing this for money, they know Interplay doesn't have any. If Interplay did have money we wouldn't be here.

In April Bethesda tried to get the MMO rights back because they felt Interplay hadn't lived up to the agreed licensing requirements. Since then I imagine Interplay and Bethesda have been trying to settle this out of court - and apparently that didn't work, hence the lawsuit. I'm astonished its gotten to this point, and for that matter astonished it's taken this long. While the requirement to have the game in full production was somewhat subjective, the financial requirement wasn't. Either Interplay had the money or they didn't, and from what I've seen they clearly didn't have the money. I don't see how Interplay could even claim they've held up their end of the license, which is why I'm astonished they didn't try and settle this out of court.


Thanks for posting this Ausir. I know I'm not the only one who has been curious to see how this developed.

Herve canceled Van Buren in favor of FOPOS, it's in safer hands with gamesas... for now at least. somewhat




Looking at fairly recent comments of Activisions' CEO, it's a good thing Fallout didn't go there.

Instead of money, Interplay might pay them in their remaining IPs, though.



I'm not fond of Activision itself too, but I'd love to see Fallout 3 made by Troika.

No guarantees on that statement, it really is just conjecture. :shrug:
Personally, I'm glad Bethesda picked it up - not every company could have seen the project through.

No one forced Interplay to sell or sign anything, so they must have agreed to a number of terms and conditions. If those are not being met, then one party certainly is within reason to pursue a legal resolution to see that the agreement is upheld.

Actually, I am pretty damn sure that there were other bidders, from talking to some of the people who were at Interplay at the time. Bethesda was the best one at the point when they decided to sell it (although they had better offers previously, when Herve was still vehemently against selling it).

Do they hold anything of interest to anyone?

Some of the ones they own are Earthworm Jim, Descent, Dark Alliance, Freespace, Kingpin, MDK, Redneck Rampage, Sacrifice, Clay Fighter, Messiah, Giants: Citizen Kabuto.

Haha Earthworm Jim, my housemate would love that.

Also how were Interplay going to raise that much money?

Would make a great portable game.



This before a Baldur's Gate III? <_<



Heh, totally forgot about this.

I didn't mean about the bidders, that of course is true, but there were no guarantees that an FO3 would have gotten through to completion regardless of who bought the property. Just commenting - gaming history is littered with unfinished projects, is it not? Sorry, bit off topic anyway.

Indeed, although I probably would enjoy reading design documents for an unfinished Fallout 3 by Troika more than playing a finished one by Bethesda.

It is my understanding that one has the responsibility to protect their IP and if they do not take actions to do so it puts them at risk of losing it. So in my mind, this action was to "protect" their IP and not to gain money.

True, although is it certain that Bethesda is even asking for monetary compensation or is it just an assumption? Maybe I missed it but it just looks like Bethesda is trying to get Interplay to return the license and stop using the Fallout brand.

If Zenimax is interested in any of those licenses I have to imagine they have the cash to pick them up without running this through the courts, and it's got to be cheaper to buy them outright.

Correction - stop using it in relation to a potential MMO. They still have the right to use the Fallout brand in relation to re-releases of Fallout 1, 2 and Tactics.

And even if monetary compensation isn't their main goal, it might be a secondary one.

I'd say there's an awful lot of competition for the "greatest mistake in Interplay's history" title. Without the sale to Bethesda, they'd have been out of business sooner. With the sale, they had a chance that they squandered. Interplay took themselves down. Bethesda has every right to protect the intellectual property that they purchased. At this point, sticking a knife in Interplay's squirming corporate corpse, looks to me like a mercy killing.

It would be nice if, when Herve Caen's Interplay collapses, Brian Fargo bought back the rights to the name "Interplay" and returned from his exile (as in, inXile).

Not only the right but according to law in the USA, they have the responsibility. Protecting it lays on the owners shoulders.

Sure, Interplay is still the publisher of these games even though Bethesda has the Fallout IP.

I'm not a lawyer, but if Bethesda is suing for financial compensation on top of the returned MMO license they may have to prove that damage was done to them, and that seems difficult to do. Hopefully we'll get more details about this soon, but given that it's been five months since Bethesda first took legal action (and we heard almost nothing in the interim) I'm not holding my breath.

Bethesda and Interplay had an legal agreement. If one party does not uphold his end the other party is in their right to sue.


Perhaps, but the end product of that could go anyway. In this day and age, I doubt few if any would have not gone the commercial route of simplifying to appeal a wider range.

Having Herve in charge was their biggest mistake. Things were going well under Fargo. Second biggest mistake with Interplay is selling the rights to Fallout regardless who bought it. That title is a money maker that they let slip through their fingers.

Noone (to my knowledge) ever made a fortune suing borderline bankrupt/Insolvent companies

Interplay would have been dead long before now if they hadn't sold the IP. This is a company that on 30 June 2009 had a total of 16k in cash, a total of 312K in Assets, and 2.6 Million in current liabilities.

Interplay's contract said that interplay would have millions in their bank account, and would meet certain cash milestones. They didn't. If Interplay can't live up to their agreements, then the lawsuit is totally justified.

Don't get me wrong, I used to be an interplay fan - but the true Interplay died when Brian Fargo was forced out.

Missing some pertinent information.

"Bethesda filed a complaint -- obtained by Gamasutra -- in the U.S. District Court of Maryland on September 9 requesting a preliminary and permanent injunction against Interplay's manufacture, sale, and distribution of Fallout Trilogy, which includes the classic PC games Fallout, Fallout 2 and Fallout Tactics.

Bethesda accused Interplay of trademark infringement, claiming that while Interplay was permitted to sell pre-existing Fallout games, it was required to submit to Bethesda all relevant packaging, advertising, and promotional material prior to bringing the catalog titles to market."

http://gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=25226

Seems that Interplay was obligated to do many things, of which they did none. This shell of a former great company deserves to be sued into oblivion.. no pun intended.