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General: Interplay Suffering Financial Woes
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
Looking forward to Fallout Online? If so, the latest SEC filing by Interplay may shed some light on just how long that wait could be. In the filing, Interplay is in deep financial straits with over $2.8 million in operating deficits in past year, compensation owed to board members, unpaid taxes and more.
The publisher's financial status puts future releases in jeopardy, most notably an embattled Fallout MMO, the rights to which Interplay licensed from Bethesda Softworks.
"We currently have some obligations that we are unable to meet without generating additional income or raising additional capital," the company warned stockholders. "If we cannot generate additional income or raise additional capital in the near future, we may become insolvent and/or be made bankrupt and/or may become illiquid or worthless."
Read more at Gamasutra.
Comments
sooooooo.....if I remember right, if Interplay can't come up with a Fallout Online by a certain deadline....the rights go to Bethesda??
Might not be the worst thing in teh world, honestly. At leas then the game would actually be made sometime in my lifetime.
as someone posted on the nma forums. this report is almost identical to the report they filed last year.
and another note from myself. it shouldnt surprise anyone considering interplay has never made money under herve caen. who was also ceo when they went under the first time and couldnt pay their rent in irvine or pay employees (the state of california had to step in to make sure employees were getting paid).
Games i'm playing right now...
"In short, I thought NGE was a very bad idea" - Raph Koster talking about NGE on his blog at raphkoster.com
I bet the big wigs take huge salaries that take a big bite out their profits.
Interplay has been suffering from financial woes for the better part of a decade now.
The way everything has gone thus far it seems like Interplay signed over all rights to Fallout to bethesda. Then a couple years later when Bethesda had revived the Fallout IP and increased its following a lot Interplay then decided they wanted the rights to the MMO which they didnt actually have and its gone from there with Interplay losing legal ground ever since.
Interplay havent produced anything much decent in a long time, Its probably best if the Fallout rights were clearly in Bethesda's hands.
That explains why the Descent and Descent freespace series have disappeared since the break of the millennium.
-Azure Prower
http://www.youtube.com/AzurePrower
Actually Interplay sold the rights to Fallout to Bethesda with the explicit notation that interplay would keep the rights to the Fallout MMO, Bethesda has not challenged this. The terms of the contract, however, was that Interplay would be in full production of a Fallout MMO by April 2009, and when September came around and they still didn't have much to show, Bethesda launched the lawsuit that Interplay breached the contract and that Bethesda should receive the MMO rights as stated in the contract.
Essentially the outcome of the lawsuit will come down to specifics, mainly whether or not Interplay is putting enough work into Project V13 to fulfill the terms of their agreement. Of course this won't matter if Interplay goes bankrupt and is forced to sell the Fallout MMO (which will be to Bethesda).
In court filings last year, Interplay stated their claim that Bethesda had no intent on going along with the terms of the contract and was seeking to prevent Interplay from being able to finish the game (I'm guessing by bankrupting them through court), and is in blatant breach of the contract. If Interplay can prove interference by Bethesda, than they can make a claim of bad faith and the contract will have been annulled, giving full rights to the Fallout universe back to Interplay, meaning Bethesda will owe retroactive royalties on Fallout 3 and New Vegas.
We can go back and forth about which company is better suited to make a Fallout MMO, but this case will run down to what either company can prove/disprove in court. Bethesda says Interplay wasn't doing their job, and Interplay says Bethesda is preventing them from doing their job.
My question is even if Bethesda got the rights to a Fallout MMO would they make it? I've yet to even hear of a rumor that they are interested in doing any MMO type game. I personally think they would be a good candidate to make an MMO in general because they make good game and use FPS type combat. I for one am tired of seeing every major MMO copy WOW's combat since it's pretty boring and repetitive.
As for Interplay I will always have fond memories of the original Fallout games since they help solidify my pashion for gaming but they have been a nonfactor in the industry so long I don't see how they'd have the money to make a decent MMO. Their only option would be to go with a big publisher but that usually doesn't work out very well for companies and I'm not sure anyone would be interested in them.
Zenimax, the company that owns Bethesda, recently opened an MMO studio. The rumours are that they want to make a Fallout MMO.
The way things have been going for them the last few years, saying Interplay is broke is like saying the sky is blue. It's just sort of assumed. When they finally stop clinging to life like some corporate zombie (or by some miracle actually STOP being broke), that will be news.
This is just business as usual.
Thanks, Sabrel. I was losing my mind by seeming to be the only one thinking, ‘Hasn't Interplay, along with Atari, been on the brink of bankruptcy for the better part of a decade?’
EDIT: Of course, now I see that Omali used almost those exact words. Hmph.
Just roll out something with full blown open PvP, full looting, and territory control and the money will come......trust me.
We do not need quests or grindstone content. Make it simple. Make it old school.
BigCountry | Head Hunters | www.wefarmpeople.com
i remenber ClayFighter 63? lol not a bad game welcome to my nightmare or get them little buddy get get get lhem little buddy good times good times.
It's too bad, cuz for a while there(the 90's), they were putting out some AMAZING stuff. After about 2002, they seem to have fallen off the planet.
Nothing new. I pretty much expected that from the start. I would like tho for the Fallout rights to go to obsidian instead of bethesda.
Hey, that sounds exactly like Darkfall. Join Now! Beat the rush!
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One name: Brian Fargo--the brains behind the whole operation.
Crazy! I remember the name from the credits in the Fallout series! And looking at the Wiki, he disappeared at exactly the same time Interplay's record of "meh-ness" appeared.