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General: Bethesda Buys Fallout IP
Szark
News ManagerMember Posts: 4,420
Interplay has sold the rights to the Fallout intellectual property to Bethesda for $5.75 million. Interestingly, Interplay now acts as a licensee of the Fallout IP, and as part of the deal they will be required to begin development of a Fallout MMO within 2 years.
New filings with the SEC show that Oblivion and current Fallout 3 developer Bethesda Softworks has officially purchased the Fallout series IP from current holders Interplay for $5.75 million, with Interplay now acting as licensee for its own planned Fallout MMO.
In an interesting twist, as part of the agreement Interplay now acts as a licensee of the IP as it continues to ramp up production on its own Fallout-themed massively multiplayer game, first announced in 2004 alongside Bethesda's sequel, and shown via internal documents as recently as December to have a projected $75 million dollar budget and launch date of 2010.
In a special clause of the purchase agreement, Interplay agrees that "full-scale development of its FALLOUT MMOG will commence within 24 months of the Effective Date of this Agreement" and that "Interplay will have secured financing for the FALLOUT MMOG in an amount no less than $30 million" within that time frame or forfeit its license rights for the MMO.
Read more here.
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I have been very disappointed with Betheseda as of late. I, along with many others have supported them for years. There last two projects were junk. Oblivion is crap and Star trek legacy was ruined as well. It is almost like they are turning into another EA. I remember the early days of EA when they made great games. Road Rash series was one of the best damn games I have ever played and the last five years, EA has funneled the market with crap.
I really hope Bethesda does not ruin this one. A fallout MMO would rock if it was done right for sure.
Once the game is over, the king and the pawn go back in the same box. ~ Italian proverb
If it had even the slightest chance of being made, I would be more interested in the MMO Interplay is supposedly trying to make. But I suspect it's just a legal maneuver relating to Interplay's inevitable (and overdue) demise. As far as Elder Scrolls:Fallout, I really hope Bethesda surprises me, I really do. I want to play another Fallout - even one skewed by the vision of another company. What I don't want to play is another Oblivion set in a post apocalyptic wasteland. Please, for the love of Pipboy, do it right!
Interplay has a solid history in RPGs aswell, and Fallout was definitely their best ever.
So, we have a fascinating IP which should be rather known among gamers, and two serious companys involved that aren´t SOE, EA or IPKiller ummm..i mean Turbine. Where´s the fanboi signup please ?
I could never get into star trek legacy, but Oblvion.. Talk about a great game! It's the first game I got for my xbox almost a year ago, and i still play that game! Infact my first copy of the game got totally scratched from playing it that I had to repurchase it, but man I don't regret it what so ever.
Betheseda seems to know what quality means. Even the graphics and idea of star trek legacy were pretty good, however the game failed to deliver on serveral levels. Yet I have yet to see a good star trek game that I actually liked.
Fallout mmo? Bring it on :P
TES Oblivion was both the great jump for crpg and a great letdown.
Betahesda improved TES much in gameplay and certanly made one of the best looking games today. But in the same time they
watered down , siplified and removed any kind of complexity from previous sequal.
And one thing not many people realise Oblivion has totally broken gameplay ( due to its leveling system )
All this casts a small shadow on Betahesda.
Still, in PC gaming today - they have taken the position of highest quality RPG provider.
And if Fallout can not fall into Bioware hands, than Betahesda is the next best choice.
"Before this battle is over all the world will know that few...stood against many." - King Leonidas
Thats what I loved about Oblivion. They left enough flexibility to do almost anything to it. With the OOO mod the practically added twice the complexity and more storyline about the Aeylids. Not to mention bunches of new animals all within the Elderscroll storyline.
The only thing watered down was the base game.
This has the potential to be very good news.
Interplay is dead in the water, has been for years.I had zero hope they could make a good fallout mmo.BUT now, if they cant even manage to get partial financing for the mmo by the date, we could see them lose the license for it.
This could mean, although unlikely,that we might not just be spared the disaster i think would come from an interplay attempt at a fallout mo, BUT that we could possibly see a brand new dev team appear and bid for the license.
If there was ever an IP that had enormous potential for an MMO, this is it.This could well be enough to draw some new blood into the backwater inbreeding grounds that the MMO industry currently is.
Again, its only a small hope, but better than none.
5.75m is nothing for the Fallout IP. What a steal for Beth.. I have my fingers crossed... I loved Fallout 1 and 2 soo much...
Anyone other than Interplay would be a good choice to make it into an mmorpg, so I see Bethesda having the option to rip it from 'em at first sign of screw up is a good thing.
The bad thing, for Fallout at least, is that Fallen Earth will be out way before Fallout Online will be. Along with Tabula Rasa, Stargate Worlds,(I won't say Star Trek, because right now it looks like PE is gonna fall on their faces with that one),and other sci-fi mmo games coming out, the chance to capitalize on the lack of non-fantasy will be totally lost by the time Fallout hits.
Not to mention the obvious, as we know more than likely Interplay will use every bit of time allotted to it for development (as in milk it for what they can), that's four years for the IP to be tied up. And if they fail, and get the license yanked, then Bethesda has to find someone else to do it, adding more years before it makes it.
So as far as Bethesda having the rights, it's a good thing. At least we know for sure we'll get a true third installment in the singleplayer series.
As far as Bethesda giving Interplay the go ahead as part of the deal, I think the mmo portion of Fallout's IP is going to be sorely missed for years to come.
Just my opinion.
To late. A MMO Fallout game is on the way
http://www.fallenearth.com/
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