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General: Fallout MMO On, Claim Headed To Court
Dana
Member Posts: 2,415
Interplay has confirmed to MMORPG.com that development of their V13 project - better known as the Fallout MMO - continues. This is despite a note from their quarterly report - by way of No Mutants Allowed - that Bethesda planned to pull the Fallout license.
When contacted by MMORPG.com, Interplay had no comment on ongoing legal action, save to say, "that Interplay adamantly disputes Bethesda's claim."
Dana Massey
Formerly of MMORPG.com
Currently Lead Designer for Bit Trap Studios
Comments
I wonder what is going to happen.. I guess it depends if Interplay actually has made actual progress on making the game. Do they even have an engine for the game yet? Or is all there work done on paper? As in ideas for the game and concept art.
I don't think Bethesda would actually take this to court unless the really think they can win. Because if it were me and Interplay has been making progress with their game then I'd just let them be.
The big loser in all of this will likely be the death of the Fallout franchise itself.
Interplay hasn't done jacksht for years now, and partnering with Masthead's / Earthrise Bulgarian First Person Shooter PvP engine isn't a good sign for Fallout purists.
FFA PvP First Person Shooter pew-pew isn't what Fallout is about at all.
On the other hand Bethesda probably doesn't have the resources or tech expertise to develop a AAA mmog either, though at this point in time they ARE much better positioned (and financed) to do one than Interplotz.
Well, as I've often surmised, I don't think Bethesda really wanted Interplay to make the mmo. They simply let them have the chance so Beth could get all of the other rights to Fallout. Which would explain the highly stringent and confined conditions Bethesda made Interplay agree to.
As far as Beth making the mmo, it won't happen. Bethesda has routinely stated on many occasions over the years that they simply have no interest in anything other than singleplayer rpgs.
However, I do believe once they yank the license for the mmo from Interplay, they will contract a more reputable company to make the mmo.
When Interplay folds for the last time ( which they will if/when the license is yanked, as they have no other means of income other than small residuals from the original Fallout games ), Bethesda will more than likely force them to give up even their last remaining Fallout rights ( which currently allows Interplay to sell the original Fallout games ).
Personally, i couldn't be happier. Bethesda did a bang up job with Fallout 3, in my opinion, and Fallout 4 will be no different. Interplay needs to be forced into retirement, as they are no longer the company they used to be. Hell, most of the original Fallout devs left Interplay years ago to other development companies such as Obsidian ( which is no great developer itself ).
Earthrise isn't this AT ALL too.
Do your homework, son.
If i remenber right, when interplay sold the license of Fallout, they did keep the right's to make a MMO of Fallout only, so why this at this moment ?
No quite. Bethesda took all the Fallout rights, including the mmo rights. They then licensed the mmo rights back to Interplay with strict guidelines, requirements, and deadlines. Interplay failed to meet those pre-requisites, and are now losing their license due to that.
If you told someone "I'll let you have this item, if you agree to this.", and the other person did not do what they agreed, would you not take your item back?
It's an open and shut case in Bethesdas' favor.
Not really the case at all. Interplay are a financially insecure company once again on the brink of insolvency. Any MMO they produced would probably be a third rate product as they do not have the capital to attract developers of the highest calibre to their organisation. What Bethesda is doing here is two fold. Firstly, the Ts+Cs they attached to the license for the FO MMO were very constraining and strict. It was blatant that Interplay would find it very hard to meet the criteria outlined. Bethesda licensed the FO MMO to them as an olive branch of some form but blatantly never really wanted them to succeed with the project. Bethesda recently created ZeniMax Online - a studio with the specific purpose of developing and publishing MMO games. Right now, we are all pretty much aware that they are working on an Elder Scrolls MMO but they may well have responded to the performance of Fallout 3 with a knee jerk response. That is to say they now want to start work on their own FO MMO. If they allowed IP to continue to work on their own FO MMO unchallenged, they wouldn't be able to fully capitalise on the franchise in the MMO genre. Secondly, I think that they are concerned that IP won't be able to make a good MMO out of FO. I personally think that there is more chance that allowing IP to develop the MMO could lead to a detrimental blow to the franchise and this is probably one of the smaller motivations behind the move on Bethesda's part.
Also, ER isn't a FPS game. It is an RPG that contains a lot of kick backs and nods to the Fallout franchise, which is probably why IP jumped at Masthead and - in turn - Masthead jumped at Fallout.
http://www.themmoquest.com - MMO commentary from an overly angry brit. OFFICIALLY LAUNCHED!
/Offtopic
Just because the big companies have understood that MMO is the next thing to make doesn't mean that they all have to do it at the same time... this is too much, every company seems to try and make a MMO at the same time, it's going to be a disaster imo.
This MMO might just be loved for a month, then only the fans of the licence and those who truly liked that will stay.
Nowadays you cannot just make a good MMO, you have to make an MMO "better thant the others" because most of the gamers that like MMOs are already on one, and you need to give them a very good reason to leave the MMO they're playing.
That's a bit pessimistic but I think it is at least partially true
"When all else fails, send a Templar."
Use the euphoria physics engine!