Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Fallout Online: Court Rules That Rights Belong to Bethesda
garrett
MMORPG.COM Staff UncommonPosts: 284
The following is a selection from the Press Release surrounding the court's ruling that Bethesda (makers of Fallout 3 and The Elder Scrolls series) and ZeniMax Media have reclaimed sole rights to create a Fallout IP MMO. No longer will Interplay be able to create an online game based on the Fallout IP, as that right now exclusively lies in ZeniMax and Bethesda's hands. Whether that means we'll actually be seeing a Bethesda Fallout Online anytime real soon is another story, but come on... that's kind of the point, right?
January 9, 2012 (Rockville, MD) –ZeniMax® Media Inc. today announced that a settlement had been reached in the lawsuit filed by its subsidiary, Bethesda Softworks®, against Interplay Entertainment Corporation in 2009, Bethesda Softworks LLC v Interplay Entertainment Corp., seeking cancellation of the license granted to Interplay to develop a massively multiplayer online game (MMO) based on the Fallout brand. Bethesda maintained in its complaint that Interplay had failed to meet the conditions for the license and the license was therefore of no continuing validity.
Under the terms of the settlement, the license granted to Interplay to develop the Fallout MMO is null and void, and all rights granted to Interplay to develop a Fallout MMO revert back to Bethesda, effective immediately. Interplay has no ongoing right to use the Fallout brand or any Fallout intellectual property for any game development. ZeniMax will pay Interplay $2 million as consideration in the settlement, each party will bear its own costs of the litigation, and Bethesda will continue to own all Fallout intellectual property rights. Interplay will be permitted to continue to sell the original Fallout ®Tactics, Fallout® and Fallout® 2 PC games through December 2013, after which time all rights to market those games revert to and become the sole property of Bethesda. Under the original agreement pursuant to which Bethesda had acquired the Fallout property, Interplay was granted certain merchandising rights to sell those original Fallout games, but those merchandising rights will now expire on December 31, 2013.
Robert Altman, Chairman and CEO of ZeniMax, expressed satisfaction on behalf of the Company with the resolution of the two lawsuits saying, "While we strongly believe in the merits of our suits, we are pleased to avoid the distraction and expense of litigation while completely resolving all claims to the Fallout IP. Fallout is an important property of ZeniMax and we are now able to develop future Fallout titles for our fans without third party involvement or the overhang of others' legal claims."
Comments
WOot, congratulations to Bethesda. We may actually have a chance at a decent FO MMO.
Edited to Clarify something. People keep falsely claiming Bethesda is Anti Multiplayer and Anti MMO. This simply is not true.
Who are you guys?
We're the best kept secret in the gaming industry… But, seriously, we're the online game development studio of ZeniMax Media, who also owns Bethesda Softworks. So think of us as the multiplayer-focused Bethesda Softworks.
Our President was one of the founders of Mythic Entertainment and was the producer of Dark Age of Camelot and lots of other titles there. Our team is made of many other people who worked at Mythic, as well as NCsoft, Firaxis, Sony Online, EA, and Bethesda Softworks. ZeniMax Online's staff had leadership roles on popular MMOGs like Dark Age of Camelot, Warhammer Online, Star Wars: Galaxies, Ultima Online, and The Sims Online.
Suffice it to say, we are very experienced and are looking forward to making the best MMOGs possible.
http://www.zenimaxonline.com/faq.html
But Bethesda is anti Multiplayer and Anti MMO right?
good news
All of my posts are either intelligent, thought provoking, funny, satirical, sarcastic or intentionally disrespectful. Take your pick.
I get banned in the forums for games I love, so lets see if I do better in the forums for games I hate.
I enjoy the serenity of not caring what your opinion is.
I don't hate much, but I hate Apple© with a passion. If Steve Jobs was alive, I would punch him in the face.
If it is anything like the FPS crap Bethesda has done to the series, count me out.
A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true...
I know FO is a popular and long-loved IP, but IMO it could serve as a very good Guinea Pig for trying their hand at designing an MMO with the bethesda school of thought, paving the way for a solid TES MMO. One can dream, anyway..
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
WOW....those deadbeats at Interplay had the ip for that long and didnt do jack shit with it....good for Bethesda...maybe this means they intend to develop the MMO in house...or maybe its just on hold till they can outsource it to the right party.
Don't forget that ANY Fallout MMO created by bethesda will be HIGHLY instanced. Meaning, a horrible Fallout MMO.
Hey Bethesda, how about ACTUALLY learning how create a HALF DECENT Fallout singleplayer.
OH, and Bethesda doesn't believe in MMOs. So we'll never see ANY Fallout MMO before a Morrowind MMO. Just saying...
The Theory of Conservative Conservation of Ignorant Stupidity:
Having a different opinion must mean you're a troll.
Thats what I'm hoping for. The FPS "crap" seems to work for Bethesda well enough that they've won game of the year how many times now? This makes it very likely that the FPS "crap" is what we will get thankfully
I guess we can agree to disagree. I just find the new games so much more shallow and lacking the "fun" factor that was such a part of the original Interplay games...
A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true...
oO! Umm....... considering Bethesda is known for their Sandbox and open world approach why would you go way out in left field and assume it will be highly instanced?
And yeah.... what are you basing the last one on? Why make baseless claims that make no sense whats so ever?
Were you rooting for Interplay?
What do you mean "baseless" claims? The lead developer for Bethesda said NUMEROUS times that they do NOT believe in Online play, and are more interested in concentrating on making a GREAT singleplayer experience. This is nothing new to anyone who knows Bethesda.
That being said, I say it'd be instanced because thats where almost every single "SinglePlayer" gone MMO developer has gone with. They look @ "OpenWorld" sandbox and immediately think "fail". I'm not really sure what you're confused about?
The Theory of Conservative Conservation of Ignorant Stupidity:
Having a different opinion must mean you're a troll.
As opposed to what? Are you looking for a big budget isometric MMO in the second decade of the 21st century?
'Sandbox MMO' is a PTSD trigger word for anyone who has the experience to know that anonymous players invariably use a 'sandbox' in the same manner a housecat does.
When your head is stuck in the sand, your ass becomes the only recognizable part of you.
No game is more fun than the one you can't play, and no game is more boring than one which you've become familiar.
How to become a millionaire:
Start with a billion dollars and make an MMO.
No worries, not everyone agrees on everything. Personally I like the fun factor that Black Isle Studios brought to the old FO games and was glad to see it in the new ones as well considering they did both while Interplay acted as nothing more than the publisher. Nothing that made FO what it is or was remains at Interplay.
Now that would be the question, Since Obsidian Entertainment is responsible for FO:NV and were formerly BlackIsles Studios and responsible for FO:2. Also Keep in mind that Tim Cain is with Obsidian as well as the Lead Programmer who was the lead designer of FO...... will Bethesda have Obsidian do the FO MMO or will they have there in house development team work with Obsidian? Maybe they will go with another development studio all together, who knows.
lol......... okay first lets address the whole "Bioware who was an instance heavy themepark single player developer made TOR as an instanced themepark" so Bethesda will too argument......... wait I don't have to address it because it makes no sense. So ....
Yes, Bethesda doesn't want to add multiplayer to their single player games. This is what they were reffering to and have directly said so. When the game is being designed as a single player game it would take dev time they do not want to waste on adding multiplayer aspects to the single player game.
Don't intentionally take things out of context to try and make a point.
What do you guys bet it'll be a WoW clone?
lolololololololololololololololololol
Don't know what to think about this. Its a good news somehow i guess, since Bethesda is a strong gaming company today.
One thing is clear, when you have or make a great IP, don't mess with it.
Rolf, so I take it you like what interplay did with FO? yup, turning it into a dark alliance clone was amazing.
Bethesda saved FO with a fun FPS/RPG mix, after interplay ran it 6 feet under.
Apparently stating the truth in my sig is "trolling"
Sig typo fixed thanks to an observant stragen001.
I love the old Interplay, I truly do, but as things stood, Interplay retaining the right to a Fallout MMO today would practically mean Masthead ending up doing that Fallout MMO. And to me that is one scary thought. So in the end I'm glad it went this way.
Besides, it's also true that most of the creative talent that fueled the first two Fallout games (which I agree were vastly superior to the Bethesda outing in the series) is now working for Obsidian. So who knows, Bethesda may pass it over to them - they did so with New Vegas. Granted, it's a long shot, but would be interesting to see. I'm sure it would be a very buggy MMO at launch (hey, what game from Obsidian isn't?!), but also probably quite fun, creative and atmospheric to a point that could make up for it.
I say just put Chris Avellone on it!
He knows how to look at stagnating genres and challenge them, bringing in interesting concepts.
If they also have the right to assign their right to make a Fallout MMO they could just sell it and profit as well.
I personally don't think it is very smart in our today industry to try crap on some good names. Its probably why Bet reacted that much. And why its a good news.
If they want to make a new mmo, they just better make a new name, if it work, they benefit a great new name, if not they loose nothing.
The fallout mmo wasn't a good idea to begin with, its clear it was all about some getting a paycheck, nothing esle, it had no concern about the Fallout name itself. Well that's my personal opinion, maybe i'm wrong.
This is good news. Whether we will ever see a Fallout MMO (probably not now) is up in the air, but at least Masthead studios will have nothing to do with it. Interplay has been teetering on bankruptcy for many years, there was no way they were ever going to create anything that deserves the Fallout name. Interplay was a good company, years ago, nowadays they are shell of what they used to be. Grats to Bethesda.
Bethesda wont make Fallout Online. they just want to keep the IP for themselves and makes more single player RPGs.
After Enjoying Oblivion, Fallout 3 & Skyrim I tend to agree with anything they decided when it comes to their ips.
Playing: Nothing
Looking forward to: Nothing
Can't argue with tthat. In fact, almost seems like Interplay held on to the lic so they could get a cash out as part of a settlement... Oh well, here is hoping someone can do this great title some justice.
A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true...
Thank #$%^& for that. Interplay had allready begun work on it with the same engine as Earthrise. We all know how GREAT that game was.
I hope Interplay have to incinerate the harddrives with the alpha on them.
Say what you will about Interplay, but Fallout 1 and 2 were original and classic masterpieces. Black Isle Studios were the ones responsible for all of Interplay's glory, and Interplay treated them like ****. Back when Fallout 1 and 2 were done, gaming was not yet considered to be entirely mainstream (especially RPGs). Nowadays the industry is filled to the brim with idiot children obsessed with Warcraft and Call of Duty. Fallout 3 was nothing spectacular. The only thing it had going for it was the spectacular gaming engine that Bethesda has been building upon for years. Apart from that it was a game full of tired dialogue, and missing much of what made the Fallout title to begin with.
I hate Interplay. I love Black Isle, but Black Isle and Interplay are no longer synonymous. I doubt that anything Interplay was working on would've been really amazing, but I can't say Bethesda will do much better. At least not in terms of creating an immersive, living and breathing gaming world. Oh, well.
now that I'm not replying to sillyness, my actual thoughts on this is that bethesda should not develop it.
I wish I knew of reliably good mmo developers, but I don't. I used to say cryptic and mythic, but one went crazy and the other no longer exists. I would say blizzard but they have their own plans.
I guess if I had to pick, I'd try to sell the rights to trion with lots of supervision and creative control. I believe they could come the closest to doing it justice today, if guided heavily and given an engine that doesn't suck as bad as the one in Rift (performance, not quality wise).