What exactly happened to Interplay?

A

andy316

First time out of the vault
I am new to Fallout(yeah played 3) and it was imo one of the best I have played. I have yet to play New Vegas, and from what I heard is awesome in terms of content and writing.

But let me get this straight:Interplay used to own the series right? What exactly happened? Why did they just sell it off to Bethesda? All I see is lawsuits, yet they could have avoided if they just did not sell it.

Can anyone give me a brief history?I just don't understand whether to blame Interplay or Bethesda.
 
Interplay made some rather bad business decisions and was driven into bankruptcy. They sold the rights to Fallout to Bethesda. However, they supposedly kept the rights to make an MMO out of Fallout, but Bethesda said that Interplay didn't keep the contract yiddayadda.
As far as I know, Interplay now has the rights to do the MMO and will regain the rights to Fallout 1, 2 and Tactics in 2014.

You can blame Herve Caen for what happened to Interplay. That's what most people do, I think.
/edit: Disregard that part about the rights to the MMO. It's apparently crap.
 
Interplay got into a poor financial state. It was forced to lay off many developers (including Black Isle - who where assigned to make the Fallout games) and others simply quit because their paycheck was months late and still not there.

The CEO had to do something to save the company, so he started selling of Interplay's IPs. The irony of the situation was that he had a lot of franchises he could sell, but no developers to produce them.

Of course, Bethesda saw a chance to make some cash off a big title - and buy it for way less than it was really worth (at least, in my opinion). There were other bidders, such as Troika and Obsidian (who consisted of former Black Isle employees), but Bethesda was the highest.

Then the lawsuit is all about the MMO rights. Apparently Interplay demanded being able to create a Fallout MMO, whilst everything else from the franchise belonged to Bethesda. Then Bethesda made ridiculous claims that apparently the MMO should have not contain anything from all of the established Fallout canon. It also said that Interplay recieved $30 million USD to meet a deadline, which it did not and therefore the MMO should be given to Bethesda.

The lawsuit was on the verge of Interplay getting back Fallout rights, or Bethesda making the MMO, and anything in between. In the end, Interplay lost completely, and the rights to create the Fallout MMO was taken from them.

You can't exactly blame Bethesda here. They're simply doing everything in the interest of business. Their behavior is a bit dickish, but I wouldn't be surprised if I were you. And yes, they could avoid the lawsuits if they didn't sell the IP - but what would have happened? Complete bankrupcy (which, as far as I'm aware, Interplay had been declared).

Anyways, of course Fallout 3 is the best one you've played cause it's the only one. You need to play the real deal, if you can't handle the graphics of the first two titles, go ahead and try New Vegas. It's not only awesome, it's also superior in pretty much everything to Fallout 3.
 
^-- All that, with a couple major caveats.

For one thing, I'd say you not only absolutely CAN blame Bethesda, you SHOULD! They pandered to the fans during FO3's development to assure them that they were keeping the series' integrity to heart and that they were just as die-hard fans as the rest of us, so therefore we should have faith and buy their game when they finish it, because it'll be the second coming! Well, NOW we all know that was just horseshit PR, because they wanted to secure both the old fans ON TOP OF the guaranteed sales they'd net from their zombie-like Elder Scrolls followers. Everything Bethesda did was for money, and they had ZERO interest in the heart of the IP they'd acquired, nor its fans.

The lawsuit with Interplay was just further proof of how far ahead they'd planned to guaranteed zero competition and total ownership. Those who followed the development of Project V13 (Interplay's Fallout MMO) would know that they set about making it IMMEDIATELY after they signed their deal with the De... I mean Bethesda- and that included acquiring the stipulated $30million. They were months into development when Bethesda jumped the gun by suing them BEFORE their contract was up, using the very financially-stressful nature of the lawsuit to stall Interplay's progress AND bleed them of their funding, so they could claim that Interplay didn't meet their contractual stipulation. Seriously. They sued them over not meeting the specifications of their contract, and the lawsuit forced them to into a position of not meeting the specifications of said contract. They sued them so they could legitimize (and win) suing them.

Bethesda is evil, and everything they've done to Interplay was just heartless business. It would be one thing if they'd just acquired the rights, and Interplay was genuinely in breach of contract so that Bethesda ended up acquiring the full undisputed rights to the Fallout franchise, but that's just not what happened. You could say that you should "blame Interplay" for making their deal with the Devil in the first place, but that's like criticizing a terminally ill man with lung cancer for smoking all his life; he didn't know what he'd gotten himself into, and that's cruel.
 
After reading all this, both sides are to be blamed here.

Interplay:

Interplay was in financial trouble(why?) but if any company is in financial trouble, the last thing you would want is to sell off your most popular franchise. I would rather go down and fight it off till I can't do it anymore. Also, you would think they would do anything to keep the original team (now at Obsidian I believe) and let them be a big part of the company.

Another thing is the deal. It's very clear what Interplay was trying to do: Give fallout to Bethesda,let them work on it, and whatever ideas they use on that they will "leech" off it and use it on their MMO. It was a dumb strategy, and no company will fall for it. I read that after Beth told them they can only use the name "fallout" and nothing else, everything stopped. You would think Interplay would clear all this before they sign something like this.

Bethesda:

Bethesda is obviously trying to stop them from making this. They want to be main company, not Interplay. It's greed, and nothing else. Then again, they created the content, vault-boy, the gameplay, the mechanics, the world, etc. They marketed this game and brought it back. They can't just let Interplay take everything away like that.

Regards to the deal, Bethesda should have atleast given Interplay a second chance on it. But obviously they didn't(since they follow the contract too much). The lawsuit was expected since (again) they followed the contract terms, but Interplay obviously needed more time then that. They did not have the funds, and no way they were gonna get it in time.


In the end, Interplay and Bethesda should have just worked together(like ID,arkane,etc.). It would have benefited both, and none of this would have happened. I know Interplay was in trouble, but you would try to make sure you do everything right when you sign a contract like this. Interplay should have walked away if they didn't get the terms said out aloud by both parties.
 
andy316 said:
Then again, they created the content, vault-boy, the gameplay, the mechanics, the world, etc. They marketed this game and brought it back. They can't just let Interplay take everything away like that.
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To be fair, Fallout 3 didn't have much original content, the mechanics were a sketchy derivation of the original SPECIAL mixed with Oblivion, and the world was only theirs because they chose to ignore a crapload of established lore. The Vault-Boy was never theirs, it was an icon since Fallout 1.
But hell yes did they market it.
 
You are all kinds of wrong, andy... You basically switched who was who. It's INTERPLAY who shouldn't let BETHESDA "take it from them", and they failed, because of Bethesda's shady business practices, using legal action to steal business rather than win it with business acumen.

Also, Interplay was the PRODUCER, just like Bethesda. They owned rights, but they didn't "create" Fallout; that was Black Isle's doing. Bethesda didn't make ANYTHING for Fallout, other than copy/pasting existing Fallout content, and claiming it their own. They set the scene of their game so far removed from the rest BECAUSE they couldn't work with the rich, original material. They knew if they had, they'd be ravaged by the fans they were trying to seduce.

Your suggestion that Interplay just hold on for dear life and never sell any of their IPs would mean the death of Fallout. Fallout was their ONLY valuable IP that they could sell; it just so happens they got a horrible deal on it because they weren't paid its true value, and they were shysted out of the everything they had by the IP's vindictive new owners.

You're blaming Interplay when you shouldn't be, and you're praising Bethesda when you shouldn't be. The ONE contribution Bethesda brought to Fallout was revitalizing the franchise, and even that's meaningless when you consider that Obsidian would've done the same, had Interplay sold them the rights.
 
andy316 said:
Interplay was in financial trouble(why?) but if any company is in financial trouble, the last thing you would want is to sell off your most popular franchise. I would rather go down and fight it off till I can't do it anymore. Also, you would think they would do anything to keep the original team (now at Obsidian I believe) and let them be a big part of the company.
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Did you miss my point entirely? That's what Interplay did. They milked the franchise for as long as they could. The reason why they sold it off in the first place is because all the developers left. Interplay couldn't hold on to its employees because, again, they had nothing to pay them with. Nothing. They were in debt already.

The reason for financial trouble were poor business choices. They made games that used expensive graphics but those games did not sell well due to the poor choice of genre and gameplay. They also managed to get into the stock market, which was their death - Titan Interactive acquired them. The new manager, Herve, was an asshole and nobody liked him. So they left.
 
Thanks for video's valcik very interesting.

"In the end, Interplay and Bethesda should have just worked together(like ID,arkane,etc.). It would have benefited both, and none of this would have happened. I know Interplay was in trouble, but you would try to make sure you do everything right when you sign a contract like this. Interplay should have walked away if they didn't get the terms said out aloud by both parties."

I think that is what is needed. Ok bethesda is a good studio and make good games ( escapely morrowind ) but they don't know how to make a fallout game. Fallout is a mature and realistic universe where elders scroll is more fantastic and magic universe. With fallout new vegas they made a good choice, i hope they give the production of fallout 4 to obsidian team and not to their own team.
 
A bit heavy on the critisizm of Bethesda games there people. The company can be cruel and shitty,and still produce fun and entertaining games.

After reading all of this, I say despite the fact that Bethesda had the highest bid, they should have sold the rights to Obsidion.

One question: what did Bethesda do that went so heavily against FO lore?
 
FOvet said:
One question: what did Bethesda do that went so heavily against FO lore?
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That question has been elaborated here very often, this thread should not be derailed for it.
The Fallout 3 Subforum has quite a lot of threads about the various inconsistencies of Fallout 3, you might want to start there.
 
FOvet said:
A bit heavy on the critisizm of Bethesda games there people.
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Where? We were never criticizing their games, in this thread, only their business practices. The topical question was what became of Interplay, and Bethesda financially raping them with the legal system as a "business practice" was part of the answer. That has nothing to do with Daggerfall or Oblivion. But even if it did, the matter of a "good game" is just as much Eye of the Beholder as cooking your steak well-done rather than rare; some will call you sacrilegious for it, but that doesn't make your opinion wrong, nor theirs right. I'd personally label every Bethesda title from Morrowind up to Skyrim as total garbage, yet no matter how factual I could make my points, and no matter how objective my reasons be, it would still come down to a matter of tastes. "One man's meat is another man's poison."

Back on topic, you can also read from some someone's first-hand accounts at Interplay here, and you'll see that they were straying down a dangerous road BEFORE they ever began working on Fallout. They were spending millions on cinematics when the actual coding portions of their games were costing them fractions of that. Their pay-off versus investment was out of proportion, so all it took was a few bad sales to put Interplay in dire financial straights. And that's just what happened. Too many titles flopped, and they'd spent so much money on the glitz and glamor that they had no assets to rebound with, and as MOST companies (foolishly) do the moment they begin to struggle, their first reaction was to "cut costs", i.e. fire people.
 
Sorry, wasn't trying to 'derail' the topic guys. And I suppose your right, Snap--it is a matter of opinion I suppose. It's just too bad Interplay made such cruddy decisions. When I heard about all the stuff going on with Interplay, I thought I'd never see another FO title again o_o

I also have little patience for huge companies that screw their employees. Shady buisness practices piss me off, especially when they are also slapping their fans (who make them big in the first place) in the face.
 
http://interplay.com/games/comingsoon.php

According to this, Interplay is now making Apps and DSiWare minigames to scrap money where they can.

They are also still, from what I saw, making money off of the Fallout: Classic Pack.
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In terms of Bethesda, they could have handled Fallout 3 alot better. They could have gotten the same amount of fame, cash, and new content without straying too far from the originals.
 
Bethesda? Evil? No. They are a large company. Of course they act a bit dickish from time to time. Hell, even Valve pulled off some dick moves.

Now EA on the other hand...yeah, they're fucking evil. What they did to Ultima and C&C...

I mean, at least Beth tried to keep Fallout 3 close to it's roots. They failed, but at least they tried. And knowing they failed they let Obsidian had a go.

EA...christ, have you played Syndicate? That game is a betrayal right there.

Anyway, so Troika also had interest in the franchise? How do you think a FO game under them would go?
 
SnapSlav said:
Also, Interplay was the PRODUCER, just like Bethesda. They owned rights, but they didn't "create" Fallout; that was Black Isle's doing. Bethesda didn't make ANYTHING for Fallout, other than copy/pasting existing Fallout content, and claiming it their own. They set the scene of their game so far removed from the rest BECAUSE they couldn't work with the rich, original material. They knew if they had, they'd be ravaged by the fans they were trying to seduce.
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Interplay started out as a developer and, like Bethsoft were a developer/publisher later on. Black Isle was part of Interplay. Black Isle Studios didn't exist when Fallout (1) was made, although it was formed from Fallout's key developers. So Interplay did create Fallout, no?

SnapSlav said:
You're blaming Interplay when you shouldn't be, and you're praising Bethesda when you shouldn't be. The ONE contribution Bethesda brought to Fallout was revitalizing the franchise, and even that's meaningless when you consider that Obsidian would've done the same, had Interplay sold them the rights.
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Blaming Interplay is inaccurate. Interplay was already on the descent (heh) and Hervé just did the rest after Brian Fargo left. Hard to say who's to blame for selling to Bethesda because nobody who actually cared about the Fallout franchise was left at Interplay when they sold it.
 
CthuluIsSpy said:
Bethesda? Evil? No.
[...]
Now EA on the other hand...
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They're both bad. EA being some of the worse conglomerations of business malpractices doesn't make Bethesda any better. Better by comparison, sure, but still bad.
 
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