Bethesda Loses Again in Fallout Online Legal Battle

[BabyRaptor]

Good job, Judge! Have a cookie.

 

[faefrost]

I'll actually be interested in a Interplay produced Fallout MMO if I ever see any actual progress being made on it. Right now they are just sitting on the IP and letting it rot under false promises and fake screenshots. Interplay needs to start working or they deserve to lose the license, its DNF all over again.

For gods sake why?

Interplay was bought out by clueless morons and quick cash litigants years ago. The people who originally made Fallout and Fallout 2 moved on. Many now work for Obsidian. I think the only game that the modern Interplay ever actually made was the hideous console game (XBox and PS2) "Brotherhood of Steel". And please don't tell me that you thought that was a more real Fallout experience or more respectful treatment of the property than Fallout 3?

Interplay has no money. They haven't had any for a long time. They did not even start any real development on the supposed Fallout MMO until after Bethesda was beginning to challenge them on the rights and contracts. There is nothing good that could possibly come to Fallout fans from this company. The Interplay we knew and loved died over a decade ago. The people trying to make a phoney MMO with no money and a trail of broken promises. They're the ones that killed it. I get the impression that what most of this is is Interplay trying to force some sort of cash settlement out of Bethesda following Fallout 3's success. It's like watching the classic Mel Brooks "The Producers". Interplay has figured that they can walk away with more money by threatening to make an MMO and going through the motions than they can from actually developing something (which they don't have the resources to do).

And yet fans of the classic games continue to buy into Interplay as if it is still the old company that they loved? Amazing!

 

[Aureliano]

If there's going to be an MMO of Fallout, I'd rather Interplay focus its resources on it than Bethesda. I wont play it either way, but at least Bethesda might make a good single-player game instead of the same MMO everybody else makes.

 

[Spencer Petersen]

I'll actually be interested in a Interplay produced Fallout MMO if I ever see any actual progress being made on it. Right now they are just sitting on the IP and letting it rot under false promises and fake screenshots. Interplay needs to start working or they deserve to lose the license, its DNF all over again.

For gods sake why?

Interplay was bought out by clueless morons and quick cash litigants years ago. The people who originally made Fallout and Fallout 2 moved on. Many now work for Obsidian. I think the only game that the modern Interplay ever actually made was the hideous console game (XBox and PS2) "Brotherhood of Steel". And please don't tell me that you thought that was a more real Fallout experience or more respectful treatment of the property than Fallout 3?

Interplay has no money. They haven't had any for a long time. They did not even start any real development on the supposed Fallout MMO until after Bethesda was beginning to challenge them on the rights and contracts. There is nothing good that could possibly come to Fallout fans from this company. The Interplay we knew and loved died over a decade ago. The people trying to make a phoney MMO with no money and a trail of broken promises. They're the ones that killed it. I get the impression that what most of this is is Interplay trying to force some sort of cash settlement out of Bethesda following Fallout 3's success. It's like watching the classic Mel Brooks "The Producers". Interplay has figured that they can walk away with more money by threatening to make an MMO and going through the motions than they can from actually developing something (which they don't have the resources to do).

And yet fans of the classic games continue to buy into Interplay as if it is still the old company that they loved? Amazing!

I know, the "they" in my argument was Interplay. My point was that they need to pass the franchise off or actually start working. Right now that one screenshot of Fallout Online consists of mostly images cribbed from Fallout 3 and other games. Interplay is essentially taking the role of 3D Realms and is holding onto an IP so they can keep getting funded to not work. They need to pass the franchise off, and I'm pretty sure Bethesda is doing this litigation so they can either start working on it themselves or force Interplay to do something other than sit around. The worst case scenario is they make a half finished shitty game that another company has to finish who then takes the blame for the product ala DNF.

 

[Creator002]

All i can really say is: Bethesda, please. Just stop. I want to play Fallout Online. Make yourselves seem like the good guys. Drop the case and say "sorry". Hell, you don't have to say "sorry", just drop the case.

 

[UnravThreads]

This man speaks the truth, InterPlay is currently not doing anything with the Fallout MMO. It's just wasting away, instead of being worked on.
Nice Avatar, btw coldalarm. Fellow TLJ fan here.

Thanks, on both counts.

All i can really say is: Bethesda, please. Just stop. I want to play Fallout Online. Make yourselves seem like the good guys. Drop the case and say "sorry". Hell, you don't have to say "sorry", just drop the case.

You're not going to play Fallout Online if Interplay are working on it, because it will never release.

 

[EHKOS]

I just hope Bethesda can keep making open world sandbox adventure RPG games until I die. I really hope Bethesda just either gives it up or makes the damn thing so we can get Fallout 4 or 5. I don't know if they're gonna do the Rockstar name thing or not.

 

[Spencer Petersen]

Just some food for thought. The current owner of Interplay is the founder of Titus Software, who has produced such classics as Superman and Robocop, which are some of the worst games of all time (and in the case of Superman, the worst game of all time).

 

[GameMaNiAC]

I really want to play a MMO set in the Fallout universe. Imagine the roleplaying you could do. Bethesda, please, just drop the case so I can have one of my wishes fulfilled.

 

[Souplex]

1. Anything Masthead has done that we'd be familiar with?
2. MMOs are almost never profitable, and I'd hate to see Bethesda take a hit like that.
Let Interplay have it.

 

[Spectrum_Prez]

Based on my knowledge of the various parties in this case, basically it breaks down to this:
If you don't give a damn about a Fallout MMO, you want Bethesda to win. They have displayed no interest in making a MMO, ever, and it's just not their thing.
If you want a poorly developed, rushed, and ultimately disappointing MMO, you want Interplay to win.
If you want a good MMO, don't hold you breath.

I love how these threads always devolve into proxy Fallout 1+2 nostalgic supporters vs. Bethesda fanboy threads.

Full disclosure: I'm in the second camp.

 

[adamtm]

Based on my knowledge of the various parties in this case, basically it breaks down to this:
If you don't give a damn about a Fallout MMO, you want Bethesda to win. They have displayed no interest in making a MMO, ever, and it's just not their thing.
If you want a poorly developed, rushed, and ultimately disappointing MMO, you want Interplay to win.
If you want a good MMO, don't hold you breath.

I love how these threads always devolve into proxy Fallout 1+2 nostalgic supporters vs. Bethesda fanboy threads.

Full disclosure: I'm in the second camp.

To be fair, Bioware never expressed interest in MMOs...until they started making one. Nor did blizzard? Now they are the big boy on the block

To be fair Bioware's "success" with TOR is still outstanding since the game didn't come out yet. And blizz had a very good base with the WC3 online scene.

I just really wished people would stop going by company-expectations on everything. And this goes both ways.

Its like those arguments that The Secret World is going to suck because its published by Funcom...

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

So if you wait a little while before filing you suddenly lose your right to your own intellectual property? That sounds pretty suspect to me.

It makes sense if you've been following this thing since the beginning. Basically what the judge is saying is "We can tell you're just talking out your ass now. What's that? You only have a problem with this once your relationship with Interplay went sour? Well, this is your fault, so fuck off."

And to be honest, I think that's probably the best way to deal with this now.

 

[adamtm]

Based on my knowledge of the various parties in this case, basically it breaks down to this:
If you don't give a damn about a Fallout MMO, you want Bethesda to win. They have displayed no interest in making a MMO, ever, and it's just not their thing.
If you want a poorly developed, rushed, and ultimately disappointing MMO, you want Interplay to win.
If you want a good MMO, don't hold you breath.

I love how these threads always devolve into proxy Fallout 1+2 nostalgic supporters vs. Bethesda fanboy threads.

Full disclosure: I'm in the second camp.

To be fair, Bioware never expressed interest in MMOs...until they started making one. Nor did blizzard? Now they are the big boy on the block

To be fair Bioware's "success" with TOR is still outstanding since the game didn't come out yet. And blizz had a very good base with the WC3 online scene.

I just really wished people would stop going by company-expectations on everything. And this goes both ways.

Its like those arguments that The Secret World is going to suck because its published by Funcom...

I didnt say anything about Success, I just pointed out that neither company displayed any interest in MMO development before they started working on them. I was pointing out that blizzard displayed no interest in MMOs and now they have the top subscription MMO.

And whats wrong with Funcom? I enjoyed Anarchy Online!

Nothing, i have absolutely nothing against Funcom, its an example of an argument from reputation.

Yeah people tend to "display no interest until they display interest"
Its a tautology.
The "theres always a first time" argument is horrible.

What I'm objecting to is specifically arguments based -exclusively- on company reputation (both ways).

I.e. "The Old Republic is going to rock because its made by Bioware, they can't fail!" (read that one often enough here on the forums) instead of "TOR is going to rock because -insert reason here-!"

Or the other way: "TSW is going to suck because Funcom failed with AoC" instead of any actual reason.

 

[TKIR]

Bethesda own the license completely. It is 100% theirs. Part of the deal was that Bethesda licensed it to Interplay to create an MMO by a certain date, and that hasn't happened. Actually, there's been very little progress seen by the public from Interplay. What Bethesda are doing is trying to get Interplay off the game because they're not pulling their weight with it. Bethesda want their license back, and likely any and all assets created by Interplay/Masthead for the game, probably so they can give it to someone else or do it internally. As dickish as Bethesda seem in this, they're just doing what they have to. Interplay aren't holding up their side of the bargain.

Actually it was to start development within 24 months of the asset purchase date. Interplay announced development two days before the cut off date. There was also a funding component, Bethesda says it hasn't fulfilled it but interplay claims that the agreement was vague and all Interplay needed was to secure financing for a game with a 30 Million dollar budget and not actually have 30 mil on hand. Interplay can argue against both of these issues and it opens up a interesting point if they win, Interplay contends that Bethesda has broken the 2007 agreement and thus the rights to Fallout revert back to them.

 

[UnravThreads]

Actually it was to start development within 24 months of the asset purchase date. Interplay announced development two days before the cut off date. There was also a funding component, Bethesda says it hasn't fulfilled it but interplay claims that the agreement was vague and all Interplay needed was to secure financing for a game with a 30 Million dollar budget and not actually have 30 mil on hand. Interplay can argue against both of these issues and it opens up a interesting point if they win, Interplay contends that Bethesda has broken the 2007 agreement and thus the rights to Fallout revert back to them.

If Interplay win the case, I will fly over to America and punch the Caen brothers. I don't think any judge will rule in Interplay's favour, because they will just squander a trademark. If you look at the case and everything involved, Interplay have barely done anything. Bethesda have had two successful commercial releases with the Fallout license and invested millions of their own money into the franchise, whereas Interplay have dicked around for a few years and not really done anything of note. I do think Bethesda's attitude will probably count against them, but I believe they're in the right here. Interplay have not delivered what they were meant to, and they're stalling for time.

Interplay are going to lose this battle. I would put the £1.30 next to me on it.