Bethesda Loses Latest Appeal Against Fallout MMO Devs

[Mekado]

Cue the undying hate for Bethesda.

OT: you win some, you lose some, and it looks like Bethesda is probably going to win this case in the long run. (Either because they'll refuse to publish the game or Interplay will run out of money)

...that's not winning the case. That's winning at being a giant dick. Which isn't winning at all.

In fact most of the population would consider that 'losing'.

Or you can take it as winning at protecting the value of a brand you own, a subpar Fallout game would hurt Bethesda sales in the long run, the name of the franchise would have lost value.

No argument that it's a dick move, but it's a business-savvy dick move...

 

[Therumancer]

My major concern right now is that Bethesda is going to blow most of it's finances on legal battles, wind up cutting their game budgets, and then die wallowing in crap of their own creation. It seems unlikely, but yeah... this is a three year losing court battle, plus the thing with Mojang. I can understand their position, but still it seems like an increasing waste of money with little in the way of potential returns.

As far as the Fallout MMO, to be honest I haven't been cheering for them there, largely because as far as I'm concerned they DID sell the rights, and like it or not Interplay has done some good work with Fallout in the past, whether they are the same company or not is a matter of debate, but truthfully I'd rather something similar to the team that did "Fallout 2" do the writing for the MMO rather than Bethesda's team who never did seem to have the guts to carry the depravity forward (so to speak).

 

[Trikeen]

There is still hope! Come on, Interplay, you can do this!

 

[TheBelgianGuy]

I agree with Bethesda 100%. I mean, seriously - they bought the rights, it's their thing. i'm not even sure why it's a problem at all - Inter should not be making this game.

What? When they bought the rights, they agreed that Interplay was allowed to make the Fallout MMO. So why shouldn't interplay make this game?
The legal battle is not about whether interplay should or should not make this game, it's that Interplay should've made the game in 24 months according to the agreement, made in 2007 - which they obviously failed to do so.

 

[Dastardly]

Bethesda Loses Latest Appeal Against Fallout MMO Devs

That's how it works. You keep trying any perceived weak point until you find what works. Their legal team would be idiots if they didn't keep trying stuff.

Interplay is clearly not on any kind of track to get a Fallout MMO onto the market. They're camping on the rights, waiting to cash in on the recent popularity earned by Bethesda. Or worse, they're camping on it until it's too late for even Bethesda to make a timely Fallout MMO -- you know, one might even call that "irreparable harm."

 

[Dastardly]

Cue the undying hate for Bethesda.

OT: you win some, you lose some, and it looks like Bethesda is probably going to win this case in the long run. (Either because they'll refuse to publish the game or Interplay will run out of money)

...that's not winning the case. That's winning at being a giant dick. Which isn't winning at all.

In fact most of the population would consider that 'losing'.

And what's Interplay doing? They're stalling and camping on the rights just to keep Bethesda from using them. They are in absolutely no position to deliver any kind of quality MMO in a timely manner. So Bethesda, already noting that Interplay is well in breach of contract, is letting them know two can play that game.

 

[ZephrC]

You know what would be nice?
A thread where Escapist's immediate reactions weren't "ZOMG BETH IS EVIL, ARRGH WORLD ENDING!" whenever a company acts like....a profit seeking entity. Which they are. Obviously.

Instead, how about this: Bethesda got the rights from Interplay, but left them the rights to create an mmo of the Fallout universe in 24 months (2007), Bethesda would recieve 12% of the subs and purchases of that mmo. NOTE that Interplay have already failed to raise enough cash, by their own estimation no less, to make it and have already failed to meet the deadline.

So essentially: Bethesda offered them a small chance to make an MMO Fallout as a small token of respect for the company (Or whatever, just guessing that bit) and Interplay balls it up.

So out go the lawyers!

That's great, except for the part where none of it is actually true.

Interplay agreed to gain funding for and start production of the game within 24 months, which they did. It looks like they fell short of the rather arbitrary amount of funding the contract required them to have gained by that point by a couple percent, but, and this may come as a surprise to you, that most likely doesn't give Bethesda the right to just pack up their things and go home. That's not how contracts actually work.

Bethesda could be awarded damages if they can prove Interplay's failure to get together every penny of that money on that particular date somehow damaged them, but as long as Interplay is making a good faith attempt to live up to their half of the contract and they aren't completely failing at it the contract remains totally valid. From what I understand Interplay is kind of a mess, so maybe the court will decide in the end that they are failing to meet their obligations, but contract law is not a game of GOTCHA! and it's insulting to the court that Bethesda keeps treating it that way.

 

[Mekado]

As far as the Fallout MMO, to be honest I haven't been cheering for them there, largely because as far as I'm concerned they DID sell the rights, and like it or not Interplay has done some good work with Fallout in the past, whether they are the same company or not is a matter of debate, but truthfully I'd rather something similar to the team that did "Fallout 2" do the writing for the MMO rather than Bethesda's team who never did seem to have the guts to carry the depravity forward (so to speak).

Funny you should say that, because all of the designers on that team jumped ship a long while ago;
Fergus Urquhart (now CEO of Obsidian, Bethesda's butt-buddy)
Chris Avellone (now works at Obsidian)
Matt Norton (now working at Riot games (League of legends guys))

THESE are the guys that "made" Fallout 1 and 2.

The best thing that could happen imo would be that Bethesda keeps it, and have it done by Obsidian, then it'll really be the team that did the original Fallouts,i'm sure they'd love to work on their old ip again

 

[zacman5001]

Interplay has the rights for a Fallout MMO they wouldn't need to get Bethesda's permission for anything, which is the main reason Bethesda is trying to wrestle the rights away from them in the hopes of having the entire IP liscense.

If Bethesda want's to make a fuss about this they should have bought the entire rights to Fallout, rather then taking ONLY single player rights and allowing Interplay to keep the rights to make the MMO. Bethesda, you screwed yourself here from lack of foresight, in the hopes Interplay would go under and default the rights back to you.

Capthca - if CP in (R) rbstatel

I think interplay is going to go under soon. There already down to twelve people.

 

[Saviordd1]

i wonder who appears to be worse at their job, bethesda's legal department or EA's PR department.

I still don't see why people think their PR department is bad, they're like Jim Sterling, they generate controversy and people talk about whatever the hell they've stirred up. Just sayin'

OT: This one was pretty silly from the start methinks, even if Bethesda had a case to stand on, why would you let someone produce an MMO of a game you own the rights to then sue them for using characters. It makes no sense at all.

Because if I remember correctly interplay was going to set the MMO in a world where Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas didn't happen, basically a big middle finger to Obsidian and Bethesda

OT: Damn, this sucks, I was hoping that Bethesda would win.

 

[rapidoud]

The Fallout MMO was quietly released as Fallen Earth.

Once you get past the tutorial (which makes it seem close and instanced-like), it is very good and very Fallout-like. The map is also HUGE.

 

[CulixCupric]

fallout 3/nv were nearly a stepping stone to skyrim, imo. I did enjoy them, but i have this uncanny fanboyism for elder scrolls. i liked oblivion more than morrowind, though, and liked daggerfall best. a next-gen daggerfall, THAT i would play.

 

[Strazdas]

well i really dont see it working anyway. besides they did leave itnerplay the rights to make a MMO, so why not let them anymore? i can see how it can destroy their "cannon" image. but to do that the image must be cannon in the first place, and fallout 3 certainly doesnt account for that.

 

[Aizsaule]

I like Bethesda but i'm glad they keep losing lawsuits, they are just being dicks.

 

[Ordinaryundone]

Well, to anyone looking forward to a Fallout MMO, too bad. If this decision holds, it will never, ever happen.

This whole case has been about Interplay trying desperately to ride Bethesda's coattails after they managed to ressurect Fallout like some giant video game zombie. If Interplay really cared about actually doing anything with the franchise, they wouldn't have sold it in the first place.

 

[WhiteTigerShiro]

i wonder who appears to be worse at their job, bethesda's legal department or EA's PR department.

I still don't see why people think their PR department is bad, they're like Jim Sterling, they generate controversy and people talk about whatever the hell they've stirred up. Just sayin'

Advertising =/= PR

No one is claiming that EA is bad at advertising their games. We're saying that EA is bad at making us like them, hence why their PR (Public Relations, as-in how they relate to the public) fails.

As for the article, I say good. Bethesda's really been getting under my skin lately, so it's good to see them getting slapped on the wrist. Now stop suing people, and stop making engines that make a bee hive look bug-free.

a fall out MMO? this is the first i've heard of it, and it already sounds like a bad idea

THANK you. I have been saying this for years now. I'm really hoping bethesda isnt trying to pull the plug on the MMO so they can make one of their own, but rather they know how terrible that idea is.

granted, that has nothing to do with the matter at hand, but still

Yeah? And people said that a first-person Metroid was a bad idea, and look what happened. Frankly, I love the idea of a Fallout MMO. Only problem is how they plan to answer the potential problem of the game getting too popular and thus servers don't look post-apocalyptic at all, but rather that the world could use another apocalypse to prune the numbers some. It'll be a tough balance to strike to have enough players that the game feels MMO-ish, but not so many that it kills the atmosphere of playing in a post-apocalyptic setting in the first place.

 

[Arppis]

Good that they lost. Scrolls makers were ready to settle, but Bethsda wasn't. They deserved to lose this argument. Besides, don't think they got trademark for words.

 

[andy25100]

I think bethesda's lawyers are not doing this because they want to sue them they want to sue people so they gain enough experience to do it properly

 

[Jazoni89]

I like Bethesda but i'm glad they keep losing lawsuits, they are just being dicks.

Correction, Zenimax is being a dick, not Bethesda.

You're blaming the wrong people. Bethesda is owned by Zenimax, which does the marketing, and legal side of things.

Zenimax are a bunch of marketing fat cats who don't give a shit on who they trample on. Money is everything to these idiots, and that is to be made by nicking the online Fallout IP from Interplay. Zenimax sees the opportunity in it to make big bucks, and Zenimax gets, what Zenimax wants, so this legal battle for this MMO is far from over.