Bethesda Sues Interplay Over Use Of Fallout License

[No_Remainders]

This is just a stupid move by Bethesda.

No this was a stupid move on Interplay's part because the terms of their agreement was that Interplay show Bethesda the packaging and who they sell it to before they sell it. Interplay did neither of these things and must pay the consequences.

Except that it's clearly bad PR for Bethesda, because instead of warning Interplay, which would have been the correct way to go, they'll have gone down in many people's books due to the fact that they're making themselves look like greedy douchebags.

 

[Starke]

This is a petty move on Bethesda's part.

There is no ' irreparable harm' here, it strikes me that Bethesda seems to wants everyone to forget about the original games and instead flock to it's iteration.

"Fallout 1 and 2? What're those? *WE* didn't make em, so they must not count!"

No doubt Bethesda's plan was to plaster their own logo and name all over the packaging of the originals as well so that we poor consumer sheep would think Bethesda had always been in the drivers seat rather than playing the pretender to the throne like they're doing now!

Bah!

Bethesda's logo actually is on, at least the retail trilogy pack, so, yeah... Baaahhh!

Heh, legal clusterfuck.

I wonder how it'll end, the old Fallout games were awesome - though I couldn't care less for the MMO.

don't dismiss the idea entirely. it could potentially work, albeit only if brian fargo got it up and running.

Or Tim Cain...

 

[The Kangaroo]

This is just a stupid move by Bethesda.

No this was a stupid move on Interplay's part because the terms of their agreement was that Interplay show Bethesda the packaging and who they sell it to before they sell it. Interplay did neither of these things and must pay the consequences.

Except that it's clearly bad PR for Bethesda, because instead of warning Interplay, which would have been the correct way to go, they'll have gone down in many people's books due to the fact that they're making themselves look like greedy douchebags.

I know it's just that Interplay are the douches that tried to make money off of a game that's not theirs anymore

Fallout rights holder Bethesda Softworks has made good on its threat to sue developer Interplay for allegedly failing to hold up its end of agreements inked in April 2007.

Apparently they did warn them

 

[No_Remainders]

This is just a stupid move by Bethesda.

No this was a stupid move on Interplay's part because the terms of their agreement was that Interplay show Bethesda the packaging and who they sell it to before they sell it. Interplay did neither of these things and must pay the consequences.

Except that it's clearly bad PR for Bethesda, because instead of warning Interplay, which would have been the correct way to go, they'll have gone down in many people's books due to the fact that they're making themselves look like greedy douchebags.

I know it's just that Interplay are the douches that tried to make money off of a game that's not theirs anymore

Except that they clearly are their games considering that their contract outlined that they were allowed to package and sell the games. Read the article properly, then come back.

 

[The Kangaroo]

This is just a stupid move by Bethesda.

No this was a stupid move on Interplay's part because the terms of their agreement was that Interplay show Bethesda the packaging and who they sell it to before they sell it. Interplay did neither of these things and must pay the consequences.

Except that it's clearly bad PR for Bethesda, because instead of warning Interplay, which would have been the correct way to go, they'll have gone down in many people's books due to the fact that they're making themselves look like greedy douchebags.

I know it's just that Interplay are the douches that tried to make money off of a game that's not theirs anymore

Except that they clearly are their games considering that their contract outlined that they were allowed to package and sell the games. Read the article properly, then come back.

The article said they were allowed if they showed them to Bethesda before selling them

And F.Y.I. they aren't Interplay's games anymore, Bethesda owns the rights so the property is theirs.

 

[DirkGently]

Not that I care, the Interplay Fallout games suck

That is blasphemy. *shakes head in disgust...*

rpgs are boring. get with the program.

fps is the way of the warrior

Please stop trying to incite a flamewar of some sort. Clearly Bethesda disagrees with you because otherwise they wouldn't have invested so much in money into it.

PS: The way of the warrior is not the FPS. The way of the warrior is actually doing something and not sitting on the couch playing Gears of War and Call of Duty.

On topic, I feel sorry for Interplay. Sort of, but not really. More in that Bethesda bothers me more.

 

[Lenny Magic]

The main problem is that Bethesda may be in the right. If you think of them as a person they will probably no doubt visualise as some kind of evil, money grabbing guy in a suit. The issue is that when your dealing with currency in the millions you have to be careful what you do with it. Investing it in a company such as Interplay, is a pretty bad move in my opinion. After all they haven't made a game in years, and have mostly none of the original staff that caused their last successful franchise. To be honest I think Bethesda will win this one.


You really have to wonder if Bethesda saw this coming when the purchased the Fallout rights.

 

[More Fun To Compute]

Bethesda also accused Interplay of breaching the trademark agreement by signing licensing agreements with digital distribution sites like Steam, GOG.com, and GameTap to sell older Fallout games. The company claimed Interplay's alleged actions have caused the studio "immediate, substantial, and irreparable harm."

Playing Fallout is now considered harmful. Uninstall and dispose of all of your copies and replace them with unharmful Bethesda games like Wet and IHRA Drag Racing: Sportsman Edition.

 

[Diablini]

Oh, god! The satire is so... heavy!

 

[MajoraPersona]

Ah, copyrighting laws at their finest.

It's like Comic Books all over again.

 

[More Fun To Compute]

well. interplay deserves it. they killed black isle by running it into the ground, and its time it bite them in the ass.

Bethesda will always be cocks to me for buying Fallout and giving them a big pay day for running a great company into the ground.

 

[GloatingSwine]

well. interplay deserves it. they killed black isle by running it into the ground, and its time it bite them in the ass.

Bethesda will always be cocks to me for buying Fallout and giving them a big pay day for running a great company into the ground.

Interplay were already a hole in the ground before they licensed Fallout to Bethesda.

Literally, they were down to one employee at one point, and that lasted about a year before they found a buyer for Fallout. They'd already sacked all of Black Isle by that point.

 

[Akai Shizuku]

My fellow Escapists, hate to sound like a broken record, but, well...

Welcome to but one of the many issues that come with capitalism.

 

[More Fun To Compute]

Interplay were already a hole in the ground before they licensed Fallout to Bethesda.

Literally, they were down to one employee at one point, and that lasted about a year before they found a buyer for Fallout. They'd already sacked all of Black Isle by that point.

That's sort of what I meant. Herve Caen makes games that nobody wants, sacks all the talent then cashes in a big fat check for a brand name that he had no part in creating.

 

[Fightgarr]

Bethesda are worse than Bungie in my opinion, and although none of you know me at all (considering this is my first post here), if any of you do get to know me, you'll realise that bungie are definitely my most HATED game studio EVER.

That is severely incorrect. At the moment I would say that its Activision. During a large kerfuffle about DRM it was EA. Either way, even though they aren't technically "studios", they are easily the most hated game companies out there. I think arguing that Bungie are widely hated despite having one of the most widely successful game franchises in recent history is a little bit out there. Maybe on the Escapist, definitely not to the public.

 

[oppp7]

Not that I care, the Interplay Fallout games suck

That is blasphemy. *shakes head in disgust...*

rpgs are boring. get with the program.

fps is the way of the warrior

Wasn't Fallout an FPS (or third person shooter)? Combining Fallout and MMOs would be akin to adding more achievements to the Xbox version.

 

[Dr.Sean]

Not that I care, the Interplay Fallout games suck

That is blasphemy. *shakes head in disgust...*

rpgs are boring. get with the program.

fps is the way of the warrior

To each their own. If fps is the way of the warrior then RPG's are the way of the intellectual.

If FPSs are the way of the Warrior, RPGs are the way of the Wizard.

 

[Shaoken]

I can't believe people are against Bethesda on this one. Let me spell this out for you;

1) Bethesda bought the rights to Fallout.
2) They allowed Interplay to sell the Fallout games they made, so long as they let Bethesda know about it first. Anyone who says Bethesda are greedy pricks should pay attention to this, they didn't have to do this. This was Bethesda throwing Interplay a bone it doesn't deserve.
3) Despite Interplay having signed a legally binding contract, they released a Fallout game without telling Bethesda about it.
4) Bethesda sues them for breach of contract.

What is so difficult to understand about this? Bethesda bought the rights, but let Interplay sell the originals so long as they ran everything by Bethesda first. I don't know why they felt the need to do this, most likely one of those trademark things. If I had to take a guess I would say that Bethesda was worried that Interplay might try and use Fallout 3 to boost sales and confuse customers as to who was behind it (for all of you who go on about how nobody would make that mistake, keep in mind you are talking on a gaming forum. Do you really thinkg people who aren't familar with Interplay and Bethesda would know about Interplay's history and that they weren't involved in Fallout 3?).

Bottom line; Interplay broke the contract, so they are at fault here.