Bethesda's Known the Fallout MMO Plan for Years, Interplay Claims

[Jake Martinez]

Wow, this is a class-A dick move.

When Bethesda bought the rights to Fallout, they didn't buy the MMO rights. They also got a huge steal on it.

Now, years later, after 2 succesful games, they are seeing mighty big dollar signs in those MMO rights, especially considering at this point in their life, they actually have the cash money to develop an MMO, and as we all know, MMO's are huge cash cows for publishers.

This is nothing more than Bethesda trying to double-dip on that well. Sure, in hindsight, they probably left the most valuable license in the hands of Interplay. That doesn't mean you can stamp your feet and go "nuh uh I didn't!" years later when you finally figure out what you did.

Frankly, this is a really skanky thing to do. I'm sure whomever at Bethesda who is leading the charge on this spins some tale about how they're white-knighting some cherished IP by trying to get it out of the hands of some incompetants, but straight up that's a lie. They're doing it for the money. It's crass and childish.

 

[Marudas]

Legal battles between two companies like this will almost always seem incredibly childish. At this point, I think that either company will pretty much say whatever they can to get by, Interplay because it needs to in order to survive, and Bethesda because it wants the potential to have MMO Rights for Fallout (and doesn't want to get stuck with the court bill).

 

[Lt. Vinciti]

Note to Bethesda / Interplay / whoever the hell is making the next Fallout game:

PLEASE DO "FALLOUT: LONDON" NEXT! As much as I love "Fallout: New Vegas", let's have a game with chavs, mods and rockers. Thankyouverymuch!

Why.....



On Topic:
Interplay...its time realize your time is done.....

I dont understand why ZeniMax doesnt shut them up by buying them all the way out or making them part of ZeniMax...

(ZeniMax owns Bethesda)

 

[Croesus_Hubris]

This whole story makes feel a little sad. I'm not a huge MMO player, but I would be curious to see a Fallout MMO, based on either the old or new play style. Both play great.

 

[Jnat]

Note to Bethesda / Interplay / whoever the hell is making the next Fallout game:

PLEASE DO "FALLOUT: LONDON" NEXT! As much as I love "Fallout: New Vegas", let's have a game with chavs, mods and rockers. Thankyouverymuch!

The fallout series is all about american culture. A game in London would be fun but it wouldn't fit.

 

[A-D.]

I fucking called it. Bethesda are doing this purely out of financial Gain. They just want the IP back or force Interplay to give it back themselves.

 

[Sylveria]

There is no way Interplay is finishing this game. MMOs cost hundreds of millions of dollars and last time I checked Interplay was broke.Not to mention this whole legal battle with Bethesda is going to take whatever money they have left.

I'm sure this is what Bethesda is counting on. They drag this out in court for years, Interplay runs out of money and has to either give up or sell the rights they've retained, thus giving Bethesda the chance to make their own game.

 

[fundayz]

Interplay has been well and truly trolled.

You can make a Fallout online game provided you don't use any content similar to previous fallout titles. But you can't call it a Fallout game because that would confuse Fallout fans. That's a pretty hilarious way of telling Interplay to make their own damn series.

Except for the fact that they PAID for the right to make a Fallout game. I love Bethesda games but they can seriously go eat a d**k over this.

Their whole claim is ridiculous...

Interplay: Hey fans, we bought the right to make a Fallout MMO.
Fans: Yay!
Bethesda: You bought the rights to name your MMO Fallout. You can't use any actual content or lore from Fallout games.
Interplay: No, how does making a Fallout game that has nothing to do with Fallout make any sense?
Bethesda: There would be confusion for our customers if your Fallout game was based on the Fallout universe.
Interplay: ...But there wouldn't be confusion if Fallout Online wasn't set in the Fallout Universe?
Bethesda: Right.
Interplay: /facepalm. See ya in court.
Fans: ????

It is pretty obvious that Bethesda is just trying to back out of it's decision to let Interplay make a Fallout game. Unfortunately for them you can't just call "take backs" when you make a contract.

 

[GamerAddict7796]

Problem is that Bethesda bought everything for the game. Title, lore, names you name it.

 

[adamtm]

just to be clear on this:

"In April 2007, Bethesda Softworks, the developer of Fallout 3, purchased full rights to the Fallout IP for $5.75 million USD. While Bethesda now owned the rights to the Fallout MMO IP, clauses in the purchase agreement state allowed Interplay to license the rights to the development of the MMO. [2] Specific requirements were stated in the agreement that if not met, Interplay would immediately lose and forfeit its license rights for Fallout. Development must have begun within 24 months of the date of the agreement (April 4, 2007), and Interplay must have secured $30 million within that time frame or forfeit its rights to license. Interplay would furthermore need to launch the MMOG within 4 years of the beginning of development, and pay Bethesda 12 percent of sales and subscription fees for the use of the IP."

Bethesda, y u no want Interplays money?!

 

[Ayoxin]

And thus they will probably do a major screw up and fail in a truly epic fashion. Corporate greed and pride knows no bounds... I pity them for their stubbornness.

I never imagined the Fallout universe as an MMO to begin with. The whole survival element will be lost as soon as they introduce instances, epic items and other typical MMO elements. Will it be a world dominated by lvl 80 dudes in power armor kicking butt and chewing bubble gum in 40 man raids like WoW?

They better take a different approach if they dare... otherwise the whole concept of Fallout would be lost in a stunt like that.

 

[RaikuFA]

WHO CARES! Christ, just make the game and split the damn royalties.

this. just shut up with this mmo dispute, make the game cause all youre doing is pissing off your fans

 

[Jinx_Dragon]

WHO CARES! Christ, just make the game and split the damn royalties.

Because they can not sell the game without full cooperation. If they did Bethesda could take all the profits and then sue for a larger chunk of money, leaving Interplay with a loss on the title. No company is ever going to produce and release something they know will loose them money through law suits. Their purpose is to make themselves money, after all.

It would also hurt the customer base. A MMO is run on multiple servers under the direct control of the company. Any law suit brought forth by Bethesda would include an injunction to stop those servers. This would leave gamers, such as yourself, paying for a product they can not legally use. The backlash against Interplay will be just another nail in that failing companies coffin. That isn't touching the financial drain of having to reimburse every gamer their money, just the bad press alone will ensure no one buys their stuff ever again.

More importantly: you will have paid for a product you can not play!

I do not like MMO's that much, no time for them, but a fallout one is probably something I would tinker with for a long while... more so if they know how to do it right. I just don't see it happening because of crap like this... way to go Bethesda, way to screw fans over once more due to politics. Personally I feel Bethesda is trying to sabotage Interplay because they know Interplay will steal the fan base back. After all Interplay was the original producers of this series, and as the original company that made it they are more then likely capable of make very good modern version of the game.

Far better then Bethesda's attempts I would even be willing to say.

 

[Jinx_Dragon]

And thus they will probably do a major screw up and fail in a truly epic fashion. Corporate greed and pride knows no bounds... I pity them for their stubbornness.

I never imagined the Fallout universe as an MMO to begin with. The whole survival element will be lost as soon as they introduce instances, epic items and other typical MMO elements. Will it be a world dominated by lvl 80 dudes in power armor kicking butt and chewing bubble gum in 40 man raids like WoW?

They better take a different approach if they dare... otherwise the whole concept of Fallout would be lost in a stunt like that.

Seconded.

They would have to look away from the WOW model to make a good fallout game and likely add more interaction between the players and the world itself. Wow is static, no matter what you do the world will remain the same so other players that come along can feel as if they started at the very beginning. I know, cataclysm has changed that a little, but even the cataclysm world is static with all players starting at the same point and being able to carry out the same epic quest lines that have been solved by thousands of other players.

I could go into great details over a fluent world model but I will not do so here. I have thought on one for my own MMO ideas, including all the problems and benefits there of, and know it can be pulled off but there is no one here that will be able to take my ideas and make them reality so I won't waste our times.

All I will say is we need a non-static world for a Fallout MMO to be successful as one of the biggest boons of fallout was the sensation your presence in the world could bring about real, long term, changes.

 

[Jinx_Dragon]

Except for the fact that they PAID for the right to make a Fallout game. I love Bethesda games but they can seriously go eat a d**k over this.

Their whole claim is ridiculous...

Interplay: Hey fans, we bought the right to make a Fallout MMO.
Fans: Yay!
Bethesda: You bought the rights to name your MMO Fallout. You can't use any actual content or lore from Fallout games.
Interplay: No, how does making a Fallout game that has nothing to do with Fallout make any sense?
Bethesda: There would be confusion for our customers if your Fallout game was based on the Fallout universe.
Interplay: ...But there wouldn't be confusion if Fallout Online wasn't set in the Fallout Universe?
Bethesda: Right.
Interplay: /facepalm. See ya in court.
Fans: ????

It is pretty obvious that Bethesda is just trying to back out of it's decision to let Interplay make a Fallout game. Unfortunately for them you can't just call "take backs" when you make a contract.

Yeah, but you can hope to prevent the release of the game through law suits. Either by making it to expensive to continue to argue in court that the designers just drop the idea all together or by prolonging the release to the point it becomes a 'outdated B class game' even before it is released. The longer you are in court, the more money it will cost to release the game. Eventually you reach a point where it is more financially responsible NOT to release the game, ensuring it will never see the light of day and winning regardless of what the outcome of the court case actually is.

That is the whole idea of this sort of law suit: Not to win the court case, but to delay the release so long it is no longer profitable to release it at all.

Frankly, Interplay, make the game and release it in despite of this threat of law! Afterwards you can just dare Bethesda to sue you in court, knowing the tactic of 'delay till it is no longer releasable' is irrelevant. Bet you Bethesda, knowing very well it has no legal leg to stand on, will drop the case so quickly we will wonder if there was even a concern over use of the Fallout universe to begin with.

 

[Krion_Vark]

Interplay has been well and truly trolled.

You can make a Fallout online game provided you don't use any content similar to previous fallout titles. But you can't call it a Fallout game because that would confuse Fallout fans. That's a pretty hilarious way of telling Interplay to make their own damn series.

As a note, from Wikipedia

"Due to its financial losses, French publisher Titus Interactive completed its acquisition of majority control of the company and caused founder Brian Fargo resign and depart in 2002. In 2003, Interplay shut down Black Isle Studios and laid off the entire staff, until the company was shutdown in 2004 for the eviction notice."

They've never been involved in a Fallout game before.

You do know that when Interplay sold the Fallout IP to Bethesda in 2007 it was sold on the proviso that they retain the licence to produce a Fallout MMO, right?

<a href=http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=13515>Don't believe me?

I really don't see how Bethesda has a leg to stand on in this case.

just to be clear on this:

"In April 2007, Bethesda Softworks, the developer of Fallout 3, purchased full rights to the Fallout IP for $5.75 million USD. While Bethesda now owned the rights to the Fallout MMO IP, clauses in the purchase agreement state allowed Interplay to license the rights to the development of the MMO. [2] Specific requirements were stated in the agreement that if not met, Interplay would immediately lose and forfeit its license rights for Fallout. Development must have begun within 24 months of the date of the agreement (April 4, 2007), and Interplay must have secured $30 million within that time frame or forfeit its rights to license. Interplay would furthermore need to launch the MMOG within 4 years of the beginning of development, and pay Bethesda 12 percent of sales and subscription fees for the use of the IP."

Bethesda, y u no want Interplays money?!

I quoted both of you because what Adamtm said is what I was going to say about this to Grouchy Imp.

And now for my 2 cents.
When this started Interplay had not had much in the way of a game set up. Before Fallout 3 Interplay had 2 I believe top down survival rpg type games to pull off of. Bethesda doesn't want them using THEIR character models or THEIR character names. Like Butch from Vault 101 or any of the random other names that were used in THEIR game. Its not saying hey you can't use this because its part of Fallout its more like hey you can't use this because this is what WE did before YOU were supposed to start what YOU are supposed to be doing.

 

[Jinx_Dragon]

Note to Bethesda / Interplay / whoever the hell is making the next Fallout game:

PLEASE DO "FALLOUT: LONDON" NEXT! As much as I love "Fallout: New Vegas", let's have a game with chavs, mods and rockers. Thankyouverymuch!

The fallout series is all about american culture. A game in London would be fun but it wouldn't fit.

Agreed.

While it would be fun to see the Chinese or Russian side of things the simple fact we know nothing about this area is what makes Fallout great... we can have wild and inaccurate guesses flying around, in and out of game. We don't know who started the war, we don't know why it was started, we don't know what the other side was like and all that allows us to imagine something far greater (or more disturbing) then what the game designers can come up with. It is a form of story telling made popular by good horror writers: let the imagination of the reader do all the work.

This is what makes it more entertaining to see the flash backs of the worlds history, twisted by the propaganda of just only one side of the equation. We point and laugh cause we know, as outsiders looking in, that it is a load of bullshit propaganda but leaves us debating in our own minds: Then what is reality. It is this feeling of not knowing what happened and why Fallout is the way it is that gives the world even more depth and sparks the urge to explore and try and find out.

Give us too many view points from outside of the US and we will find out way too fast and it will loose some of the allure.

 

[adamtm]

And now for my 2 cents.
When this started Interplay had not had much in the way of a game set up. Before Fallout 3 Interplay had 2 I believe top down survival rpg type games to pull off of. Bethesda doesn't want them using THEIR character models or THEIR character names. Like Butch from Vault 101 or any of the random other names that were used in THEIR game. Its not saying hey you can't use this because its part of Fallout its more like hey you can't use this because this is what WE did before YOU were supposed to start what YOU are supposed to be doing.

It was 2 RPGs 1 tactical RPG (Fallout Tactics) and one XBOX shooter that nobody wants to acknowledge (Brotherhood Of Steel)

However this is not the issue that interplay wants to use -any- of the Fallout 3 locations/names/lore they clearly stated on their forums and through interviews that FO is supposed to be set not on the Eastcoast or Vegas but the Midwest. They are not using any of the F3 assets nor are they using any of the F3 setting or design.
This is further supported by the fact that this game is based on the Van Buren framework which would have been Interplays Fallout 3 which has nothing at all to do with the Bethesdas Fallout 3.

Bethesda is just being a dick because they now suddenly want all the cake of the Fallout IP since its popular. Somehow i think that Bethesda didnt expect Interplay to show anything at all ever of the MMO, and now they are surprised that someone might actually do something with it.

What i still do not understand is that Bethesda would get a cut from the profits, imho its a win-win situation if the MMO comes out. Since if it fails the blame falls solely on Interplay while strengthening their brand as being the "good" modern Fallout, and if it succeeds they get a (sizable) cut from the profit and Interplay -STILL- has no rights to the Fallout name or universe so they can release Fallout 4 and Fallout:Space for all i care.

The motivation behind this lawsuit is completely beyond me...

 

[TheMadDoctorsCat]

Note to Bethesda / Interplay / whoever the hell is making the next Fallout game:

PLEASE DO "FALLOUT: LONDON" NEXT! As much as I love "Fallout: New Vegas", let's have a game with chavs, mods and rockers. Thankyouverymuch!

Why.....

Why? WHY? Oh because... well... erm...

(Ok good question).

Well from a selfish point of view, I LOVE "Fallout: New Vegas" - in fact I recently described it as easily the best game of the last three or four years that I'd played - and one of the (very few) criticisms I have of it is that the setting is so... unfamiliar. I mean, practically everything in the capital of Washington DC has been photographed, published and sent around the world many times over. Vegas... not so much.

And as much as I love what they've done with Vegas, "Fallout: NV" is hardly a recommendation to come and see the city in the way that "Fallout 3" was with Washington DC. Honestly I get the impression that there wasn't that much there to begin with that they could put into the game to make it interesting, hence they had to add Roman legionaries. (Yes, for people who haven't played this game yet - there ARE Roman legionaries in New Vegas. Play, don't ask.) Maybe that's the problem with limiting the series to America - it's all very new and shiny, and unless you count the native Americans you guys have very little history (in comparison to pretty much anywhere else). I mean, I'm sure there've been some interesting battles fought or treaties signed in Ohio or Texas or somewhere, but I couldn't name 'em. Of course part of the problem is I'm not an American myself, but even just going on the games themselves, it feels like everything's new and shiny. (Yeah, I know this is strange considering this is a game about a nuclear wasteland, but go with me here.)

And even Fallout 3 had some pretty heavy use of historical influence from all over the place, not just America. The main plot involved what seemed to be a mashup of the American War of Idependance and the German Holocaust - it directly referenced the blitzkrieg at one point - and revolved around a battle of finite scientific resources and ethnic cleansing.

But mostly I'd just love to hunt politicians-turned-feral-ghouls in the houses of Parliament, or sit on top of Big Ben or the London Eye with a sniper rifle. (Yeah, I know you can technically do that in real life, but it didn't end up well for the last guy who tried.) London has everything you need for a great Fallout game - masses of different "factions" from Buddhists to thugs - plus hundreds of great locations. As for the usual history-influenced factions, how about Guy Fawkes played out "V-for-Vendetta" style? How about the Normans vs the Saxons? Mods vs Rockers? Met vs football hooligans? (Ok, I'm stretching here, but this is all a fact of life in modern-day London. Why not?)

Other non-American locations that I can see working wonders in this series:

Fallout: Sydney. (An incredibly varied city for a rich gaming experience.)

Fallout: New Zealand. (Has some of the most prolific extreme sports bases the world over.)

Fallout: Paris. (The language is a problem, but seriously... sniping from the top of the Arc d'Triomphe. Power-fisting (not as pervy as it sounds) your way through ghoul tourists in the cafe quarter. Blowing up the Eiffel tower (a tradition of every other Hollywood action movie that visits Paris.) This might be the best suggestion of the lot, actually.

 

[Fusioncode9]

There is no way Interplay is finishing this game. MMOs cost hundreds of millions of dollars and last time I checked Interplay was broke.Not to mention this whole legal battle with Bethesda is going to take whatever money they have left.

I'm sure this is what Bethesda is counting on. They drag this out in court for years, Interplay runs out of money and has to either give up or sell the rights they've retained, thus giving Bethesda the chance to make their own game.

I doubt Bethesda wants a Fallout MMO. If there's an MMO less people will want buy the core games. I'm guessing they just want to sit on it.