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Earthrise studio arming Fallout MMORPG

By Tor Thorsen, GameSpotPosted Apr 3, 2009 12:18 pm PT

Interplay enlists Bulgaria-based Masthead Studios to work on still-gestating massively multiplayer "Project V13."

In 2007, Interplay Entertainment sold ZeniMax Media the Fallout game IP, which the latter's subsidiary Bethesda Softworks had licensed since 2004. The result of that deal was the critically lionized Fallout 3, which has sold nearly 2 million copies in the US and shipped 4.7 million units worldwide. The postnuclear role-playing game also took top honors at last week's Game Developers Choice Awards (video below), held in conjunction with the 2009 Game Developers Conference

Rising from the ashes?

As Fallout 3 hogged the headlines, Interplay used the cash it got from the IP sale to fund its massively multiplayer Fallout project, code-named Project V13. And for a time, it appeared the once nearly bankrupt publisher would develop the game internally. It restarted its internal development studio and even hired original Fallout developer Chris Taylor to work on the project, which has been in development since November 2007.

Now, though, it seems that Interplay has deemed Project V13 too big a title to handle on its own. This morning, the Irvine, California-based company announced it has "signed a binding letter of intent" with Masthead Studios "to fund the development of Project V13." Under the terms of the deal, Interplay will oversee a collaboration between its own dev team and Masthead's on the title, using the Bulgarian studio's toolset. Currently Masthead is working on Earthrise, another postapocalyptic MMOG also set after World War III, slated for release later this year.

If Project V13 is a success, it will prove a remarkable reversal of fortune for Interplay. A leading publisher during the 1990s, it fell on hard times during the current decade, with its parent company, Titus Interactive, declaring bankruptcy in 2005. In 2004, the publisher suffered a series of misfortunes and was temporarily shut down by state labor officials, threatened with eviction, and had its Web site go offline. The previous year, it closed down its award-winning Black Isle Studios, the refugees from which went on to form Alpha Protocol developer Obsidian Entertainment.

150 Comments

  • krazilec

    Posted Apr 8, 2009 1:04 pm PT

    Muties beware! There's 14 million former WoW players coming after you with plasma rifles and old-school M60s.

  • nappan

    Posted Apr 7, 2009 12:06 pm PT

    @Jericho: good point, and the answer to your last two questions in my case at least is "no, and no".

  • Jericho66

    Posted Apr 6, 2009 7:42 pm PT

    Is this a PC MMO or a console/360 one? If it is...aren't 360 users already paying a fee to microsoft? Did anyone play or pay for Phantasy Star or FFXI when they came out?

  • Shiizuki

    Posted Apr 6, 2009 2:32 pm PT

    Hmm, looks interesting. Gotta wait for more news then...

  • denicola_a_god posted Apr 6, 2009 1:26 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    denicola_a_god

    Posted Apr 6, 2009 1:26 pm PT (hide)

    wata ripoff of fallout i nbet it will be amazing though

  • BigDaddy973

    Posted Apr 6, 2009 10:19 am PT

    Awesome, I am all in for a Fallout MMO!

  • sluffmochildeater

    Posted Apr 6, 2009 8:45 am PT

    When Ultima Online came out the first thing I said was, "Man, they should do this with Fallout." Now, I'm not all that excited about this. I'd rather them put more into a new fallout game that resembles the top down look of the old ones. Call it wasteland or whatever.

  • Fatal_Byte

    Posted Apr 6, 2009 8:20 am PT

    I've been playing this series since 1998....those of us who are hardcore Fallout fans must be amazed at all this hype for a game that seemed to be all but dead at one point. I only hope the bset for Fallouts future, what a great game.

  • Mr_Versipellis

    Posted Apr 6, 2009 8:08 am PT

    I really hope WoW doesn't kill this. Hopefully it'll resurrect Interplay -- they published my favourite retro-RPGs, and perhaps they'll continue that tradition even without Black Isle.

  • yeah_28

    Posted Apr 6, 2009 7:58 am PT

    Its a great idea but its gonna be really hard to make it right, no matter how this turns out there should always be non MMO new Fallouts, an MMO its again a great idea but it will never be able to have thngs like a deep story or plot in wich every player its the hero so this MMO its great as long as it keeps being a secondary part of the game's world. To me, a cool idea would be modern remakes of the original games maybe not in first person like fallout 3 but improved in graphics and more things and still keeping the type of game it was, there are a lot of gamers that haven't played fallout 1 and 2 even after playing fallout 3 mainly because its so old, i think those remakes would have a lot o sucess, plus they could include those deleted parts like the ones in the Fallout Restoration Project, iplayed the original games in 2008, and they became one of my favourite games of all time by far, imagine the pontential of those games tunned up just a bit to get to more modern gamers.

  • Rottenwood

    Posted Apr 6, 2009 7:49 am PT

    Huge Fallout fan, but I'm not sure about an MMORPG. The feeling of isolation and the general atmosphere are huge aspects of what make Fallout great. Those factors will be completely nullified when you're sharing a playscape with hordes of LEETZORZ brats screaming gibberish at each other and running around teabagging the Brotherhood.

    Call me when Fallout 4 drops.

  • Dreski83

    Posted Apr 6, 2009 6:42 am PT

    I wonder if the Interplay people are talking to Masthead about more than funding and toolsets... maybe they will try to sway them into working completely on a Fallout MMO

    Audacity?

  • jadefury27

    Posted Apr 6, 2009 6:37 am PT

    this could be huge. hopefully this won't be the last we hear about this type of project, like some other similar titles *cough huxley cough*

  • atopp399

    Posted Apr 6, 2009 6:20 am PT

    Strange the same company(Masthead) would work on two post apocalyptic RPG's to compete with one another.

  • Penalty_of_Hero

    Posted Apr 6, 2009 4:16 am PT

    Looking forward to this one. Hop they can pull it off.

  • InsultToInjury_

    Posted Apr 6, 2009 1:16 am PT

    A Fallout MMO would be great if done correctly.

  • Junior_AIN

    Posted Apr 5, 2009 10:57 pm PT

    Think Oblivion too.

  • Junior_AIN

    Posted Apr 5, 2009 10:57 pm PT

    Think Oblivion too.

  • salvucci91

    Posted Apr 5, 2009 10:34 pm PT

    I would without a doubt purchase a Fallout MMO; hope to god it's in the right hands when created though.

  • dracosummoner

    Posted Apr 5, 2009 9:02 pm PT

    Hmm, why can't I find (much) more information on "Masthead Studios" ? What other games have they done (I'm a relatively new "Fallout fan," but nevertheless I hope this studio knows what it's doing) ?

    At any rate -- please forgive me if I'm wrong -- I'm not very excited about this game, for the same reason that I'm not excited for "The Old Republic." It seems to me that the Fallout games, like the Knights of the Old Republic games, revolved around giving one (1) character enough freedom of choice to impact entire civilizations. MMOs, because of their vast, interconnected player bases, generally can't allow any one player to have too much "influence" when it comes to making story decisions. So how will either of those games maintain "balance" (in terms of story or gameplay) while still allowing players truly to "role-play" and develop their characters?

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