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Interplay restarting dev studio

By Brendan Sinclair, GameSpotPosted Nov 13, 2007 5:58 pm PT

Company says it will make new installments of Earthworm Jim, Descent, MDK, Dark Alliance if it can get the money.

As a publisher, Interplay is a shell of its former self. After a visible and embarrassing series of events in which the company was threatened with eviction, sued by BioWare for nonpayment of royalties on the Baldur's Gate series, and finally closed by authorities for not paying or insuring its employees, the publisher all but disappeared.

In 2006, the company revealed it was planning a massively multiplayer online game based on the Fallout universe; it just needed $75 million to get it done. That funding hasn't materialized yet, but the publisher explained how it will keep busy in the meantime in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission today.

With the explanation that it is looking at ways of leveraging its stable of franchises "through sequels and various development and publishing arrangements," Interplay announced it is restarting its in-house development studio. The money to establish that studio will come from the recent sale of the Fallout franchise to Bethesda Softworks. (Interplay is now licensing the Fallout IP from Bethesda for its upcoming MMOG.) The publisher also said it has brought back Jason Anderson, a lead artist on the original Fallout game and cofounder of the defunct Troika Games, to serve as creative director for an unannounced MMOG.

Among the projects Interplay has said it wants to develop are sequels to Earthworm Jim, Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, Descent, and MDK, provided it can find the financing. The Earthworm Jim license was most recently held by Atari, which announced a PlayStation Portable version of the game last year with Shiny as the developer. Atari later sold Shiny to Foundation 9, and the project appears to be dead. Shiny was previously owned by Interplay until the publisher sold it to Atari in 2002.

The Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance sequel also has ties to Atari, given that the Infogrames subsidiary currently holds the rights to the Dungeons & Dragons license. Like the rest of the Baldur's Gate series, the Dark Alliance spin-off for consoles was created under the Dungeons & Dragons Forgotten Realms imprint. Interplay signed a multiyear deal for the Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale licenses in 2002, but it's unclear when that arrangement was set to expire.

[UPDATE]: An Interplay representative confirmed for GameSpot that the company owns the Dark Alliance name, and can continue to make fantasy role-playing games under that banner so long as they don't use the Dungeons & Dragons license, which includes the Forgotten Realms world and the Baldur's Gate name. As for Earthworm Jim, Interplay owns the property, and Atari merely has a license to make certain handheld games based on the character.

232 Comments

  • TehEliteElite

    Posted Dec 16, 2008 12:09 pm PT

    Just stay dead!!

  • starduke

    Posted Aug 14, 2008 2:06 pm PT

    If they do make a new Decent game, they should also update the older Decent games as well. Decent 1 and 2 were fun, but compared to Decent 3, graphicly at least, they seem almost sud-standard. Of course that's because those games are old! They should also make another Freespace game. The first one was awsome! I never was able to puchase the second one, but I've heard it was pretty good as well. I'm hoping Interplay can make a come back. They made some of my favorite games.

  • steveosandwich

    Posted Jul 25, 2008 11:57 pm PT

    wow earthworm jim hell yea i have not played that game in many it use to be my favorite on super Nintendo.

  • Koushin

    Posted Jul 18, 2008 8:41 pm PT

    Oh wow bring back Kurt again! I loved his outfit so cool! I loved both games a lot but I would hope they could make the game feel alot like the first one. Oh I would wish even for a remake of the original. That would rock!! MDK FTW!

  • RonTorque

    Posted Jul 9, 2008 3:58 am PT

    It's good for these old franchises to come back again...Old School is back,baby!

  • flavort

    Posted May 9, 2008 11:03 am PT

    I want MDK back BIG TIME and Earthworm Jim. They are in my top 5 games of all time.

  • Jecko750

    Posted Apr 24, 2008 1:35 pm PT

    I'll be even more happy if Descent 1, 2, or 3 was ported to a XLA title. It makes a good one since it has a score system with it anyway. The only trouble is the controller and license. (I don't know for sure if the license will be a problem.)

  • jjpisila

    Posted Apr 22, 2008 7:48 pm PT

    When Descent 4 comes out I will be one of the happiest people on earth.
    I just hope that this doesn't end the Into Cerberon mod for Doom 3. (check it out on moddb.com), or D2X-XL.

  • Death_Masta187

    Posted Apr 1, 2008 7:41 pm PT

    you had me at MDK

  • Paskiewicz

    Posted Mar 15, 2008 10:58 pm PT

    Yeah, I love DESCENT games! Original Descent is my first favorite game, I still have it and all series. Freespace too.

  • danielson2k

    Posted Feb 17, 2008 2:05 pm PT

    Awesome! MDK and Descent are two of my favourite games of all time!

  • Drizzt46

    Posted Feb 15, 2008 1:37 am PT

    I've been waiting for a Dark Alliance 3 for ages! I didn't know what was happening, so I looked it up tonight. Too bad about everything that's happened. An ending to the story (and a whole other game to play through!) would be great.

  • Yogizilla

    Posted Feb 4, 2008 5:29 am PT

    If I was Interplay, I wouldn't pursue an MMORPG right now. It's just a trend that everyone is jumping on. I am a small-time developer myself and I think the ideal is to bootstrap projects whenever possible and do what you really believe in. Start small, be passionate, and let the projects become viral 'til they reach critical mass. When you get a little more leverage, then pursue the bigger things.

    Interplay owns what I feel are some of the most memorable and unique franchises out there. They should definitely pace themselves. Rebuilding one's image is one of the hardest things to do. They made some bad calls. It happens. Personally, I'd love to see MDK and Descent the most. These games were ahead of their time. I can see MDK having a very rich, addicting online multiplayer, with each player possessing some sort of cybernetic or alien assassin with special powers. It can be what Metroid Prime Hunters could have been.

    As for Descent, this game offered 360 degrees of motion. It was so great for online deathmatch. I loved placing proximity mines and catching people with them as they gave me chase. I also recall being able to fly directly under people without them ever knowing. With the power of computers today, this game can be taken to new levels. I can only imagine what they'd do with it!

  • Spiffert

    Posted Jan 24, 2008 8:39 am PT

    Yay! Interplay!
    I don't have numbers of how many times I have played the games from interplay. I think I have went through Fallout 1 and 2 so many times I still know them, even most of the really funny lines, just like that. oO
    If they can make a real, and I mean REAL genuine Fallout 3 and/or next Fallout project after that I will be even suggest myself to help make the music for the game, bringing all of the band and others(!), or something! or I will just donate money and.. live happily ever after.
    Getting to eager, just too exited. x_O

  • killzone41992

    Posted Jan 19, 2008 8:00 pm PT

    yeah im sure all those games were great but I'm surprised hardly anybody is asking for baldur's gate dark alliance 3 I mean come on that was one of the best video game series of all time I hope they make the third installment A.S.A.P. i will even donate money to help em

  • deadline

    Posted Jan 11, 2008 10:38 am PT

    My wife and I played Dark Alliance I and II co-op and loved it. There is nothing for PS3/XB360 that offers this kind of game with a good co-op mode -- I would kill for a next-gen Dark Alliance 3!

  • Alcotamaysees

    Posted Jan 3, 2008 10:02 pm PT

    I remember playing mdk on my old imac. So ghetto...

  • ZoeyClarke

    Posted Dec 4, 2007 10:56 am PT

    will s&*t bricks when mmog gets released. subsequently following bricks will be: weight gain, loss of job, divorce and lots of nuka cola.

  • darklord11

    Posted Dec 2, 2007 9:10 am PT

    they need to make dark alliance baldur's gate 3 the second ended with some ominous guys say he will take care of it him self.

  • tigerpirro

    Posted Nov 30, 2007 2:02 pm PT

    I have always supported and loved Interplay and i will always continue to do so

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