Bethesda sues Interplay over Fallout

The name fallout 3 is missleading rename it to "The elder scrolls: Fallout" because thats what it is. Only difference is World, S.P.E.C.I.A.L system and the overpowered V.A.T.S aiming system. The game is a cake walk on very hard. It was released with a level cap of 20... Bethesda did an awesome job with the lore though, the main reason I finished the game.

One could be as old-school fanboy as they want. The fact of the matter is that Interplay is too poor and untalented to crank out any new IPs and as such are breaking agreements by riding off of old Fallout IPs. Way to go Bethesda. Show 'em who owns and revived the Fallout universe.

I am fully behind what Bethesda is doing. Good for them.

good for Bethesda. Also, OLdSkEwL doorknobs can take their crappy graphics and bad, outdated gameplay and go die in a fire.

@iamthespd "And face it, Fallout was a niche game until Fallout 3 brought the series to the mainstream." Yes, and it's pretty sad that it happened. Not every game needs to be an AAA title aimed at the widest possible audience. Yes, it was a niche title, but I am part of the niche it was targeted at, while I'm not part of the "mainstream audience" Fallout 3 is targeted at.

@pixiedust35147 "as others have said, interplay didnt make fallout, black isle studios did. Interplay owned the rights from a publishing agreement. " Sigh, not again. You're wrong. First of all, Black Isle was never an independent entity, but simply Interplay's RPG division. So if a game was made by Black Isle, it was also made by Interplay, since Black Isle was always part of Interplay, and not an independent company or even a subsidiary. Second, Black Isle didn't even exist by that name during the development of Fallout 1. You won't find the name "Black Isle" in Fallout 1, just Interplay. The name was made up only during the development of Fallout 2. Also, the three developers of Fallout that formed Troika Games left Interplay early during the development of Fallout 2, when the name Black Isle Studios wasn't even made up. Fallout 2 was made mostly by different people, and they are the ones currently at Obsidian.

Fallout 1 & 2 were better IMO, however, it was a no brainer to use the elder scrolls engine with the post apocalyptic setting. I think fallout 3 was a terrific game, it just didnt have quite as much meat to it. I look forward to seeing what the original guys can do with the license and a steady cash flow. I would die for an arcade game spinoff done like the old fallout.

Fallout 3 FTW!

as others have said, interplay didnt make fallout, black isle studios did. Interplay owned the rights from a publishing agreement. The studio formally known as black isle is now known as obsidian. They have most recently done neverwinter nights 2, and star wars knights of the old republic 2. Bethesda bought obsidian aa little while back and had handed them back Fallout. Fallout New Vegas is scheduled to be released in 2010. WOOT! WOOT!

LoopinLinChin, you don't know what you are talking about. Fallout 3 was phenomenal. I know I know, being a loyalist to the old school and the classics is the cool thing to do these days, but you can't be serious here man.

bethesda killed the fallout series anyways. FO1&2>FO3

Bethesda is truly and simply protecting their legitimate rights over the fallout franchise over an infringement of contract, I like the way Bethesda focuses on correcting what's being done wrong for the good of game development rather than use the opportunity to pin Interplay into further debt. What interplay was doing riding fallout 3 wave was pathetic, I don't know what have they been doing for the past five years.

pfffff

I'm not a big Bethesda fan but it really rubbed me the wrong way that GS makes it sound like they're suing Interplay through the floor for the entire article, except for at the very end, when all they want is a contact enforced. Nice to see a game company that has their head on straight.

@nitsju true but IP would have made money on the mmo wich bethesda let them have but they decided to give it to someone else. I love F1, F2 and FT but interplay messed up and all bethesda wants is the right i meen IP did knowingly sign a contract giving bethesda the right and IP knowingly broke that .

Interplay, you was good back in the day. But I think it's time to give it up. Classy move by Bethesda, not demanding money.

@Jedifisto Bethesda is profiting of of the success that Interplay had with Fallout 1 and 2. If Interplay had refused to sell fallout, then Bethesda would have made a lot less money last year, so at least let Interplay make some.

Bethseda is the best thing that has ever happened to Fallout. Period

eyerok Posted Sep 13, 2009 2:08 pm CT This is just lame. Bethesda is acting as if it CREATED fallout. I've got only two words to say: **** Bethesda! ---- Read the full article. Bethesda owns the rights to Fallout. Bethesda is asking for that to be confirmed in court. Bethesda has not asked for money. There is no greed. And face it, Fallout was a niche game until Fallout 3 brought the series to the mainstream.

thats messed up that interplay thinks that they can start selling thier old fallouts again becuse of the buzz bethesda gave back to fallout. their kinda profiting off of bethesdas sucsess. i meen i dont wanna see interplay really lose the rights to fallout case they created it but they kinda asked for it goin behind on the contract like that , even after they said if ip rasied enough funds they could make the mmo.... just messed. at least bethesda doesnt want money

Regardles of who created the IP, Bethesda owns it now. They have every right to go after Interplay.

If Bethesda were seeking money in the lawsuit, then I'd be ticked... but they're not seeking any money.

Bethesda does seem a little greedy but they were under contract

I hate Bethesda so much, I can't even imagine me hating something that bad, besides those court-dogs

Beth-Soft's got the right but it's still sad. In my perfect world the Fallout IP would have been left to history and Beth-Soft would have created a new property to sate their post-apocalyptic RPG jones. Seriously I don't see how anything they did in FO3 required or was even enhanced by the Fallout IP. I'm sure many would disagree, but to me the Fallout trappings were window dressing, really only contained in the nomenclature of the universe....

Bethesda - greedy MF's

I think it was wrong for Interplay to try to profit off their old games and Bethesda's success. They should have spent their time publishing new IP's instead of trying to make a quick buck.

Dumb move on Interplay's part. It's either ignorance or greed, they're lucky Bethesda didn't demand money (according to this article)... VERY lucky. Bethesda have every right to do what they're doing.

If Bethesda invest 5.75 million dollars into Fallout name, then Interplay has no right taking that same juice to publish Fallout trilogy using the marketing heat Bethesda invested to make a sucessful profit closeout. More or less, Interplay is just giving back Bethesda money on Bethesda dime of Ads martketing. Also its competition in the pc gaming section. Clearly interplay didnt ask Bethesda because Fallout 3 still had an audience and Bethesda wouldnt allow Fallout originals until Fallout 3 dropped off next year. I coud see an issue with the title Fallout 3. there are same stupid ass people in walmart that just grab and purchase. once opened, no returning the product. then Bethesda gets nasty and angry ripped off people wanting their money for Fallout 3 included since it says trilogy. We all know FALLOUT and Fallout 2 and the only releases made by Interplay, through this third crap into it makes for a title called trilogy. Also mostly sound like the movie trilogy of Riddick. Dark Fury is part of the name to give it the title of trilogy yet its only a 20 minute clip, Not a movie. Yet interplay did the same dirty thing. thou fallout original are great, they're so wrong. Bethesda is the better man for wasting all this cash in court just to Fully reclaim its franhise title. wow

Btw im going to take this opertunity to say that you can download a race mod that allow you to play any race you want in singel player you want. Human, ghoul super mutant, humanoid-robot, deathclaw. All races have custom perks and many advantages and disadvantages to S.P.E.C.I.A.L. as well as skill stats. Its caled Races Mod and also try the Boche tool to edit characters stats. Only avaible for Fallout Tactics Fallout 3.

Im a fallout fan and enjoy the old fallout games as well as Fallout 3. But lets face it. Interplay failed for a reason. And Bethesda owns everything related to Fallout. And thay have made one game that have goten top scores buy everybody. And thay have just done one game. Thay are fast learners and i belive thay will make more Fallout games that will be beter. Besids its "trial and error" You cant lern anything if you dont take any risks. And the first Fallout 3 game thay did was good. Lets wate and se how Fallout New Vegas turns out that thay are making with Obsidian witch is a company ownd buy BioWare. Im rooting for Bethesda to win. Interplay had there chanse at fallout and blew it. Thay are just cranky because Bethesda did one fallout game and got top skores buy everybody lol. Go Bethesda!

noxian and Frame_Dagger: I am NOT arguing the legalities of the issue. Both of you are approaching my questions from the WRONG angle entirely. Let's say, for the sake of argument, that I'm Bethesda's decision-maker at the start of their acquisition of the IP. I have 3 older titles that come with it. I'm about to launch FO3. I have plenty of options on how to deal with these titles: 1. I can release the first one as a free download (like I did with "TES1: Arena"). This would give my company a nice PR boost, open the game world to people who haven't played in the Fallout universe, and keep FO1 from becoming abandonware (which it technically was BEFORE we picked up the IP). 2. I can repackage the 3 games and offer them for sale on MY terms (call it "Fallout: Beginnings" or something similar). This way, I retain control of the re-release, open the game world to new players, etc. It'd be a smaller PR boost (charging for a 10-year old game isn't as cool as offering it for free), but it would be semi-profitable. 3. I could do what they apparently did: ignore them. Now, I have a lawsuit over games that haven't seen retail release in years; I have the PR headaches of old-school FO fans getting even MORE negative about my new version, and any attempts at trying to sway them to my side will look cynical; AND I haven't resolved the FO1 abandonware issue. So, my original 2 questions still stand, and remain absolutely relevant.

fallout 3 was crappy

Granted Bethedesa owns the title, and can do whatever, new comers, that first get into the series first on Fallout 3, and are interested in obtaining the original Fallout, Fallout2, and Tactics would seem harder if they are not allowed to be sold. The other issue, it would be sad to see the online multiplayer (Fallout) ProjectV13 discontinued, then again the rights had been sold to Bethedesa long time ago. All I know, is FO3 was entertaining. And at least, Bethedesa's future release, Fallout New Vegas, may be something to look forward to.

I bought Fallout, Fallout 2, and Fallout Tactics from GOG.com about a year ago. I'm glad I did. If Bethesda gets their way, those titles may become VERY hard to find again. I may go buy the box set while I still can in case my digital copies get misplaced.

i hope steam players dont lose their copys of fallout

Interplays debt was 11 million USD and now they have under 3 million USD in debt, so if Bethesda would let them make some money on this, Interplay could just maybe have a chance to survive and maybe one day release the fallout mmo which surely would earn them some money to help out on the way.

Though Bethesda dirtied the Fallout license with that excuse of a game called TES: Fallout 3, they're being really reasonable here, Interplay did mess up big time with all this Fallout MMO, many times. Fallout 1, you were one of a kind.

@ MrHatnClogs: Seriously, the entire industry is crazy obsessed with getting every last cent and that translates to trigger happy lawyers

I feel sorry for Interplay, or what's left of them. As much as I liked FO3, compared to that FO2 is still a better game. For people who haven't played FO2, the thumbs down goes here ---v

Is it possible to get through the week without a lawsuit in the VG industry?

Even though Interplay is probably just selling their original products to stimulate some sort of income flow into their company, at least Bethesda isn't suing them for money.

@Vault_Ausir: Ok, then back to my original question lol... :? I should clarify: I'm not trying to insult you (prod you maybe), but you're unusual. Well "spoken", informed, willing to repeat yourself to make your point understood. It's an anomaly, and a curiosity.

@ Frame_Dragger Not exactly, I actually got the job in the first place thanks to the knowledge.

@Vault_Ausir: Gotcha, so it's knowledge as a result of the job. Oh, as for the money issue, it's a bit tricky. It is common practice to seek court costs, and sometimes attorney fees, but that's not "monetary damages". In addition, it's ALWAYS hard to get those fees paid by the other side, so it's more about precedent. The filing however, is crystal clear: No monetary damages. Until that changes, there is really no debate there, just semantics.

Wow, all of you that are actually sticking up for Interplay REALLY need to learn something about buisness, aswell as the principles of Capitalism Because Interplay is 100% wrong here, they conducted buisness and now there going back on the deal they made with Betheseda

@ Ilikemyname420 "They won't be getting money, it says right at the bottom of the article that they aren't seeking "monetary damages"." That's what Gamespot is claiming, but Gamasutra is claiming otherwise, and I consider them more trustworthy.

@Frame_Dragger "Have you ever considered that the time, energy, and effort you've put into exhaustive research and commentary on the history of this game, and these companies could be better spent? Perhaps you're a master of your craft, or maybe I'm speaking to the Dean of Medicine" I actually translate games for a living, including Fallout 3.

@pukmok They won't be getting money, it says right at the bottom of the article that they aren't seeking "monetary damages".