Bethesda denied Fallout restraining order

By Fred Dutton Published 23 September, 2011

Court throws out action against MMO dev.

A court has dismissed Bethesda's request for a restraining order against Masthead, who is supposedly co-developing a planned Fallout MMO with Interplay.

US District Judge the Honorable John F. Walter denied the request - which would have demanded the developer down tools on the project - before Masthead had even had a chance to object.

"[Bethesda] has not demonstrated that it will be irreparably prejudiced if the requested ex parte relief is not granted, or that it is without fault in creating the crisis that requires ex parte relief," he argued, as reported by Milford & Associates, via Gamasutra.

"Indeed, [Bethesda] was aware as early as February 2011 that Masthead was potentially infringing its copyrights... Yet, Plaintiff waited seven months to apply for ex parte relief."

"The Court finds that Plaintiff unreasonably delayed in seeking relief, and that the emergency that allegedly justifies a [temporary restraining order] is self-created."

It's the latest chapter in Bethesda's long-running legal tussle with Interplay. The publisher sued Interplay - who sold the Fallout IP to Bethesda in 2004 - back in 2009 for allegedly taking too long to complete a planned Fallout MMO.

It has since added a range of additional complaints, including a claim that Interplay has been illegally selling older Fallout games and another insisting it was using Fallout assets without permission.

Picture of Fred.

About Fred Dutton

Fred Dutton is Eurogamer's US news editor, based in Washington DC.

Read more articles from Fred by visiting the Fred Dutton archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (21) Latest comment 8 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Shikasama #1 8 months ago

    Only winners in this mess are lawyers.

  • DodgyPast #2 8 months ago

    Bethesda seem pretty keen on getting out the lawyers these days.

  • evnewell #3 8 months ago

    seems a little exploitative of interplay, or did I miss something?

  • Raiko101 #4 8 months ago

    So they could have sorted this out months ago, but chose not to?

  • lockload #5 8 months ago

    Good Bethesda are the new activionds it seems, this and scrolls gate

  • StooMonster #6 8 months ago

    I'd like to see the older Fallout games on iOS and Android devices. Would be an instabuy from me.

  • DrMGinius #7 8 months ago

    "Yeah, we realized the alpha versions of our games 'The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion' and 'Fallout 3' have been on sale as actual games for years now, and that people were in fact paying tons of money for those; we have a mountain of cash! so now we just don't care about this rubbish anymore."

    - Bethesda Softworks
    Edited by DrMGinius at 23/09/11 @ 18:40

  • kingz #8 8 months ago

    I hope interplay release good mmo just shut Bethesda up.

  • Spekingur #9 8 months ago

    I thought Interplay only leased the Fallout name and assets to Bethesda?

  • gingerlink #10 8 months ago

    god dammit bethesda stop suing everyone!

  • The-Jack-Burton #11 8 months ago

    It must be company policy at Bethesda to maintain at least 3 lawsuits at all times. Assholes

  • Phishfood #12 8 months ago

    oh Interplay, you want to sell your cake and eat it.

  • TheGuvernor #13 8 months ago


    Maybe they could redirect their energies into remedying the dire animations & graphics of the FO series.

  • Firann #14 8 months ago

    @Phishfood Interplay sold the Fallout IP to Bethesda for single player games but retained the IP rights for creating an MMO provided it started work soon. Bethesda just realised afterwards that the agreement they made was stupid and is trying to get the MMO rights any way possible.

    @Vamos F3 is a good game however it is no where near as good as F1 or even F2 imo. I understand that everyone wants to get an FPS out these days with RPG elements but Fallout to me will always be the top camera end-turn combat game (even thugh I hate ETC i loved Fallout!). F3 and even Vegas did not satisfy me as much as F1 and F2, even F:Tactics :) In fact they just felt like Oblivion in a different setting which didnt work for me.
    Edited by Firann at 24/09/11 @ 01:55

  • Silvervein #15 8 months ago

    @Firann
    +1

  • eviroboy #16 8 months ago

    Sour grapes because the older games are better than the newer ones?

    Unless Bethesda themselves are planning an MMO they should just shut the fuck up...or can't they work within their own timescales either?!? Pot. Kettle. Black.

  • WinterSnowblind #17 8 months ago

    @Firann
    I don't think the different perspective changed much about the game, it still very much had the same style and it was definitely an RPG over a shooter. New Vegas in particular felt very much like the original two and was a better sequel than I could have ever hoped for

    Let's face it, Van Buren likely would have been awful and probably would have killed the series for good. I don't see this MMO ever getting off the ground, Bethesda may as well let them continue pouring money into it and wait for it to die on its own, it's never going to be released.

  • Jamiesan #18 8 months ago

    What in the seven hells could "Let's facelift bar!" have supposed to have translated into?

    Shikasama summed this up nicely. Company A sues company B. A look like arseholes for sueing, B look like wankers for giving reason to sue. Everyone loses except the lawyers.

  • Darkelfguy #19 8 months ago

    Good heavens, the number of people defending Interplay on here is ridiculous. You guys do know that if it hadn't been for Bethesda, Interplay would already be dead and bankrupt right? And why the heck would you support a company like Interplay anyway? They've ceased being a game developer years ago, and for the last decade all they've done is sell IPs and shut down their own studios. Interplay was purchased by Titus Interactive in 2001, and arguably Titus Interactive is the primary reason why Interplay is in the sorry state it's in now. And guess what? The CEO of Titus is still the CEO of Interplay, the same CEO from the company that had Black Isle Studios axed and the Van Buren Fallout 3 canceled! Do you really want them retaining the rights to a Fallout MMO?

    Regardless, the facts of this particular case are quite different than what most of the people on here seem to think. The original sale agreement between Bethesda and Interplay over the "Fallout" IP gave Bethesda full ownership of the "Fallout" brand, but as part of the agreement Bethesda would license the rights to make a Fallout MMO to Interplay, though they'd have to start development (and prove they started development) by a certain time-period (within 24 months of the purchase of the Fallout IP, which was completed in April of 2007. In other words, Interplay had to prove they started development by April of 2009). After the release of Fallout 3 (and Interplay's illegal repackaging of Fallout 1, 2 and tactics for sale), it was time for Interplay to prove they were actually working on the game, which (given Bethesda's lawsuit) I imagine they couldn't do. Indeed, all Interplay has submitted as proof that they're working on a Fallout MMO is concept art, concept art that could just have easily been leftovers from the Van Buren Fallout 3 project.

    And do you know what company is 'allegedly' producing Interplay's Fallout MMO? Masthead Studios, the game developer from the poorly received MMO "Earthrise". Only two of the original Fallout developers are working on this Fallout MMO, the vast majority of the rest of the old Black Isles Studio staff is over at Obsidian Entertainment, a studio that has coincidentally been working with Bethesda of late. Does this really sound like the ideal development team for a Fallout MMO to you?
    Edited by Darkelfguy at 24/09/11 @ 18:30

  • Spekingur #20 8 months ago

    As I originally remember it the Fallout name and assets were leased to Bethesda for a limited amount of time. Interplay still retained the right to a multiplayer part of Fallout and previous titles.
    So as far as I understood it (from the beginning of this) Bethesda did not wholly own anything regarding Fallout that they had leased from Interplay.

    I would like to see the original agreement though. It's not available anywhere on the net, is it?

  • borkedconsole #21 8 months ago

    Glad the judge sided with Masthead and Interplay. Bethesda are being the spoiled little brats with too much money to throw around. Their egos are just too big. I'm not buying Skyrim. I'll play the minecraft mod instead.