Fallout MMO rights revert to Bethesda

By Fred Dutton Published 9 January, 2012

Interplay nets $2 million pay off.

The long-running legal tussle between Bethesda and Interplay over rights to a proposed Fallout MMO has seemingly come to its conclusion.

All intellectual property rights to the Fallout name now lie with Bethesda, with Interplay's license to make a Fallout MMO null and void, effective immediately.

Bethesda parent company ZeniMax has agreed to pay Interplay $2 million dollars as part of the settlement, with each party agreeing to cover its own legal costs.

Interplay - who created the Fallout brand back in 1997 before selling it to Bethesda in 2004 - will be allowed to sell the original Fallout Tactics, Fallout and Fallout 2 PC games until December 2013. All rights to market those titles then become the sole property of Bethesda.

A separate suit lodged by ZeniMax against Masthead - the purported developer of Interplay's MMO - has also been tied up. Masthead has acknowledged that it has no right to use any Fallout IP and has agreed not to do so in the future.

No payments were made by either party in this settlement.

"While we strongly believe in the merits of our suits, we are pleased to avoid the distraction and expense of litigation while completely resolving all claims to the Fallout IP," commented ZeniMax CEO Robert Altman.

"Fallout is an important property of ZeniMax and we are now able to develop future Fallout titles for our fans without third party involvement or the overhang of others' legal claims."

The whole sorry affair started back in 2007, when Bethesda conditionally licensed Interplay certain trademark rights to make a Fallout MMO, provided Interplay secured $30 million in financing and commenced full scale development April 2009.

Bethesda argued that Interplay had failed to meet these conditions but had nevertheless refused to relinquish the license. Bethesda duly begun legal proceedings.

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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.

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Comments (35) Latest comment 4 months ago

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  • Shikasama #1 5 months ago

    A Fallout MMO along the lines of Eve (open sandbox, player driven) would be the greatest game ever made.

  • DurzoBlint #2 5 months ago

    I remember Bethesda getting a lot of hate over this when it all kicked off. It's been a while, though, hasn't it? Guess it's just as well it's finally over.

  • kassmageant #3 5 months ago

    great thing about fallout universe is that there is room for many " chosen one's", fact that there are many players at once don't have to spoil the immersion, it's not like we're supposed to be champion that saves the world, cause it's already gone. and it probably won't be pay-to-play, so color me intrigued. wonder if it would be FPP, like their other games.

  • xuiton #4 5 months ago

    i'd rather see interplay make this. their fallouts were by far better than bethesda

  • Farzlepot #5 5 months ago

    In all fairness, as Interplay is a husk of its former glory, I currently doubt their ability to produce a decent game anyway, especially in this day and age where games as massive as an MMO cost tens of millions of dollars to do well.

    The settlement of this case is perhaps the best thing to have happened to them in recent years; it gives them an injection of cash, and with the Fallout licence now beyond their grasp, they can start to do what they used to do best - innovate. On smaller projects to begin with, perhaps, but I have hopes they'll claw their way back to the land of the living.

    If only things had been different. Interplay was a large part of my childhood. I miss them.

  • kickerconspiracy #6 5 months ago

    Had Interplay already started work on the MMO?

    If so, I doubt £2 million is going to recoup their investment.

  • Kami #7 5 months ago

    @kickerconspiracy; My first thought too... this seems like a bit of a kick in the teeth for Interplay tbh, for relatively little outlay on the part of Bethesda.

    I'd like to know the exact details of what was going on though; a lot of this case has been he-said-she-said chinese whispers kind of thing, where both sides have made themselves look like total bellends and neither seems worthy of the licence at all. Bethesda have really truly messed it up recently; New Vegas saw that any kind appreciation the industry and consumers had was brutally and painfully removed from their rectal cavity by force, moreso in the DLC at times. And Interplay probably look back and wonder why on earth they sold it so cheap in the first place, knowing how beloved a franchise it is and seeing what has happened to it.

    It's nice to know the legal stuff is over. But I feel bad that New Vegas has suffered, I feel bad for Interplay who gave the series life and are being treated so appallingly... and I kinda feel bad for Bethesda, who really kicked their golden goose so hard they're praying one day it will lay eggs again.

    It's all been a massive cock-up. The real loser is the Fallout franchise, tbh, which never asked for any of this to happen...

  • ajaxpliskin #8 5 months ago

    @Kami Fallout 3 and New Vegas were awesome games, imo.

  • ubergine #9 5 months ago

    Thank God this bullshit is finally done with.

  • TheEnd #10 5 months ago

    There's very little left of the Interplay that made the original Fallout games. It's good that the custodianship of this franchise should go to a company that genuinely cares about it, and has a clear vision for its future.

    The alternative is that Fallout languishes and is eventually forgotten.

  • Rens11 #11 5 months ago

    Even though interplay havent made a game in a while and made some dodgy business decisions it Doesn't seem right that they lose the rights to the games they createdfallout 1,2 & tactics after 2013

  • TheEnd #12 5 months ago

    @kickerconspiracy By the sounds of it, Interplay were doing just enough (in their minds) to maintain the contract and retain the mmo license, while they fished for backing from a producer. It never seemed to go anywhere.

  • TheEnd #13 5 months ago

    @Rens11 They sold those rights to Bethesda. They've been paid, and paid well. They lose nothing.

  • Kami #14 5 months ago

    @ajaxpliskin; Fallout 3, I enjoyed too. New Vegas, with all its crappy bugs and issues, is not something Bethesda should be proud of. They undid a lot of goodwill with that, for many people.

    I do feel really bad though because all the promotional art and stuff for the Fallout MMO looked kinda neat. It could have, should have been taken more seriously...

    That said, I suspect there were many more hoops for Interplay to jump through than we've been told. Bethesda seemed to have made it virtually impossible for Interplay to actually do anything right at any stage - which also paints a poor reflection on them, moreso with the whole Scrolls thing in their near future as well. They are becoming notorious for their difficult and heavy-handed approach; this is not a good image to have.

    Of course, the childish bitching and trash talk from Interplay the past couple of years does them no favours either - they should have stayed quiet and got on with it, and then maybe they'd have some more sympathy from people. As a result, they may have lost perhaps the one thing that could have been seen as a life-raft, something they could still cling on to.

    Also, selling the whole franchise and profits from it and basing your whole future on retaining the MMO rights is utterly freaking stupid. MMOs are also notoriously hard to get off the ground; harder still to release in a market that is dominated by one name only. If you're going to sell a licence; retaining some long-term finance from it should have been their aim, or at the very least, a blanket approach stating Fallouts 1, 2 and FOT would continue to be retained by them, so Bethesda could build a new franchise from it and Interplay could hold onto their prior work and the profits.

    It's just a massive cock-up of a legal tussle that I think, yes, good it is over. But by golly, what a bloody mess! It shouldn't have been this way, and reflects poorly on both Bethesda and Interplay, and makes a mockery of the money they spent on their legal fees; people who clearly have no long-term imagination and obviously can't draw up a simple contractual agreement if their very life depended on it.

    It's good it is over. Because the whole spat is an embarrassment to all involved. Just a pity the MMO is dead. I kinda had hope, y'know?

  • bodhi85uk #15 5 months ago

    @xuiton what you mean to say is you would prefer the original team to make more fallouts, which they did, its called new vegas. Current interplay is even less related to the original interplay, let alone the fallouts than bethesda is

  • octo #16 5 months ago

    "While we strongly believe in the merits of our suits, we are pleased to avoid the distraction and expense of litigation while completely resolving all claims to the Fallout IP," commented ZeniMax CEO Robert Altman.

    "Fallout is an important property of ZeniMax and we are now able to develop future Fallout titles for our fans without third party involvement or the overhang of others' legal claims."

    Hang on a sec. You had to give up the rights to the fallout brand and yet you still get to make fallout games? Or you only had to relinquish the rights to make a fallout mmo game?

    I'm confused.

  • murphy1978 #17 5 months ago

    @octo In a nutshell, Zenimax own Bethesda, they own the Fallout brand and have the MMO IP back, and paid 2m to Interplay who originally owned it and created it but sold it. To Bethesda.

  • Nico4 #18 5 months ago

    Damn it. Oh well

  • hiddenranbir #19 5 months ago

    If I had the fallout, I would have sold it on a condition I keep getting royalties or some shit.

  • florin87 #20 5 months ago

    NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

    bethesda put the fallout franchise in a coma, and now it makes sure it stays there. a sad day for gamers everywhere.

  • King_Edward #21 5 months ago

    Thank god! I was worried it wasn't going to be buggy enough.

  • scoop #22 5 months ago

    Doesn't really feel like anyone won in this case. Especially us: All this time squabbling over legal rights, has left us no closer to having a Fallout MMO.

  • Rens11 #23 5 months ago

    @TheEnd

    Yeah I realise that the point I was trying to make is its sad that they had to be in that position due to poor management

  • bodhi85uk #24 5 months ago

    @florin87 that makes no sense, bethesda actually wanted to make a fallout game, while interplay were doing nothing, thats why they sold it on in the first place.

    It was about a decade between fallout 2 and bethesda doing 3, how could they possibly be "putting it in a coma" by actually releasing a game, and a bloody good one at that, then commissioning a bunch of the original team to make new vegas, what more do you want? (Dont say isometric turn-based, its not going to happen). Theyre likely making 4 now too. Coma indeed.

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #25 5 months ago

    i'd rather see interplay make this

    There were probably considerably more former key Fallout people in the New Vegas team than there were involved in the MMO project.

    edit: oh, bodihi85uk got there first.
    Edited by MENTAL1ST at 10/01/12 @ 13:08

  • Spekingur #26 5 months ago

    Sorry, but I'll only ever view the Fallout series as Interplays even with the recent Zenimax-made Fallout games or the license transfers. The first two were just that good. I did, however, enjoy the recent two Fallout games.
    Interplay may have fallen in the recent years but Zenimax scares me in how they do business. The CEO is a lawyer and Zenimax seems to behave like a lawyer-firm that owns game studios. They don't seem to be gamers.
    I still hope for Interplay to come back into its former glory, like many others. Not only did they provide us with good games, they also provided an platform for current great game studios to gather their initial fame. This should never be forgotten.
    I mean, currently Zenimax has only made two Fallout games. Two. It feels like more - I guess that's mostly because of Elder Scrolls.

    Btw. What will happen with the logos of the original Fallout games when Zenimax gets them? Will the Interplay logo disappear?
    Edited by Spekingur at 10/01/12 @ 13:07

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #27 5 months ago

    I mean, currently Zenimax has only made two Fallout games. Two. It feels like more

    Well, each of the DLC packs for New Vegas had as much or more single player campaign gameplay than many standalone titles do.

    Also, for those mourning Interplay's management of the Fallout franchise, I present their most recent attempt.

  • Spekingur #28 5 months ago

    I have a love hate relationship with DLC.

  • Andeus #29 5 months ago

    Also, Tim Cain the original creator of Fallout and one of the masterminds behind those games, also joined Obsidian a couple of months ago, so there isn't a better Fallout developer out there right now.

    If Bethesda wants to do it right, they should stick with the TES franchise and give all Fallout SP games to Obsidian.

    Problem is, Obsidian will probably have to use Bethesda's Creation (aka Gamebryo in disguise) engine which is responsible for all the horrible bugs we've seen lately.
    Edited by Andeus at 10/01/12 @ 14:40

  • bodhi85uk #30 5 months ago

    I think Bethesda did a very good job with F3, and having seen what theyve done between Oblivion and Skyrim im stoked to see what they do with F4. Theyve definately improved Gamebryo, but id still like them to get something better. I think I read somewhere that iD Tech5 wouldnt be suitable though, something to do with day and night transitions not working properly, at least in the current build.

    In future though I agree id like to see Obsidian do the follow up to 4 like NV was to 3. Lets face it, Obsidian have a worse track record for bugs than Bethesda, so getting them to do an 'expansion' of sorts with the core in place is win-win, Bethesda can do the F5 an so on, we all get more Fallout games. Happy days.

  • kickerconspiracy #31 5 months ago

    http://uk.pc.gamespy.com/pc/fallout-mmo/1216199p1.html

    An interesting take on the situation.

  • ED209 #32 5 months ago

    @MENTAL1ST
    Good call. From your link:
    "Whizzo #6 8 years ago

    Games like this just makes me wish Interplay would collapse and some other company picked up the IP and made proper games with it. "

  • Al_Swearengen #33 4 months ago

    Boy, I don't know if my family/job/bank account/health/sanity would be able to handle the release of a Fallout MMO.

  • florin87 #34 4 months ago

    @bhodi85uk when i said coma i was referring to the quality of the series not the quantity of games released.
    if going from the best rpg of the decade (after planescape of course) to a poorly written, poorly designed, incredibly buggy first person shooter with less rpg elements than diablo is not a coma, i don't know what is.

    as for new vegas. try painting the mona lisa with your hands tied to your back while some suit yells "consoles! consoles! consoles!" in your ears. new vegas is what you get.


    by the way. in case you did not know fallout 3 (the rpg) was ready to go gold in 2003, but interplay could not afford to publish it as their owner (Titus - that's a company not a person) went bankrupt. that's why they sold the franchise to bethesda, not because they no longer felt like doing anything with their beset selling franchise.

  • bodhi85uk #35 4 months ago

    @florin87 Thats just like, your opinion, man.

    And yes, I know about Black Isle, Avellone, Sawyer etc and the cancelled Van Buren yada yada yada, stop going on about it, its over, it didn't get released.

    Fallout 3 was made, its bloody good, most people think so, the sales and critical acclaim speaks for itself. New Vegas was made, its bloody good and incorporates many of the locations and characters and story that was supposed to be in VB.

    Just be happy with that and stop, or keep moaning about the bits you don't like and miss some of the best gaming to be had this generation.