Bethesda may sue over Fallout MMO

By Oli Welsh Published 16 April, 2009

Claims Interplay hasn't started work.

Financial papers from Interplay suggest that Bethesda might sue the struggling publisher over its planned Fallout MMO.

Interplay retained the rights to make online games based on Fallout when it sold the rest of the rights to Bethesda back in 2004. However, it seems there were certain conditions involved in this - conditions which Bethesda claims have not been met.

According to the Securities and Exchange Commission filing (spotted by Fallout fansite No Mutants Allowed), Bethesda reckons Interplay is in breach of their agreement because it had not commenced "full scale development" of the Fallout MMO by April 4 2009, and has not secured enough funding for the game. Interplay, naturally, disagrees.

"Interplay recently received notice that Bethesda Softworks, LLC ("Bethesda") intends to terminate the trademark license agreement between Bethesda and Interplay which was entered into April 4, 2007 for the development of Fallout MMOG," reads the filing.

"Despite the fact that no formal action is currently pending, Bethesda claims that Interplay is in breach of the trademark license agreement for failure to commence full scale development of same by April 4, 2009 and to secure certain funding for the MMOG. Interplay adamantly disputes these claims... If Bethesda ultimately prevails and cancels the trademark license agreement, Interplay would lose its license back of the Fallout MMOG."

Interplay has repeatedly said that it intends to exploit its licence to make a massively multiplayer Fallout, and has also made announcements about the development of a thinly-disguised MMO called Project V13, believed by all and sundry to be the Fallout game.

The last of these announcements was that Bulgarian studio Masthead, currently making its own post-apocalyptic MMO called Earthrise, had been enlisted to help with Project V13. This announcement was made on 2nd April, interesting timing in the light of the 4th April deadline mentioned above.

Fallout co-creator Jason Anderson recently left work on Project V13 for inXile, saying, ""The future of the - well, I don't know if I want to go there. [inXile] was a more stable opportunity."

Will Masthead's eleventh-hour involvement be enough to save Interplay's dream of creating of a Fallout MMO? If it can reclaim the rights, will Bethesda begin development of one itself? It's too early to tell. But money talks, and between Bethesda and Interplay, there's little doubt who can talk loudest.

Picture of Oli.

About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (9) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Meho #1 3 years ago

    Er... Bethesda is 'just' acting to protect an IP important to them or do they have plans themselves?

  • Cyclone #2 3 years ago

    Probably have plans themselves to launch a Fallout MMO if they can find a loophole to withdraw Interplay's license. Interplay sold Bethesda the Fallout license with the stipulation that they (Interplay) would be allowed to make an MMO based on the franchise. A Fallout MMO could bring in a lot of money, so no doubt both sides would like to be the ones who make it.

  • penhalion #3 3 years ago

    It makes me laugh when companies sell their IP and then realise they should have simply kept it for themselves. In the case of interplay. They were under no illusions of how popular Fallout was, yet still sold the rights on instead of making their own Fallout 3 game. A game that arguably would have been better than the Bethesda offering in gameplay if not looks.

  • WrongShui #4 3 years ago

    Like Interplay was ever in a position to produce a game.

    Let's be realistic.


  • makeamazing #5 3 years ago

    Well i think you could also say its silly that someone retains a license with certain conditions and then kinda makes stuff up to try and pretend to meet those conditions.

    It does seem a difficult one, and none of us have the actual truth, but the door swings both ways, keeping to a contract is key if you want to retain your IP. :)

  • Kyle #6 3 years ago

    @penhalion I'm not sure an Interplay developed Fallout 3 would have fared better than the one we have. I think a lot of the excitement generated by Fallout 3 was a mix of the IP and the people who were making it.

  • geeza2020 #7 3 years ago

    Seems to me like Interplay are just crying because they were idiots and sold a license which they should have kept. Although to be honest im glad they did as i think that if they had made Fallout 3 it would have been bloody awful.

  • orakio #8 3 years ago

    Smart boys at Interplay, really.
    Having Bethesda create a good game, generating a lot of publicity for the fallout brand, and then create a Fallout MMO for themselves which will naturally sell craploads without a lot of marketing costs involved. Thanks to Bethesda!

    The only setback is having enough cash to start the project, and it seems that's still a problem today, even after selling off the offline fallout game rights.

  • kangarootoo #9 3 years ago

    @geeza2020

    "Seems to me like Interplay are just crying..."

    It was Bethesda that lodged the claim. I doubt Interplay were saying anything until that happened.