Bethesda is suing Interplay

[Chaotic42]

Link
-
It's not only the issue of the Fallout MMO that's got Bethesda's feathers ruffled with Interplay. According to a story being reported over at Gamasutra, Bethesda is suing Interplay for allegedly being in breach of the agreements the two companies signed in April of '07.

Part of the aforementioned agreements stated that Interplay would be allowed to sell pre-existing Fallout games such as Fallout, Fallout 2 and Fallout Tactics, provided that they sent all marketing materials (packaging, advertising, etc) to Bethesda for pre-approval. These stipulations were put in place by Bethesda to avoid consumers being confused as to who is the developer of Fallout 3, which Bethesda claims is now occurring due to the fact that Interplay did not seek pre-approval for these materials. Due to these claims Bethesda is asking for injunctions against Interplay's sale, manufacture, and distribution of pre-existing Fallout games.

More relevant to the MMOG aspect of this story is the fact that Bethesda is also looking to terminate their trademark licensing agreement for the Fallout IP with Interplay. Following Bethesda's purchase of the Fallout IP from Interplay, the IP was licensed back to Interplay towards the development of a Fallout MMOG, however there were some stipulations. One such stipulation was that Interplay would be required to be in full-swing development by April 4th, 2009, which Bethesda contended earlier this year was not the case.

If a decision is made in Bethesda's favor, Interplay will no longer be allowed to develop a Fallout MMOG, and will be required to pay legal fees and damages to Bethesda.
-

It may be legally justified (or not, I don't know), but man I really hate Bethesda. After the way they completely screwed Fallout over... Anyway, I thought it was interesting and I didn't see it posted.

 

[Arglebargle]

I liked Fallout 3 better than I expected (though that may have been lowered expectations), but I only played it 'cause I got it as a gift. Bethesda is sloppy, buggy, and uncommunicative; with a high number of bad decisions in their game development.

I am pretty much at the point of buying their games late in the cycle, when they hit $10 or thereabouts.

 

[Scooby Doo]

Good for Interplay, they killed Freespace.

 

[Qbah]

Well, I certainly enjoyed Fallout 3 and most of the DLC. Probably spent 200 hours+ on this game. It does have the Fallout feeling - it's just a bit harder to find. But it's there So bBethesda does know how to make a Fallout game and they sure have the funds to make one. Interplay didn't make a good game since god knows when.

Who owns the Freespace IP now? Since Interplay is pretty much a dead company, perhaps someone else would buy it off them and make a 3rd installment? Hopefully in the spirt of the first two games (which were one of the best games I have ever played!).

 

[CP5670]

As discussed here, Interplay has some previous history with this kind of behavior.

 

[WraithETC]

Interplay is wrong and should lose the case. Good bye again. I guess it helps fan boys though, they can speculate on what could have been some more.

 

[Arglebargle]

If they win the suit for enough damages, Bethesda can just take over Interplay and have the Fallout franchise for their very own....and Freespace, etc as well.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Fallout 3 was a good game despite the bad ending.

Interplay ceased to exist years ago, its main purpose since then seems to have been to pay the salary of the "CEO."

Despite that, Bethesda had better not shut down GoG.com sales of FO 1-2-Tactics.

 

[Zenoth]

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
Fallout 3 was a good game despite the bad ending.

Interplay ceased to exist years ago, its main purpose since then seems to have been to pay the salary of the "CEO."

Despite that, Bethesda had better not shut down GoG.com sales of FO 1-2-Tactics.

If they dare touching a single GoG.com hair I will never buy a single game either developed or published by them ever again.