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A few years ago, Bethesda purchased the rights for the Fallout franchise from Interplay who had been at the helm of the series since 1997. However, the purchase agreement allowed Interplay to continue working on a Fallout MMO that the company had been developing since 2008. Well, in 2009, Bethesda started complaining about Interplay selling copies of The Fallout Trilogy (which included Fallout, Fallout 2, and Fallout Tactics) and accused them of breaking the MMO development contract. Bethesda then filed a lawsuit against Interplay, looking to dissolve their agreement and bar Interplay from working on any Fallout-related material. But even with the lawsuit in full swing, Interplay forged ahead with their project. They launched a website in 2010 and started talking about 2012 as a possible release date. But every time Interplay would release a teaser for the game, Bethesda would accuse them of utilizing assets that did not belong to them. Essentially, Bethesda gave Interplay the rights to make a Fallout game, but wouldn’t allow them to use any of the characters, locations, or logos that had been associated with the brand. 
However, it looks like the 4 years of work that Interplay has put into a Fallout MMO will probably be wasted. The developer’s rights to create a Fallout MMO have now officially reverted back to Bethesda. Interplay will receive $2 million from ZeniMax, Bethesda’s parent company, and will continue to sell The Fallout Trilogy until 2013. Obviously this news is incredibly disappointing for Fallout fans, but now that this saga is over, maybe the two developers can just concentrate on making games. By Josh Engen |