Interplay Reopens In-house Studio

[GameBanshee News]

Gamasutra reports that Interplay has officially reopened their in-house developing studio and has hired former Fallout and Troika great Jason D. Anderson.

Publisher Interplay has announced its third quarter earnings, showing sales falling 86 percent year over year to just $47,000, a period CEO Herve Caen calls "an important milestone" in its "difficult turnaround," as it reopens in-house development and prepares to launch development of its Fallout MMO.

The company's quarterly sales are down sharply from the second quarter, where its sale of the Fallout brand to MMO developer Bethesda saw it take in $5.9 million, a yearly rise of 872 percent.

Though the company is in somewhat of a holding pattern with few products actually on the market, chairman and CEO Caen said Interplay is "now focused on a two-pronged growth strategy."

"As we are working to secure funding for the development of a Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG) based on the popular Fallout franchise," he continued, "we are at the same time exploring ways to leverage our impressive portfolio of gaming properties through sequels and various development and publishing arrangements." Caen offered no further details on just what arrangements were being considered.

In a release, Interplay announced, though, that with the reopening of its in-house studio, it has hired former Fallout designer Jason Anderson, who previously left development of Fallout 2 to form Troika Games, as creative director not of its Fallout MMO, but of another yet unannounced MMO.

Also see the SEC filing.

[Brother None]

Well...

Ehr...

This was unexpected.

[fable]

A focus on a "two-pronged growth strategy." They are "exploring ways to leverage our impressive portfolio of gaming properties."

And they say the romance has gone out of game development!

[Loki[D.d.G]]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fable And they say the romance has gone out of game development!

Romance may fade, but it is never truly dead.

[Xandax]

Well, lets see in one or two years.

[Destinasi]

Is the studio going to be called Black Isle Studios?

[Brother None]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Destinasi Is the studio going to be called Black Isle Studios?

Yes.

And yes, I do actually "know" that. Though I guess things might've changed as was a year or so ago since this was confirmed to me.

[dragon wench]

Uhm.... wow..

Unexpected indeed!

This bit has me somewhat intrigued:

Quote:

we are at the same time exploring ways to leverage our impressive portfolio of gaming properties through sequels and various development and publishing arrangements." Caen offered no further details on just what arrangements were being considered.

Hmmmm...
We'll see what transpires, I imagine...

[Brother None]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dragon wench Hmmmm... We'll see what transpires, I imagine...

Descent, Earthworm Jim, Dark Alliance...Battle Chess?

Herve might be trippin'. I don't see any value there. Nor do they have the means to publish

It's still somewhat ironic that Interplay survived by selling a home-made franchise that was far from their most valuable cash cow in their hey-day. Think that says anything about the market?

[dragon wench]

@Brother None,
Good point, I'd forgotten those early titles. Though, I have to confess, I do recall wasting some time with Earthworm Jim, and enjoying it for what it was

Do bear with me... I had insomnia most of the night and finally crawled out of bed about an hour ago at just before 5 am my time

[galraen]

Any possibility of a sequel to Arcanum, either as a SP or MMO? I'd certainly be interested.

[Brother None]

Quote:

Originally Posted by galraen Any possibility of a sequel to Arcanum, either as a SP or MMO?

Interplay is not involved with that franchise. So no.

Earthworm Jim was a great game, loved the style and humour.

[BuckGB]

I know Obsidian picked up a bunch of Icewind Dale assets from Interplay, but as far as I know the actual franchise never changed hands. As long as Atari agreed to publish it (for the sake of the D&D license), I don't see any reason why Interplay couldn't do another Icewind Dale sequel. They might even be able to pull off another Baldur's Gate or Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance sequel yet, though I'm not sure if they still own the rights to those franchises or not.

[Brother None]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BuckGB I know Obsidian picked up a bunch of Icewind Dale assets from Interplay, but as far as I know the actual franchise never changed hands. As long as Atari agreed to publish it (for the sake of the D&D license), I don't see any reason why Interplay couldn't do another Icewind Dale sequel. They might even be able to pull off another Baldur's Gate or Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance sequel yet, though I'm not sure if they still own the rights to those franchises or not.

They don't own Baldur's Gate, but they do own Dark Alliance. Not sure about IWD, either. It's not mentioned by Caen, so they probably don't own it anymore.

[BuckGB]

So who owns Baldur's Gate? I don't think Atari does, and BioWare certainly doesn't. The only way Interplay could even release The Black Hound was by slapping a Baldur's Gate III label on it, which leads me to believe that they could pursue another Baldur's Gate game if Atari and/or Wizards of the Coast agreed to it.