Bethesda And Interplay Settle Fallout Lawsuit

[vansau]

Bethesda And Interplay Settle Fallout Lawsuit

After years of legal maneuvers, the two companies vying for rights to Fallout have buried the legal hatchet.

Bethesda and Interplay's long-running lawsuit over the rights to the Fallout hasn't really accomplished much other than holding up the development of Fallout Online. Late last year, <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/113278-Bethesda-Loses-Again-in-Fallout-Online-Legal-Battle>Bethesda seemed to be having a tough time making headway against Interplay. Now, it turns out that the case is officially over.

According to an admin on Fallout fan site Duck and Cover, a settlement has been reached, though details haven't been released yet:

Today, DAC has confirmation that a settlement has, in fact, taken place. It actually took place the day of the trial -- and had I been able to get online and sort through the documents I would have reported as much. We do not yet have the details of the settlement -- they will be announced this month (January 2012) -- but we can report that on the day of trial, the atmosphere in the court room was tense until the judge recessed. This recess was extended, and then they recessed for lunch. After the lunch recess, the court room was locked to everyone except attorneys and clients. When our source asked why this was the case, our source was told it was because they were working out a settlement. The following day, another source called the court reporter to ask what the next hearing schedule for the case was -- this source was told there was no schedule as a settlement had been reached.

Of course, it's likely that we'll never learn all the details about why both parties suddenly agreed to a settlement the day the actual trial was set to begin. That said, some information is bound to come out in the near future when details about a Fallout MMO are formalized.

Source: Massively

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[Dastardly]

Bethesda And Interplay Settle Fallout Lawsuit

Ouch! Blue-balled by the lack of information on the settlement... Why?! Why would you do this?!

(Here's hoping Bethesda managed to snag the rights, since they've been taking better care of stuff lately... and that Interplay got some money out of the deal, since they've been toying so much with bankruptcy.)

 

[AlternatePFG]

That's cool. Still doesn't change the fact that (If it's going to come out depending on this settlement) Fallout Online will probably be awful, if Interplay is still at the helm.

 

[DustyDrB]

Spoiler: Meanwhile, behind closed doors at the settlement...

That's cool. Still doesn't change the fact that (If it's going to come out depending on this settlement) Fallout Online will probably be awful, if Interplay is still at the helm.

Yeah. It sucks that the company's name is now trash, but they did it to themselves. But honestly I hope both parties are given the rights to work with the Fallout IP. If Fallout Online sucks, then I can pretend it doesn't exist. If it's great, then...great.

 

[Lunar Templar]

donno why,can't explain it, but a fall out MMO sounds like a horrid idea

but yay for the lawsuit part being over

 

[Sucal]

Hmm, I can see the settlement now.

The plot will be designed by square Enix, the dialogue will be done by bioware, cutscenes by Capcom, QA testing by Obsidian and release schedule by valve. Also, the coding will be done by notch, the level design by IO interactive, the marketing by Peter Molyneux, public relations by Bobby Kotick , and you'll require Securom, Origin, Steam and Games for Windows Live to play it.

Oh and it will be subscription based, but you'll only be able to boost your stats by paying $100 per special point. Oh and since we know you kids like that type of thing, super mutants have been replaced with ponies... Star Ponies

 

[Phishfood]

That's cool. Still doesn't change the fact that (If it's going to come out depending on this settlement) Fallout Online will probably be awful, if Interplay is still at the helm.

Agreed. I would also add that its going to be awful because its now had such a long artificial delay added on. Look what happened to DNF, when it finally came out it was a mess. I wouldn't be suprised if the same thing didn't happen here. Added to the fact that you would be releasing against WoW and ToR now, FO is going to fail.

 

[Anthony Wells]

Hmm, I can see the settlement now.

The plot will be designed by square Enix, the dialogue will be done by bioware, cutscenes by Capcom, QA testing by Obsidian and release schedule by valve. Also, the coding will be done by notch, the level design by IO interactive, the marketing by Peter Molyneux, public relations by Bobby Kotick , and you'll require Securom, Origin, Steam and Games for Windows Live to play it.

Oh and it will be subscription based, but you'll only be able to boost your stats by paying $100 per special point. Oh and since we know you kids like that type of thing, super mutants have been replaced with ponies... Star Ponies

honestly speaking...the bioware dialoge would be the only thing helping it at all...i dotn see why its always lumped in the negative for that lineup of developers but also in the positive one too.. i would think that one company that always hires the worst voice actors for the worst dialouge would get it

 

[Sucal]

Snip

I was going for the reference more then anything. But a lot of the time, its due to how Bioware often gives you nothing but stupidity in certain options, essentially railroading/forcing you into situations no matter what you choose, just to push the train whereever they want it to go.

 

[Anthony Wells]

Snip

I was going for the reference more then anything. But a lot of the time, its due to how Bioware often gives you nothing but stupidity in certain options, essentially railroading/forcing you into situations no matter what you choose, just to push the train whereever they want it to go.

at least i got the reference. lol. actually i never noticed those moments..then again i am really engrossed in the story usually or just having too much fun to care.

 

[PeePantz]

I have a feeling Bethesda gave Interplay a boat load of money to Interplay to drop the Fallout MMO and any claims to the Fallout IP. With the obvious overwhelming success of Skyrim, this was the time Bethesda could finally "payoff" Interplay.

Now Interplay can stave off going under and they'll dedicate their time to making other games (possibly app games) in order to get their company back into the black.

 

[Freaky Lou]

Just glad that mess is over and done with. With Chris Avellone not working at Interplay anymore, though, I'm not sure what the point of a Fallout MMO would be. I can see it being great and I can see it being awful, but what I cannot visualize it being is profitable. It'd go under pretty quickly even if it did launch.

 

[Draconalis]

This article was a lot of talk with no information other than "They settled out of court".

If could have been a footnote.

 

[Rheinmetall]

Actually I would rather see both companies vanish: Bethesda because they make awful FPS games, and Interplay because they turned out to be completely incompetent. They don't deserve to bear th Interplay brand name anymore.

 

[niktzv]

I gotta say i was happy to have this lawsuit last til the end of time. I LOVE fallout but the idea of a fallout MMO makes me depressed. Mainly because i fear that it will do to Fallout what WoW did to the warcraft series. I.E. destroy the odds of a sequel.