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Bethesda Says It 'Will Prevail' In Interplay Fallout Suit
by Kris Graft [PC, Console/PC]
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December 15, 2009
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Fallout owner Bethesda told Gamasutra on Tuesday that the studio will continue to fight against Interplay's work on the post-apocalyptic franchise, despite a judge's recent denial of Bethesda's motion to block Interplay's Fallout activity.
"The court has declined to decide the issues at a preliminary hearing, and determined that the parties should maintain the current status quo pending a trial of the case in 2010," said Bethesda Softworks PR and marketing VP Pete Hines in an email to Gamasutra.
Hines did not comment on further details of the case, as it's an ongoing legal matter, although he added, "We are confident that we will prevail on our claims against Interplay."
Last week, a U.S. District Court judge denied Bethesda's motion for a preliminary injunction against former Fallout franchise owner Interplay, which is currently selling older Fallout titles and a PC bundle called Fallout Trilogy in North America, and also working on a Fallout-based MMORPG.
Bethesda is currently seeking to block Interplay from distributing the catalog Fallout titles, as well as Interplay's further work on the Fallout MMO, known as Project V13.
Interplay sold the Fallout franchise to Bethesda in 2007 for $5.75 million, and then signed a licensing agreement with Bethesda that allowed Interplay to sell catalog Fallout games and work on the Project V13 MMO.
But earlier this year, Bethesda filed suit against Interplay, accusing the company of breach of contract over allegedly unapproved packaging for Fallout Trilogy, and also alleged that Interplay did not meet funding and development requirements of the Fallout MMO as outlined in their licensing and asset purchase agreements.
Bethesda's critically-acclaimed Fallout 3 launched in 2008 and was a multi-million unit seller, followed by seven expansion packs.
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Also, Fallout 3 was followed by five expansion packs (personally, I would call them DLC).
> which you purchased and are developing more games
> for, why have a cow over a bundle.
Because the bundle as it was when the deal was signed was called "Fallout: The Ultimate Collection". I know, because I bought it. Following the success of Fallout 3, Interplay actually rebranded the same set, changing the name to "The Fallout Trilogy", and the box art to something more evocative of Fallout 3. Quite blatantly, a move to attempt to cash in on the success of Fallout 3.
Now - there's not necessarily anyhting *wrong* with that. After all, why shouldn't sales of the original games be boosted by a successful sequel. However:
- Bethesda is - correctly, imo - concerned that some people may be confused by the branding, and purchase The Fallout Trilogy (which naturally includes 1, 2 and 3, right? Right?) instead of Fallout 3, and therefore hurt their sales.
- Secondly, the first point is academic, because the contract stipulated that any changes to the way existing Fallout titles were being sold had to be ok'd by Bethesda
Interplay apparently did not ok these changes with Bethesda, hence - regardless of anyone's opinion - breach of contract, Bethesda wins.
Then there's the MMO issue. And if you think Interplay have the required Fallout MMO in production, you need your head examined. Interplay seem to be claiming it's at the required stage of development; but as far as anyone else can make out, they seem to be lacking ~$60m and a development team...
Can you please provide a link to the contract they both signed? I've googled for it, but I'm not having any luck finding it, and I would like to read the part that says, "...any changes to the way existing Fallout titles were being sold had to be ok'd by Bethesda".
Thanks!