The lawsuit between Bethesda and Interplay over who is the true owners of the Fallout MMO rights has come to its end. A settlement resulted in the license granted to Interplay to develop an MMO for Fallout has been rendered null and void.
The rights that were granted to Interplay for the Fallout MMO have also been reverted back to Bethesda. Interplay also has no right to use any of the Falout brand or IP for any future game development. Also as part of the settlement, Bethesda will pay Interplay $2 million (USD). As for the rest of the settlement? Read on to find out.
And thus the Interplay Fallout MMO is dead. Any hopes for an MMO based on the Fallout universe now lies squarely with Bethesda.
The rights that were granted to Interplay for the Fallout MMO have also been reverted back to Bethesda. Interplay also has no right to use any of the Falout brand or IP for any future game development. Also as part of the settlement, Bethesda will pay Interplay $2 million (USD). As for the rest of the settlement? Read on to find out.
Interplay will be permitted to continue to sell the original Fallout ®Tactics, Fallout® and Fallout® 2 PC games through December 2013, after which time all rights to market those games revert to and become the sole property of Bethesda. Under the original agreement pursuant to which Bethesda had acquired the Fallout property, Interplay was granted certain merchandising rights to sell those original Fallout games, but those merchandising rights will now expire on December 31, 2013.
The lawsuit against Interplay arose after Bethesda Softworks acquired all Fallout intellectual property rights from Interplay in April 2007, and conditionally licensed back to Interplay certain trademark rights to make a Fallout MMO, provided Interplay secured $30 million in financing for the MMO and commenced full scale development of the game by April 2009. Bethesda alleged in its complaint that Interplay failed to meet either condition of the license back agreement but refused to relinquish its license and insisted it would develop a Fallout MMO. Bethesda filed suit to declare the license void.(...)
Robert Altman, Chairman and CEO of ZeniMax, expressed satisfaction on behalf of the Company with the resolution of the two lawsuits saying, "While we strongly believe in the merits of our suits, we are pleased to avoid the distraction and expense of litigation while completely resolving all claims to the Fallout IP. Fallout is an important property of ZeniMax and we are now able to develop future Fallout titles for our fans without third party involvement or the overhang of others' legal claims."
The lawsuit against Interplay arose after Bethesda Softworks acquired all Fallout intellectual property rights from Interplay in April 2007, and conditionally licensed back to Interplay certain trademark rights to make a Fallout MMO, provided Interplay secured $30 million in financing for the MMO and commenced full scale development of the game by April 2009. Bethesda alleged in its complaint that Interplay failed to meet either condition of the license back agreement but refused to relinquish its license and insisted it would develop a Fallout MMO. Bethesda filed suit to declare the license void.(...)
Robert Altman, Chairman and CEO of ZeniMax, expressed satisfaction on behalf of the Company with the resolution of the two lawsuits saying, "While we strongly believe in the merits of our suits, we are pleased to avoid the distraction and expense of litigation while completely resolving all claims to the Fallout IP. Fallout is an important property of ZeniMax and we are now able to develop future Fallout titles for our fans without third party involvement or the overhang of others' legal claims."
And thus the Interplay Fallout MMO is dead. Any hopes for an MMO based on the Fallout universe now lies squarely with Bethesda.