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12-09-2003, 09:42 AM
(This post was last modified: 12-09-2003, 11:17 AM by NiteFox.)
In recent news, Interplay laid off the remaining members of Black Isle, their RPG devision. This followed a gradual jumping-ship by BI's main members, such as Brian Fargo, Tim Cain, Feargus Urqhuart, Chris Avellone, and many others. Interplay will assumedely continue to produce "Black Isle" games, but according to Damien "Puuk" Foletto of Black Isle, it will just be a label, as no one who actually worked for the original Black Isle division remains.
Black Isle was responsible for many of Interplay's major offerings of recent times. The Baldur's Gate series, Icewind Dale series, Fallout 1 and 2, and recently Lionheart.
Even more tragically, Interplay has "shelved" project Van Buren, which was speculated to be (but never officially confirmed) Fallout 3. Van Buren was over 50% complete at time of shelving, and the reason why it was canned was so that Interplay could dedicate more time and resources to Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel 2 - Sequel to possibly the most underwhelmedly anticipated game that bears the name "Fallout." As Interplay plans on holding onto the Fallout liscense for these games, it is highly unlikely that they will release it to Obsidian (Where the majority of BI's staff has migrated to) so that they could complete VB.
Interplay has seemingly adopted the idiotic mentality of "console exclusive." Both Brotherhood of Steel games will be console-only, as are their immedeate releases.
Many of the former BI staff are extremely disgruntled towards the "good" people of Interplay, which hints at a cancer deep within the heart of the company.
Interplay has essentially turned their back on the market which made them great. Their initial console offerings were received with lukewarm reviews and generally poor sales, their best and brightest subsidary being Silicone & Synapse (Which as we all know is the company that brings us to being here today). It was on the home computer that Interplay made its money, made its reputation, and made its fame. Now they no longer want to consider the market.
When in mortal danger,
When beset by doubt,
Run in little circles,
Wave your arms and shout.
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12-09-2003, 12:16 PM
(This post was last modified: 12-09-2003, 12:16 PM by roguebanshee.)
Just read it elsewhere and I'm not happy.
PS: You forgot to mention Planescape: Torment in your list.
Hugs are good, but smashing is better! - Clarence<!--sizec--><!--/sizec-->
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While Interplay may not be likely to license Van Buren to Obsidian (assuming Obsidian could pick up where everyone who was at BIS but didn't go to Obsidian left off), it's not because of the FO:BOS games, necessarily. After all, licenses for console games don't need to cover PC games and vice versa - which is why Interplay can produce Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance console games, but not Baldur's Gate PC RPGs.
While several Obsidian employees did work on Fallout 3, I don't think that it would be a viable thing for them to pick up Van Buren. Maybe they could - and it'd be great - but I doubt it.
Interplay's been busily cutting off anything it can to keep afloat because it's been bleeding money since forever. Few of its console titles that were supposed to give a cash infusion did so. Cutting off BIS is just another in a long line of such decisions.
Also, no matter how poorly FO:BOS does, it's likely to make much more money than Fallout 3 ever would have. Console action titles tend to do better than PC RPG titles - often by an order of magnitude.
Strangely enough this seems just like a repetition of what other game companies do. Are they all inspired to follow eachother into their own graves?
Quote:Console action titles tend to do better than PC RPG titles - often by an order of magnitude.
Ah, of course. Only thing that matters is money, and in the case of video/computer games the only thing you need is a brand name and the right market.
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adamantine,Dec 9 2003, 04:44 PM Wrote:Strangely enough this seems just like a repetition of what other game companies do. Are they all inspired to follow eachother into their own graves?
Ah, of course. Only thing that matters is money, and in the case of video/computer games the only thing you need is a brand name and the right market. Actually I believe the discussion was not only about Interplay being a bunch of sellouts, but also about their business practices damaging themselves through estranging them from a big stable market and firing the people behind some of their biggest hit games.
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Well, Interplay is a publicly traded company. Some of the stockholders are fans, and want them to produce good games. Many are people who want to see Interplay print money, like all good corporations should.
So it becomes about the quarterly and yearly earnings. Invest in projects likely to get rapid returns. Yes, it's shortsighted. Yes, it can lead to subpar work. Right now, Interplay's only chance at survival is to publish titles with short development cycles and rapidly earned profit. In this light, their business decisions are perhaps as sound as they can be. Of course, their current condition is due to a host of factors, many of which relate to some of Interplay's apparent incompetence at business - the loss of the Baldur's Gate license for PC games, for example, or their loss of profitable licenses (Star Trek, D&D) in general. Or their penchant for starting development on PC RPG titles and then stopping them. These are all linked in some way, of course - BG3 and Vulcan Fury, for example.
I should make it clear that my statement was not in Interplay's defense. I admit that I do think that FO:BOS gets unfairly maligned from a lot of quarters, although I also admit I have no particular attachment to it as a game. I enjoyed the Fallout RPGs, and no console game can taint or change that. However, my loyalty to Interplay of late was pretty much solely aimed at Black Isle. Given the circumstances rumored to surround the layoffs, I can't say I have any sympathy for Interplay's current plight. I can't exactly say that I'll experience schadenfreude if they go bankrupt or get sold off or otherwise go away in the next 12 months, but I won't exactly mourn, either.
I just hope, whatever happens, that the Exalted license ends up in capable hands.
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BlackIsle was the only thing Interplay had going for it after Bioware left due to that idiotic billing debacle on Interplay's part. Seriously... I see BGDA2 and then what? Poor, poor Interplay. You were always less than intelligent, but at least you had Bioware and BI. Now you have neither and you're going to tank.
http://www.bluesnews.com/cgi-bin/board.pl?...latold&start=60
Quote:Being a member of the team I can tell you what they were thinking. The new head honcho doesn't like PC games and has even stated that in the past. Its pretty obvious he was responsible for the death of BIS. There was alot of bad feelings between BIS and the rest of the company since BIS actually produced titles on a regular basis instead of dicking around like everyone else. It was all politics.
So now they have bet the future of the company on 2 unproven projects. Fallout BOS2 (the first hasn't shipped and everyone knows its going to tank) and a console game based on the Exalted license. So instead of supporting the team working on Fallout 3 which has a proven record and was FAR along in development, they rest the future on the unknown.
You can be sure Interplay will sell the Fallout license to someone else. They've made short-sighted quick money decisions in the past (Hunter license is an example). They figure they can sell it off for a quick buck and save all the development money while losing any long term profit. Brilliant.
They will survive for awhile since Vivendi is stupid enough to keep giving them money. Also when BGDA2 ships that will give them a big stack of money so they will screw around all next year on these dead end titles until the money finally dries up and they go under. They might survive until the end of next year if they don't lose all of development. No one trusts them now so everyone still there is actively searching for jobs.
Oh well, looking forward to see what Obsidian can do.
--Mith
I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.
Jack London
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If Exalted - and that's a big if - can get a good console game built around it, I think it can go far. Assuming that people don't see the console roots from the PnP game for what they are and assume that it's a Final Fantasy ripoff (I doubt Interplay has anyone who could come up with anything as cool as FF, though).
Looking at Jade Empire, I'd rather see Bioware handle Exalted.
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--Mith
I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.
Jack London
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And I was just playing Fallout 2 today. Given that FO2 isn't complete itself (take a look at incomplete-able city endings, such as Vault City medicine for Ghoul City Extra energy trade, or the Lost Tribe Sister which is mentioned but doesn't exist in the game, or a good ending for the intelligent Death Claws--Best ending for the intelligent Death Claws is no ending at all by default of never meeting them yourself--which still leads to the possibility they meet their doom)
Given Fallout 2 isn't complete yet still launched successfully, Interplay has really cut themselves at the knees. How much money required from playable demo --> launch... I do not know. More than Interplay has if they only had >1 million left, but they are still managing to develop other games. All this makes me sad--well at least the heads of Black Isle Brian Fargo and friends are developing Bard's Tale. That's one to look out for.
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