Last Minute Settlement in Fallout MMO Court Case

By Brian P Rubin | 03 January 2012 | 12 Comments

According to a post on Develop, the ongoing courtroom drama between Bethesda and Interplay over the Fallout MMO has come to an end. An anonymous source has said that after tense time in the courtroom, a judge’s recess brought the two parties together to hash out a settlement, resulting in an end to scheduled days in court.

The conflict began back in 2007, explains the Develop post, when Interplay sub-contracted with developer Masthead to create a Fallout MMO, an act which Bethesda believes to have been a breach of their licensing agreement (Bethesda owns the Fallout intellectual property). The suit was filed in 2009.

The last we’d reported on the drama was back in late-October, when Bethesda was denied a preliminary injunction against Interplay’s work on the MMO. That last decision showed that Bethesda didn’t take enough action, or swift enough action, to prevent the purported wrongdoing committed by Interplay and Masthead, and that, in fact, the company had yet to demonstrate the ways in which it would be irreparably harmed by the agreement. As to which way it seemed the case was swinging when the supposed settlement was reached isn’t clear at this point. As of this writing, neither company has made any public statements about any kind of settlement, but that may change within the next few hours or days.

Where does that leave the Fallout MMO? We don’t know yet. But a settlement, to me, implies that both sides are going to get something they want, and I have a feeling that Bethesda doesn’t want this thing to move forward in its current form. When we find out more, we’ll certainly update you with the latest. Blam.

Via Develop

12 Comments

Posted by CoreyClarkYC93 on 03 January 12 at 4:23pm

Interplay dun fucked up the Fallout franchise, they’re bankrupt and if they ever had the Fallout license back (rumor was they were going to sue for it), then the franchise would die. Bethesda knows what they are doing, Interplay doesn’t.
- Posted by Grim Joker on 03 January 12 at 5:47pm
  
  Uh, Interplay MADE the Fallout franchise, so I’d say they know what they’re doing. If they had the franchise, it would be fine, it would just suffer from being made by a poor studio. From what I saw of the Fallout MMO screenshots, it looked pretty neat.
  - Posted by CoreyClarkYC93 on 04 January 12 at 5:37pm
    
    Yes, I know that they made the franchise, but if they never let Bethesda make Fallout 3 and New Vegas, the franchise would have died.
    
    Plus, the MMO market is heated enough already, I don’t know how well a Fallout MMO would do.
    - Posted by Grim Joker on 04 January 12 at 6:24pm
      
      Uh, Fallout 3 and New Vegas were a lot more hated than the older Fallout games. Bethesda changed around the entire style and tone of the game to bring it to a mainstream audience, so obviously it sold better than the other two, but to say the franchise would have died without bethesda is just speculation.
      - Posted by CoreyClarkYC93 on 05 January 12 at 12:37pm
        
        The original Fallout 3 was cancelled before Bethesda started their Fallout 3, and before that, nothing was happening with the franchise. Current interest in the franchise is due to Bethesda’s work, if they didn’t make Fallout games, the franchise would be over.
      - Posted by rawrrakar on 05 January 12 at 7:48pm
        
        im pretty sure that the onlyone that hated fallout three and new vegas must be you.. and i mean actually hate. does not mean not interested in the game
Posted by Jeong Hyeon Lee on 03 January 12 at 11:13pm

Oh, the FUCK should I care. Even if they make a REALLY decent Fallout MMO, they won’t release the goddamn masterpiece in South Korea. (Where I was born and currently live, of course.)
- Posted by paintballer1017 on 04 January 12 at 11:31am
  
  haha
Posted by Pipboy98[32bit] on 05 January 12 at 9:15pm

In all honesty I think that fallout will make a great mom under the hands of a good company interplay doesnt do much now a days but they made the fallout series before fo3 but they planted. Solid story and Bethesda grew apron thinking about the fact Bethesda is contracting them I’m hoping they’re being handed the tech and were thought how most of the shit worked, I’d hope to see a good outcome fromo this team up and they can put the suite up to the side and get this thing our into the public
- Posted by Pipboy98[32bit] on 05 January 12 at 9:16pm
  
  Mmo* stupid iPad autocorrect :P
Posted by Jhen on 06 January 12 at 10:36am

EXCITEMENT! Here’s hoping they don’t fuck it up.
Posted by tttteeo on 06 January 12 at 12:23pm

Let’s make something clear Bethesda didn’t make New Vegas.. New Vegas was made by Obsidian a company made of most people who worked on Fallout and Fallout 2.. So if Interplay makes this game you should expect something like Fallout: BoS not something like Fallout or Fallout 2 when it comes to story and quality..