Fallout Online Information & Discussions

by **Kypex** Tue Jun 21, 2011 9:38 pm

Fallout Online (also known under the codename Project V13 or FOOL) is an upcoming massively multiplayer online video game (MMO) set in the Fallout world that is being developed by Masthead Studios and being published by Interplay,
with members of their team also developing the game. Chris Taylor and
Mark O'Green, two of the creators of the original Fallout, are among the
developers. Jason Anderson, one of the other makers of Fallout, was
involved in the project between 2007 and 2009, but has since left the
team. Interplay's rights to developing and publishing this game have
been the subject of a legal dispute between Bethesda Softworks, the
current owner of the Fallout franchise, and Interplay. The current legal
status of the court case is pending and in the prediscovery phase.

History

Black Isle Studios

According to Feargus Urquhart, when Brian Fargo was still the
president of Interplay, Fargo proposed a possible Fallout MMO to be made
by Black Isle, but Urquhart refused: "The reason at the time,
because I would have loved to have made a Fallout MMO, was that I
believed that Interplay was just not in a situation where they had the
resources to do it. When you go off to do an MMO it's going to cost $100
million before you get it on the shelf; you've gotta buy servers and
you've gotta have service people, and you have to have Game Masters.
It's an undertaking, and on top of that, it means that you do have to do
all that stuff so what else are you going to focus on? What other games
are you going to be able to make?" At one point, Fallout Tactics
developer Micro Forté was also contracted to develop Fallout Online but
the project was eventually cancelled.
Interplay - Masthead Project

In November 2006, Interplay, headed by Herve Caen, filed a Form 8-K
filing to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
regarding a potential Fallout massively multiplayer online game. In
April 2007, Bethesda Softworks, the developer of Fallout 3, purchased
full rights to the Fallout IP for US$5.75 million. While Bethesda now
owned the rights to the Fallout MMO IP as well, clauses in the purchase
agreement state allowed Interplay to license the rights to the
development of the MMO. Specific requirements were stated in the
agreement that if not met, Interplay would immediately lose and
surrender its license rights for Fallout. Development must have begun
within 24 months of the date of the agreement (April 4, 2007), and
Interplay must have secured $30 million within that time frame or
forfeit its rights to license. Interplay would furthermore need to
launch the MMOG within 4 years of the beginning of development, and pay
Bethesda 12 percent of sales and subscription fees for the use of the
IP.
On August 1, 2007, ZeniMax Media Inc., parent company of Bethesda
Softworks, announced the creation of ZeniMax Online Studios. The
division will be headed by Matt Firor, a well-known expert in the field
of online gaming, and will focus on the Massively Multiplayer Online
Game (MMO) market segment. It might work on a Fallout MMO in the future,
if Interplay fails to gather enough money for their Fallout Online
project.
In November 2007, Interplay reopened in-house development and hired
Fallout developer Jason D. Anderson as creative director for an
unannounced MMO. Given the aforementioned facts, it's most likely that
the game Anderson was working on is Interplay's Fallout MMO, given that
he was the contact name of Interplay's jobs appliance and that Fallout
was referred in the job requirements. In March 2009, Anderson left
Interplay and joined InXile Entertainment.
On June 30, 2008, it was announced that Interactive Game Group, LLC
(created by Frederic Chesnais, former Chief Executive Officer of Atari,
which now also owns MicroProse) purchased 2,000,000 shares of Interplay
stock, as consideration for entering into a game production agreement,
likely related to Fallout Online.
On April 2, 2009 Interplay announced a binding letter of intent with
Masthead Studios, a Bulgarian-based developer, to fund the development
of Project V13. Masthead and Interplay teams will work together under
the direction and control of Interplay to complete development of the
project. On June 15, 2010, the game was officially announced as Fallout Online.
The game will be co-developed between Interplay and Masthead Studios,
it will use Masthead's Earthrise Engine, use on Masthead's first game, Earthrise.
Legal Dispute

On April 15, 2009, it was announced that Bethesda Softworks moved to
rescind the Fallout MMORPG license. Interplay received notice from
Bethesda that it intends to terminate the trademark license agreement,
claiming that Interplay is in breach of the agreement for failure to
commence full scale development by April 4, 2009 and to secure certain
funding for the game. Interplay disputes these claims.^{[citation needed]}
On July 15, 2009 Interplay's Project V13 developer Chris Taylor
posted a reply on the Interplay website "Project V13" Forum thread
refuting the claims that Interplay lost the rights to the Fallout
MMORPG.
On September 8, 2009 Bethesda filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Interplay in the Maryland District Court.^{[citation needed]}
On December 10, 2009 the Maryland District Court decided to deny
Bethesda's request for preliminary injunction. Interplay is therefore
able to continue development on the project until the case is finished.
Bethesda claimed that Interplay had only licensed the Fallout name to
use for their game and could not use any of its assets. Interplay
counteracted this claim by stating that they did not license the name to
make an online poker game named Fallout. They stated that what Bethesda
was claiming was comparable to having a Snow White movie and the
princess not appearing in it at all.^[1]
Interplay further stated that if Bethesda refuses to let them complete
Fallout Online, then they will be able to release only one more Fallout
IP with its DLC's before the rights revert back to Interplay, a notion
that will give Interplay the full rights to Fallout Online and the rest
of the Fallout Series.^[2]