Fallout MMO semi-confirmed?

Jason D. Anderson – co-founder of now-defunct Troika Games - sat down with Gamebanshee for an interview. Troika Games is the developer of the award winning Fallout RPG games published by Interplay. During the interview Jason shares his thoughts about various aspect of MMOs ranging from things he liked in current MMOs to certain things he would implement differently if he would be in charge.

The interview gets really interesting when Jason is asked wether he works on an MMO that “isn’t Fallout Online”. Answer: “Interplay is working on one MMO. It has not been “formally” announced, so I am not able to talk about it yet.” That confirms at least – what everybody expected - that Interplay is working on an MMO. Now let’s put this information into context about what’s publicly known about a possible Fallout MMO:

“On November 30, 2006, Interplay has filed a Form 8-K filing to the SEC regarding a potential Fallout massively multi player online game. The Form 8-K contained a prospectus stating that Interplay will be issuing common stock on Euronext to raise capital for developing a Fallout MMOG. The report stated that the production and launch processes will require an estimated US$75 million in capital. The report also stated that production may start as early as January 2007 and the game may launch as early as July 2010.

In April 2007, SEC filings were made showing the purchase of the IP for the Fallout MMO to Fallout 3 developer Bethesda for $5.75 million USD. While Bethesda now owns the rights to the Fallout MMO IP, clauses in the purchase agreement state allow Interplay to license the rights to the development of the MMO, provided that development begins within 24 months of the date of the agreement (April 4, 2007), and that Interplay must secure $30 million within that time frame or forfeit its rights to license. Interplay must furthermore 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.” (Courtesy Wikipedia)

Considering Interplay’s current financial situation, it can be probably ruled out that the company is working on an MMO based on a different intellectual property than the well established FALLOUT brand.

Tags: Fallout MMO