(Almost) Pure Speculation -- Fallout MMOG

[UD_Delt]

A Fallout MMOG is possibly in the works.

Here's where I'm coming from:

InterPlay is just about out of business. Their stock price has been right around .008 for a while now. A while back Herve Caen (CEO)  mentioned that he was shopping the idea of a Fallout MMOG to get funding to keep the company alive. Fallout and a few other IP (Earthworm Jim) are about all IPLY has left.

Recently the stock price has gone up to .027 (tripled) on no real news. The only recent development was they licensed some old IP to GameTap. Given the amount of debt IPLY has right now though that wouldn't/shouldn't be enough to trigger this kind of move.

Couple that with the news of the new BioWare studio and no news out of there about what their possible MMOG may be and something may be up.


** Not sure if this would be industry news or mmog news or even buried in other threads already so move the thread at will.

[schild]

Here's the problem with Interplay making a Fallout MMOG and all the old Fallout devs thrown spread out across countless companies.



It'll suck. On the flipside, they may outsource the entire thing to a company that can write a good story, and we'll get a great tale weaved into a bad MMOG. Or they'll outsource it to an MMOG design group, and we'll get a shitty story and world surrounded by a solid dikumud clone. Or they'll do it in house, and ween from the tit of investors until they finally close shop. Nothing good can come of this unless they sell the license to, I don't know, fund an EWJ game.

Edit: I thought Interplay was all but shut down anyway. Weren't they auctioning all of their shit off recently?

[UD_Delt]

Edit: I thought Interplay was all but shut down anyway. Weren't they auctioning all of their shit off recently?

It was just about over, hence the .008/share price. Last I heard they were down to about 2 employees Herve Caen and the PR/Investor Relations guy who's name escapes me at the moment. I'm not even sure if that guy is still there.

All IPLY had left was the Fallout License and a couple of old games. That's why I think Fallout has to have been licensed to account for the move up to .027/share.

I don't see any way that it will be internally developed. Every aspect of the game will be farmed out to someone.

[schild]

Well, you can build entire dynasties on single licenses. There aren't many of them, but Fallout is definately one of them. Who knows, maybe the reason there's only 2 people left is so they can cash in, big time, on the remaining properties.

[Sairon]

They'd be smarter to just make Fallout 3 imo and skip the MMORPG part.

[Nija]

They'd be smarter to just make Fallout 3 imo and skip the MMORPG part.

http://www.nma-fallout.com/forum/album_cat.php?cat_id=3

They aren't smart.

edit if you only click one, make it this one - http://www.nma-fallout.com/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=129

[Murgos]

Fallout 3 is in production at BethSoft.  Has been for a while now.

[UD_Delt]

Fallout 3 is in production at BethSoft.  Has been for a while now.

Correct but Interplay has held onto the IP for creating a MMOG based on Fallout.

[Morfiend]

OH OH I KNOW!!!!

Lets give the IP to Turbine. Im sure they wont screw it up.

[Simond]

How about SOE?

[shiznitz]

Grinding as a Fluffer ftw!

[UD_Delt]

Hmm... stock price hit .04 today.

From .008 to .04 in less than a week and still no news. Another week like this and I'll break even on this pig... lol

Of course I'll make the same mistake I did last time and hold too long. Bought in at .21/share saw it rise to .56/share and rather than sell I got greedy and manage to ride it all the way back down to current levels. This stock was a great lesson in how NOT to invest in the market. Luckily it was only a small, rather meaningless amount.

[HaemishM]

Hmm... stock price hit .04 today.

From .008 to .04 in less than a week and still no news. Another week like this and I'll break even on this pig... lol

Of course I'll make the same mistake I did last time and hold too long. Bought in at .21/share saw it rise to .56/share and rather than sell I got greedy and manage to ride it all the way back down to current levels. This stock was a great lesson in how NOT to invest in the market. Luckily it was only a small, rather meaningless amount.

Well shit, you could have owned the company for a goddamn Necco wafer. What was stopping you? Snack machine borken?

[Hoax]

That would be awesome if you bought Interplay Delt.

[UD_Delt]

It would be almost doable since it only has a market cap of around 1.2 mil. I'm sure I could get that much financing if I really tried. Only 3 problems ...

1. It's not for sale - Caen owns like 70+% so a hostile take over wouldn't be possible.
2. I would't want it and wouldn't know what to do with it if I had it.
3. It's not worth it.

[Furiously]

It would be almost doable since it only has a market cap of around 1.2 mil. I'm sure I could get that much financing if I really tried. Only 3 problems ...

1. It's not for sale - Caen owns like 70+% so a hostile take over wouldn't be possible.
2. I would't want it and wouldn't know what to do with it if I had it.
3. It's not worth it.

In June 2004, we licensed to Bethesda Softworks LLC ("Bethesda") the rights to develop Fallout 3 on all platforms for a non refundable advance against royalties of $1.175 million. Bethesda also has an option to develop two sequels, Fallout 4 and Fallout 5 for $1.0 million minimum guaranteed advance against royalties per sequel. Interplay retained the right to develop massively multiplayer online games (MMOLG) using the Fallout trademark.

#3 might be wrong...Their IP might be a good reason.  Looks like we get 3 more Fallout games at least.

[HaemishM]

The IP would need more money put in to make any money out of it.

[Furiously]

No.....If you can sell the rights to Fallout Online for > 1.2 million. You just made money. Granted - if Caen owns 70% it's a pipe dream anyways.

[UD_Delt]

Doh I should revise that... The market cap WAS 1.2million. Given the past week it's now up to 4mil.


Edit:  Should also add that they have considerable debt on the books due to various litigation. I'm guessing you would have to also assume the debt if you bought them out.

[Murgos]

The IP would need more money put in to make any money out of it.

Thats what BethSoft is in the middle of doing.  The value of the Fallout MMOG IP will go up considerably if BethSoft makes a solid pass at Fallout 3.  I would imagine the 1.2 mil from BethSoft is whats going to hold interplay over until they can license the MMOG IP for some real money.

[Furiously]

There go my dreams of saying, "Yea - I own Interplay."

[Arthur_Parker]

The budget for the Fallout MMOG totals $75,000,000 and will be funded by Interplay, its development and distribution partners.

Linky

Got this link from foh, tried a search and didn't see anything recent.

[Trippy]

Interesting.

[HaemishM]

How the fuck could the dead dead dead Interplay get $75 MILLION?

[Threash]

Funny how SOE isnt listed among the competition.

[Trippy]

How the fuck could the dead dead dead Interplay get $75 MILLION?

They are hoping there are enough suckers in Europe to buy their stock.

[Krakrok]

Hedge funds are passing out cash like candy lately.

[tazelbain]

For $75M, this can't be anything other than a WoW Challenger. Frankly there aren't many solid IPs to make a MMO out of.  But this IP is better suited than most for the medium. And its not fantacy.  I question the wisdom of making a challenger, but if you have money to burn in a high risk venture I can't think of a better IP.

[Furiously]

I see they used Bruce's chart....

[sinij]

I'm big fan of Fallout series and Wastelands universe but I don't see who can pull out good mmorpg out of it.

[Yoru]

It's not a Fallout MMO if I can't equip my Red Ryder BB Gun.

I hope it's not going to be a WoW-clone, but given the budget and filing, every instinct is telling me it's going to be postapoc WoW. You'll start out as some piddly villager or ex-vault dude or wasteland wanderer (Level 1!) and go out whomping mutated rats and ornery brahmin until you can get your first armor and real weapons, then continue to wander the wasteland semirandomly, completing missions to go find waterchips or clear some farmer's fields of deathclaws. This will continue on up until you're running instanced missions to kill clones of The Master and Frank Horrigan.

I can easily see how this can and will be turned into a WoW-clone. However, Fallout, being an RPG, clearly has the roaming, levelling-up gameplay core that can be easily Dikufied. Never mind the fact that the rich story, characters and universe on top of a solid RPG system are what made Fallout awesome.

I weep on the inside.

[Riggswolfe]

I am torn. If they ever made it this would potentially rock. I'd especially love it if they found some way to use the Perks character system.

That said I have two fears:
1) It'll never happen, this is just BS in an attempt to get some money to get out of debt
2) If it does happen it'll suck worse than Dark and Light, Shadowbane and Star Wars Galaxies put together. I mean, they don't even have a programming team to my knowledge.

[tazelbain]

I have a novel idea. How about if we actually let this thing get into playtesting before we all go into some 'gothy / angsty / hating MMOG's is the new black' mode. mmkay?

[Krakrok]

I see they used Bruce's chart....

Which haven't been updated since July.

I have a novel idea. How about if we actually let this thing get into playtesting before we all go into some 'gothy / angsty / hating MMOG's is the new black' mode. mmkay?

What fun would that be?

[WindupAtheist]

I'm big fan of Fallout series and Wastelands universe but I don't see who can pull out good mmorpg out of it.

Yeah, I have a buddy who's the sterotypical Fallout fanboy, and his reaction to this news was "Yuck, it's just going to be another gay-ass MMO."