Game History - Interplay

Interplay is one of those companies just like Atari that was big back in the day and is now a shadow of it’s former self. Interplay had many IP’s including Earthworm Jim, MDK, Decent, Bard’s Tale,Baldur’s Gate, Clay Fighter, and Fallout. With all those games it seemed like Interplay would be on top of the world. Interplay was founded in 1983 by Brian Fargo (Now at InXile Entertainment). Interplay soon made a name for itself by creating great CRPG’s with The Bard’s Tale and Wasteland. Interplay also had a similarity with Bethesda, they both loved making Star Trek games. About 14 years after Interplay began, they released one of the greatest role-playing games of all time, Fallout. Which was the spiritual successor to Wasteland (EA had the rights to Wasteland so a sequel could not be done at the time) the mix of retro-futuristic elements and the post-apocalyptic setting made Fallout a smash hit. But not one of Interplay’s big IP’s. That was Bladur’s Gate a D & D game developed by Bioware.

In 2001 Interplay just like Atari was purchased by a French publisher, Titus Interactive. This led to many bad things including the departure of founder and President Brian Fargo. They then shed most of their publishing functions and made a deal to have Vivendi Universal (Now Activision) publish all their games. Interplay then went and is still in a dark place full of debt and bad luck.

To avoid bankruptcy Interplay had to sell its Fallout IP to Bethesda Softworks for  $5.75 million. After the transaction Interplay restarted in- house development announcing sequels to MDK, Earthworm Jim, and more. Hopefully Interplay can reclaim their former glory.