Bethesda Softworks - Turned Down Rights To Fallout MMO, says Interplay

Next-Gen quotes Interplay President Eric Caen about the sale of the Fallout rights to Bethsoft.  Apparently Interplay wanted $50M  for everything including the MMO rights, which was too much for Bethsoft:

"Hervé [Caen] started negotiations with Bethesda to sell Fallout to them," reveals Eric. "My brother said: 'If you want the full IP, the value of it is $50 million.' They said: 'No way. Why $50 million?' We said: 'Because the MMOG strength of this universe is huge.' Bethesda said: 'We don’t want that. Let’s buy everything else but the MMOG. Do the MMOG.' They said that Interplay had to start development and by a certain time we had to have a full game in development."

Eric says he thinks that Bethesda, on realising the value of the original proposition, wanted to reclaim a stake in the project."