InXile Entertainment - Brian Fargo Wants Interplay Back

PCGamesN reports on a tweet made by Brian Fargo that indicates he will buy back Interplay if The Bard's Tale IV sells well.

Brian Fargo was a founder of Interplay way back in 1983. The company’s impressive list of credits covers everything from The Bard’s Tale to Fallout and now, it seems, Fargo wants to buy it back. Of course, videogame companies don’t come free, and he says there’s one condition before Interplay comes back to one of its original founders – you’d better buy his next game.

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Thanks Farflame!

More information.

Is Interplay actually doing something besides going to court or have they slowly died?

Doubtful!

What is there to buy back? The name? Some IPs?

Lemonhead said:

What is there to buy back? The name? Some IPs?

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Well we talked about this topic on another thread so hope this helps.

Fargo co-founded Interplay in the 1980s. The developer/publisher helped introduce the world to classic role-playing games like the original “Fallout,” “Baldur’s Gate,” and “Planescape: Torment.” It went bankrupt in the early 2000s. Then, in 2016, it announced it was selling its video game library and intellectual property, which included about 70 titles and dozens of characters.

If Fargo does buy back Interplay, it will come with “tons” of IPs like “Dragon Wars, “Earthworm Jim,” “Sacrifice,” and “Kingpin,” he said.

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Who owns the Arcanum IP?

I thought he was retiring from the business after WL3 is released.

TheSnarkyShaman said:

Who owns the Arcanum IP?

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Activision, I think.

Morrandir said:

Is Interplay actually doing something besides going to court or have they slowly died?

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Hervé have kept it around as some sort of undead for years, the Fallout Online debacle being the last nail in the coffin. Two years ago there was talk of putting all the IPs up for sales, but nothing seems to have happened (probably asking way too much for them).

There is some 90s classics stuck at that company.

azarhal said:

Hervé have kept it around as some sort of undead for years.

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Good metaphor.

Among the ~70 IPS, is there much of anything for CRPG fans specifically to be at all excited about potentially being revived? I've never played Dragon Wars, but it looks like a typical first person blobber / dungeon crawler from the late 80's. Same with Stonekeep. Meh.

Maybe Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader?

I think it's more a promotional thing… if he can inspire another 10,000 sales from diehard nerds that wouldn't normally buy a blobber, it's a win. I doubt anyone, in the twilight stage of their career, would actually want to buy the husk of a company they sold 15 years ago.

"Sorry guys, turns out I wasn't able to buy Interplay for now. But if WL3 sells 3 million copies, I'll totally do it and re-re-open Black Isle Studios".

daveyd said:

I've never played Dragon Wars, but it looks like a typical first person blobber / dungeon crawler from the late 80's. Same with Stonekeep. Meh.

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Dragon Wars was a very innovative RPG for its time (1989)

• Non-combat skills
• Non-linear quest design
• Freeform character building
• Open world with tons of optional content

Does any of that make it still worth reviving? Probably not, but the setting was unique.

You can't buy back your glorious past. Does he think his half-assed RPGs* will perform better if they have Interplay's (admittedly awesome) intro?

*Just my opinion of course.

Silver Coin said:

Dragon Wars was a very innovative RPG for its time (1989)

• Non-combat skills
• Non-linear quest design
• Freeform character building
• Open world with tons of optional content

Does any of that make it still worth reviving? Probably not, but the setting was unique.

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What was unique about the setting? I was just thinking that blobbers tend to light on story. Most are set in pretty generic fantasy worlds so there doesn't seem to be much that would really require the IP rights. All those features you mentioned could be put in any RPG w/o the IP, and you could even call it Dragon _something_ if you wanted to make it a spiritual successor.

But I don't really like blobbers so I don't play them much, so I'm hardly an expert on the subgenre. The value of reviving a popular classic series like The Bard's Tale is obvious, but bringing back a more obscure title from 1989 which never had a sequel wouldn't make much business sense.

The setting is on a water planet in a continent called Dimun where magic is outlawed, and offenders are thrown into a prison-city called Purgatory. This causes upheaval and war throughout the continent.

Dragon Wars wasn't like any other blobber. Designwise it's one of the most original and innovative games in CRPG history, and while I don't know if it's worth reviving, it's a shame that it never got a sequel.

Sacrifice is definitely worth reviving though

Sounds like a total "scam". Yeah, these guys sure know this business though, and it's a good strategy, but morally.. i'm not so sure

There seems to be total obsession of names sometimes. I know that for example Star Dock bought some generic name back for a lot of $$$, Star Control. And now there are also legal fees of 2 million dollars that has to be paid, and they want the fans to pay for it and started a fund (no one gives a damn, i just checked it). So yeah the idea that fans should pay for their obsessions is not new, and this sounds like that kind of idea.

It's one thing if a game has a super deep lore where years were spent of developing these ideas, or it just happened to be one of those cases where you were super lucky and came up with something absolutely incredible (Fallout is pretty great for example, not sure what time frame we are talking about for that game in terms of theme/lore/style..).. But to pay millions of dollars for e.g a generic name and game done in perhaps early 90's where you spent a few hours or a week on developing the lore and theme / style and that was it.. It's idiocy.

Depending on a name to sell, sure, it might sell a few more copies if you have many thousands of hardcore fans who's been very vocal for years about a new release, but i think it's a pretty rare thing overall.

Remember a few years ago when there was a shady crowdfunding campaign for a Black Isle Studio revival? That was a scam.

Much like knowing a demon's true name grants one power over the demon, there is definitely powers in names. BF has made a killing off of nostalgia and I guess this is just his latest way of selling that. It's definitely shady, but anyone who falls for it is a sucker. Lucky for Brian Fargo, a sucker is born every minute.

This is the same Brian Fargo who plans to retire after Wasteland 3 ships? Okay. Why?

rjshae said:

This is the same Brian Fargo who plans to retire after Wasteland 3 ships? Okay. Why?

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The answer is in your sentence, he wants to retire. Please buy WSL3, please. If the sales reach an unspecified number I buy back Interplay.