Bethesda Says It 'Will Prevail' In Interplay Fallout Suit

Fallout owner Bethesda told Gamasutra on Tuesday that the studio will continue to fight against Interplay's work on the post-apocalyptic franchise, despite a judge's recent denial of Bethesda's motion to block Interplay's Fallout activity. "The court has declined to decide the issues at a preliminary hearing, and determined that the parties should maintain the current status quo pending a trial of the case in 2010," said Bethesda Softworks PR and marketing VP Pete Hines in an email to Gamasutra. Hines did not comment on further details of the case, as it's an ongoing legal matter, although he added, "We are confident that we will prevail on our claims against Interplay." Last week, a U.S. District Court judge denied Bethesda's motion for a preliminary injunction against former Fallout franchise owner Interplay, which is currently selling older Fallout titles and a PC bundle called Fallout Trilogy in North America, and also working on a Fallout-based MMORPG. Bethesda is currently seeking to block Interplay from distributing the catalog Fallout titles, as well as Interplay's further work on the Fallout MMO, known as Project V13. Interplay sold the Fallout franchise to Bethesda in 2007 for $5.75 million, and then signed a licensing agreement with Bethesda that allowed Interplay to sell catalog Fallout games and work on the Project V13 MMO. But earlier this year, Bethesda filed suit against Interplay, accusing the company of breach of contract over allegedly unapproved packaging for Fallout Trilogy, and also alleged that Interplay did not meet funding and development requirements of the Fallout MMO as outlined in their licensing and asset purchase agreements. Bethesda's critically-acclaimed Fallout 3 launched in 2008 and was a multi-million unit seller, followed by seven expansion packs.