State Officials Close Interplay Offices

Despite assurances given over the weekend by Interplay CEO Herve Caen, that the company’s fortunes were not as bleak as many Internet reports were suggesting, California’s Department of Industrial Relations, Division of Division of Labor Standards Enforcement today forced the company to suspend operations. The closure followed a snap inspection of Interplay's offices by investigators, who found the company was without workers’ compensation insurance and had not paid employees. They fined the company $1,000 for each employee, for a total of $79,000. This is in addition to the $179,000 already owed in back taxes, the $432,000 owed in unpaid rent and the $156,000 lawsuit pending from BioWare Corp., for unpaid Baldur’s Gate royalties. Despite these seemingly insurmountable problems, especially in light of cash reserves of only $1.2 million, Caen has been upbeat about resolving the situation – suggesting that employees could be back at work this week. Source: GameSpot