GCG taking Interplay to court

Brother None

Brother None

This ghoul has seen it all
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This is still a story that lurks quietly in the background. Glutton Creeper Games, who had to change their Fallout pen and paper game into Exodus pen and paper after it turned out Interplay did not have the right to license Fallout to them, is taking Interplay to court now that Interplay's cross-complaint to Bethesda fell short, their website informs us:<blockquote>In 2006, GCG licensed the IP Fallout from Interplay (to include the IP from the Interplay releases Fallout, Fallout 2, Fallout Tactics, and Fallout BOS) to produce a line of role-playing PnP games under the d20 license and other role-playing systems.

In April 2007, Interplay sold the Fallout IP to Bethesda. One month later near the launch date of the Fallout PnP d20, Bethesda sent GCG and Interplay a Cease and Desist notification threatening damages to the Fallout IP. The Fallout PnP d20 game was revised over the next 6 months removing the Fallout IP and becoming the Exodus d20 Post Apocalyptic Role-Playing Game.

August 2007, GCG filed a lawsuit against Interplay for Breach of Contract and damages, which was approved in Orange County, CA in January 2008.

June 2008, Interplay has filed a cross-complaint against Bethesda.

August 2008, Bethesda/Zenimax has filed a motion for dismissal against Interplay's cross-complaint.

September 2008, Interplay's cross-complaint against Bethesda/Zenimax has been dismissed. GCG vs. Interplay court date scheduled for March 2009. </blockquote>
 
Remember how Interplay got Reflexive to develop a Deadlands cRPG, and then the game was canceled after the first milestone was finished, because Herve kinda forgot to get the license for Deadlands?
 
And the MMO they stopped supporting halfway through.

Such is the risk if you work with Interplay.
 
Herve's Interplay sucks. Really, can't they do anything right? Maybe this will put them out of commission for good. Maybe then someone who knows what they're doing can buy out the company. EA might as well get them and dissolve it like they do with most other companies they've purchased. xD

Edit: In other words, throw some money away just to get them out of their misery.
 
I understand Glutton Creeper being pissed and everything, but I just wish they hadn't decided to sue Interplay after a certain awesome person was added to the FOOL team.
 
In April 2007, Interplay sold the Fallout IP to Bethesda.
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2 questioning:

So Bethesda was working on Fallout 3 before it owned the rights? Or working on an Interplay owned IP without any Interplay say-so on the game itself?

From the news announcement it unfortunately sounds like interplay is at fault, though their contract might have said the PNP only or something like that. Would be cool if Bethesda would help them out, but won't because its just business, which I don't fault them for.
 
I'd need to look at the contract but one would think that it would have been sold along with the rest of the Fallout IP to Bethesda so I'm a bit confused why Interplay is at fault and not Bethesda.
 
It depends on exactly what happend when. my understanding is that they (bethesda) bought the rights to at least produce F3 way back in 2004. and knowing who they had for a lawyer at the time I can almost garantee their rights contract included Beth-ZM haveing a defacto veto (or manditory first aproval, howwever you want to put it) on anything Interplay did with the Fallout IP other than sell it to them.
 
Hmm, GcG licenced Fallout IP in 2006 - a year before Bethesda bought it from Interplay. Sure, Bethesda owns the licence now, but how does that change GcG's licence to make a fallout game?
When Bethesda bought the licence, did they also get a veto to cancel all deals Interplay made with it?
Doesn't seem right to me, but then again, I might not understand this business stuff all too well. :)

In my opinion, definitely not Interplay's fault. This better not kill the MMO... :cry:

Edit: Silly typos...
 
SupermanOctopus said:
I understand Glutton Creeper being pissed and everything, but I just wish they hadn't decided to sue Interplay after a certain awesome person was added to the FOOL team.
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you know I keep forgetting the joke name for Fallout Online is FOOL, because the first thing I thought was Herve is a team now? :crazy:

Just kidding
 
101_north said:
Hmm, GcG licenced Fallout IP in 2006 - a year before Bethesda bought it from Interplay. Sure, Bethesda owns the licence now, but how does that change GcG:s licence to make a fallout game?
When Bethesda bought the licence, did they also get a veto to cancel all deals Interplay made with it?
Doesn't seem right to me, but then again, I might not understand this business stuff all too well. :)

In my opinion, definitely not Interplay's fault. This better not kill the MMO... :cry:
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Beth got the right do to F3 way back in 2004.

odds are that contract gave Beth-ZM the right of first refusal on anything Interplay does with the Fallout IP (frankly they would be idiots not to) and or a clause reguading any licencing of the fallout IP in the meantime.
(again given that they were making a Fallout game and Given that we are talking about Herve here they would be idiots not to)

what Beth picked up in 2007 was the total outright right to the Entire Fallout IP then they turned around and licenced the rights to a Fallout MMO back to Interplay.

Edit

I looked up the timing of everything they did.

Bascialy they gave Herve enough cash back in 2004 to keep him afloat, then waited untill after the settlment of his existing lawsuits were closed to buy out the total IP, from the looks of it to make sure he at least had a chunk of change in his pocket to work with.
 
Humpsalot said:
So Bethesda was working on Fallout 3 before it owned the rights? Or working on an Interplay owned IP without any Interplay say-so on the game itself?
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Bethesda started on Fallout 3 as a licensed project from Interplay. They optioned 3, 4 and 5 while Interplay owned the whole license. It was later sold entirely to Bethesda, in what was probably the most depressing day for many of us Fallout fans.

Humpsalot said:
From the news announcement it unfortunately sounds like interplay is at fault, though their contract might have said the PNP only or something like that.
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Interplay is at fault. They licensed Fallout to GCG which was fine, but they failed to enter any clauses for GCG's Fallout PnP license in their deal with Bethesda. This means the Fallout PnP license was null and void when the full Fallout rights changed hands, which is breach of contract between Interplay and GCG.

Oakraven said:
and knowing who they had for a lawyer at the time I can almost garantee their rights contract included Beth-ZM haveing a defacto veto (or manditory first aproval, howwever you want to put it) on anything Interplay did with the Fallout IP other than sell it to them.
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A licensee with veto power over the license holder? Don't be ridiculous. Bethesda had no right to interfere in anything that happened with the Fallout license until they bought the whole thing.
 
Brother None said:
Interplay is at fault. They licensed Fallout to GCG which was fine, but they failed to enter any clauses for GCG's Fallout PnP license in their deal with Bethesda. This means the Fallout PnP license was null and void when the full Fallout rights changed hands, which is breach of contract between Interplay and GCG.
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I wouldn't be surprised if Interplay just agree a settlement at this point. Presumably, the award to GCG - if they are successful - won't be that great anyway. I mean, what are their loses likely to be?

Still, Glutton Creeper deserve little sympathy, given the shabby quality of their Fallout treatment.
 
Bernard Bumner said:
I wouldn't be surprised if Interplay just agree a settlement at this point. Presumably, the award to GCG - if they are successful - won't be that great anyway. I mean, what are their loses likely to be?

Still, Glutton Creeper deserve little sympathy, given the shabby quality of their Fallout treatment.
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While I haven't seen the lawsuit, I can only imagine the damages are the price paid to license the Fallout IP. Either way, Glutton Creeper Games are most likely never going to see the money since they will just become another person Interplay owes money (unless they are smart and tries to attach a lien).
 
Ausir said:
And their treatment of fan-made Fallout PnP projects.
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Yes, I forgot to mention that. Glutton Creeper were sulking bullies who were ripped a new arsehole by an even bigger boy...

Matt K said:
Glutton Creeper Games are most likely never going to see the money since they will just become another person Interplay owes money (unless they are smart and tries to attach a lien).
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Aren't Interplay fairly close to solvency now?
 
my problem with this is the following:

if GCG bought rights to the PNP version of fallout, after selling the IP to bethesda which im assuming includes the PNP rights, bethesdas issue should have been with IPLY for selling bethesda rights they did not have.

the first contract should be honored to GCG, and beths complaint should be with IPLY and should have no control over rights that are not theirs due to a previous contract.
 
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