Penny pokes IPLY

Odin

Odin

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The famous Penny Arcade once again posted about Interplay and posted a new strip about it:<blockquote><center></center></blockquote>And Tycho also talks about the recent press release from IPLY:<blockquote>Anyway, reading Interplay's press release it's easy to picture them writing their optimistic missive from the bottom of a dark well. The document makes it seems like they're trying to ride a massively multiplayer Fallout game out of debt, they'll hitch it up to us and we'll pull them out. I don't have an opinion on their nonexistent Fallout MMO, there's nothing to know. I do take issue with them swinging that license around like the solution to all their problems. I've heard things are finally looking up for them, though - they've begun hiring organisms they can pay only in garbage. </blockquote>I've got a problem with a Fallout MMO, it just doesn't work.. A PA MMO on the other hand..
Link: Penny Arcade
 
Does PA know we exist? I mean... they might...

Ah well. Anyway, I thought IPLY was selling their building... is Caen trying to work out of his house on this one?
 
MadDog -[TO said:
-]Anyway, I thought IPLY was selling their building...
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Interplay doesn't HAVE a building. All they have is old rented office space in a big corporate park - office space that they owe about $450,000 on.

Nope - the only assets they have is the Fallout IP and their employees' body parts. And since they stopped paying their employees, they have fewer of those than ever.

(Cut to Herve's office. Herve reviewing list of Interplay Assets)

Herve: Fallout IP... check
Herve: Plasma times 26 pints per year equals 26 plasma units... check
Herve: Kidney... check
Herve: Spleen... check
Herve: Heart? Soul? Hmmmm... too bad I gave those up long ago...
 
Chromosome 25 said:
Nope - the only assets they have is the Fallout IP
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Tchyeah right. Unbelievable as it may sound, Fallout is not the only license they have left. It is, however, probably the biggest.
 
Kharn said:
Chromosome 25 said:
Nope - the only assets they have is the Fallout IP
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It is, however, probably the biggest.
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Sadly - and I mean this, Fallout and Fallout2 were not big sellers. I think Fallout got to 100K unit sales in its first two years. Fallout2 was less than that. If you were real generous, and after all these years, maybe both titles combined did 250K units. Not really something to write home about.
 
Chromosome 25 said:
Sadly - and I mean this, Fallout and Fallout2 were not big sellers. I think Fallout got to 100K unit sales in its first two years. Fallout2 was less than that. If you were real generous, and after all these years, maybe both titles combined did 250K units. Not really something to write home about.
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I know, but this says very little about the value of a license.

A game can sell really well but be forgotten shortly afterwards, in that case the trademark is worth shit later on.

Fallout:Tactics was the most pre-ordered game in Interplay history. This says enough about the value of the Fallout name, and that's why it's more valuable than the rest of the shit they have.
 
Nope - the only assets they have is the Fallout license
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They have a few other licenses (besides Fallout) that are worth something to certain publishers:

1) BattleChess
2) Descent
3) Freespace
4) Kingpin
5) Earthworm Jim
6) Dark Alliance
7) Redneck Rampage

Note: Fallout is definitely the crown jewel of Interplay's existing catalog of games. If Herve manages to sell off the Fallout license, it wouldn't surprise me if he liquidated the remainder of the company.
 
Dark Alliance would be worth a buck, but isn't very useful without the accompanying Baldur's Gate/D&D license, so it's only useful for Atari

Fallout is the crowning jewel, most of those are forgotten franchises, but I think a few could drag in quite a buck.
 
How dare they imply that rats would have something to do with Fallout MMO!

Chromosome 25 said:
Sadly - and I mean this, Fallout and Fallout2 were not big sellers. I think Fallout got to 100K unit sales in its first two years. Fallout2 was less than that. If you were real generous, and after all these years, maybe both titles combined did 250K units. Not really something to write home about.
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Didn't each Fallout sequel sell around 500k units? Or is it just my wishful thinking?
 
Ratty said:
Didn't each Fallout sequel sell around 500k units? Or is it just my wishful thinking?
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No, 500k total

Briareus comments on the whole thing are pretty deadon:

500k units over the shelf life of a title is shit. What matters to a company is how many sales they get in the first couple of quarters (exception: a game REALLY takes off after that or you happen to be Valve or a solo small team (<5) dev house). A slow trickle of 500k units over several years does not help a game company continue making games. It's nice, but it won't pay the bills.

Puuks quote regarding Vivendi isn't due to sales figures, it's due to the franchise itself. Many people love the Fallouts, so it's no suprise that people in the game industry do as well, and that some of those people happen to work at Vivendi.
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The last bit is exactly what I meant
 
Too bad it's so long until the next E3. If it was in a week, we could see Herve there. I'd like to see him hawking FOOL, all by himself.

"No, no; you misunderstand. This isn't the clothing of a bum, I'm recreating a Post-Apocalyptic atmosphere!"

Or at least in a dream-world where a CEO such a Herve would have the financial situation he deserves.
 
Eragon2004 said:
They have a few other licenses (besides Fallout) that are worth something to certain publishers:

1) BattleChess
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Right about now, I think a decent 3D chess game where the pieces attack each other would be a good thing to have. Anyone know of any?
 
There was a decent 3D chess game for the computer over two years ago, don't remember the name, just remember that it was getting good reviews. No interest in chess myself, it's a breeding-ground for faux-intelligentsia.

Though I did see this not to long ago, a 3D chess game with the Greek gods, but they don't exactly fight. Warning, explicit (well, computer generated) content: Love Chess.
 
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