Fallout 3 developer and Fallout property owner Bethesda has filed a lawsuit against former owner Interplay to clarify that Interplay no longer holds any rights to the franchise.

Bethesda, which purchased the post-apocalyptic property from Interplay for $5.75 million, says Interplay never sought the necessary approval to re-release the original Fallout games at retail or via digital distribution, and no longer holds the Fallout MMO license.

Bethesda further claims that Interplay's unapproved re-releases of Fallout, Fallout 2 and Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel though the "Fallout Trilogy," "Fallout Collection" and "Saga Fallout" bundles are "confusingly similar to Fallout 3... Read more

Interplay's annual performance report reveals that Bethesda plans to cancel the agreement allowing Interplay to make its Fallout MMO, No Mutants Allowed noticed.

When Fallout 3 developer Bethesda Softworks purchased the Fallout property from Interplay in April 2007, Interplay retained the right to make a Fallout MMO--on condition it raise at least $30 million in funding and enter scale development within 2 years.

Bethesda evidently does not believe Interplay has met these conditions, as the "Legal Proceedings" section of Interplay's Securities and Exchange Commission report shows:

Interplay recently received notice that Bethesda Softworks, LLC ("Bethesda") intends to terminate the trademark license agreement between Bethesda and Interplay which was entered into... Read more

Bulgarian developer Masthead Studios will be joining Interplay to work on the publisher's mysterious MMO codenamed Project V13, frequently rumoured to be a Fallout MMO.

The agreement will see Masthead co-developing Project V13 with Interplay's internal teams under Interplay's direction and control, and implementing tools and technology that Masthead created for Earthrise--a post-apocalyptic MMO due out later this year.

When Interplay sold the Fallout property to Fallout 3 develop Bethesda they retained the rights to create an MMO, assuming it could began development by April 2009. Unsubtle clues that Project V13 is indeed Fallout include this piece of concept art, by artist Natiq Aghayev, which references Fallout's own in-game brand of fizzy pop, Nuka Cola.

Jason Anderson--one of the original Fallout's original designers--had been working Project on V13 but left last month to develop a new RPG for developer inXile.

Jason Anderson, one of the lead designers on the original Fallout, is developing a new RPG for developer inXile, according to a Gamasutra report.

Anderson had previously been working at Interplay on Project V13, rumored to be the company's Fallout-themed MMO.

"It was a very hard decision to leave Project V13," said Anderson to Gamasutra. "I loved the project, and we spent so much time on it, and it was not an easy decision to make. But in talking with Brian, it made it a lot easier. We really clicked, and saw eye to eye on what we wanted to see happen to RPGs."

The unannounced RPG project is in the early stages, according to Anderson, who is serving as creative director of the development team.

"I want to get back to RPGs that are very story-driven and character-driven," added Anderson. "Personally, I've never gotten out of [single-player] RPGs. There was the short stint working on the MMO for the past year, but that was pretty much it. I've always been about RPGs and RPG design. Even before Interplay I was a big RPG player."

inXile was created by Interplay founder Brian Fargo in 2002. The company released The Bard's Tale (PC, PS2, Xbox) in 2004, and is planning to ship Heist (PC, PS3, Xbox 360) this summer.

Though the Fallout franchise is now mostly out of original designer Tim Cain's hands, that doesn't mean he's going to ignore what's going on with the post-apocalyptic role-playing franchise he helped spawn while at Black Isle Studios.

"The biggest problem...is that the original games were designed to make you feel like you were one of the last people left on Earth," he observed to Edge Online. "With Fallout 3 and the online version, I'm curious about how they'll handle making the game not feel too crowded--making it feel like there's not much life left out there after the war."

"I do like what I've seen about Fallout 3," Cain said of the Bethesda-developed sequel, which hits PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 on October 28. "It's their IP now and they've gone in a certain direction and it's very intriguing."

"It's not necessarily the direction I would've gone," he added, expressing... Read more

Interplay has relaunched its company website which notes, among other things, that the company's Fallout MMO is still in development.

Codenamed "Project V13", Interplay has opened an Orange County, CA office for development of the game. It has also hired Chris Taylor, who was part of the original Fallout team, to be the lead system designer for the new game. Taylor joins several other former Fallout development team members who had been hired by Interplay previously.

Though Interplay sold the rights to Fallout to Bethesda last year, it retained the possibility to develop an online Fallout game. Interplay does need to raise at least $30 million in funding for the project before April of 2009, and Bethesda is allowed to keep close tabs on development -- or the company loses the MMO license.

Following Bethesda Softworks' 2004 announcement that it had licensed the rights from Fallout property holder Interplay to develop Fallout 3, reports filed with the SEC this week reveal that Bethesda has now signed a deal with Interplay to acquire the entire Fallout property. The $5.75 million sale of "all of [Interplay's] rights to the IP" was formalized on April 4 and went into effect on April 9, as described in the document filed on Thursday. Payment is being made in installments, with Bethesda set to have fulfilled its financial obligations by the third quarter of this year. (Thanks NMA)

Ailing firm Interplay has published every previously released game in the famed Black Isle-created RPG franchise, and was slated to develop its own third main game in the series before the project fell through and the rights licensed to Bethesda. Last December, Interplay formally outlined its plans to develop a $75 million Fallout MMO, the rights to which it had retained when the 2004 Bethesda agreement was signed. With Bethesda becoming the sole owner of the Fallout IP, Interplay negotiated the exclusive rights to create a Fallout MMO as part of this week's sale. Now, however, the reversed relationship between the two companies gives Bethesda greater leverage in Interplay's handling of the property.

Bethesda has also established a comprehensive set of quality control and schedule-related requirements. Interplay may not sublicense any part of MMO development without Bethesda's approval. The MMO "must meet or exceed such quality standards as may be set by Bethesda from time to time" in order for Interplay to remain in good standing, and Bethesda has the right to inspect Interplay's offices and development progress at any time during normal business hours provided two days' notice is given. Furthermore, Interplay must enter "full-scale" development of the MMO with a minimum of $30 million in funding by two years from the signing of the agreement, or it immediately forfeits its rights to the license. The company must launch the game in North America and Europe within four years of that development commencement date, with the potential for a one-year extension if development is progressing adequately, giving the game a final release date limit of April 9, 2014.

In return for granting Interplay the MMO rights, Bethesda will receive royalties of 12% of sales, subscription fees, or other revenue generated by the game.

For more on Bethesda's handling of its own Fallout 3 project, check out our prior interview with Bethesda's Pete Hines.

Shacknews has sent further inquiries to Bethesda regarding this week's deal.

Update: Shacknews has been contacted by Bethesda's Pete Hines, who described the deal as one that was a natural continuation of Bethesda's existing Fallout license and not one that will have any impact on Bethesda's development plans. "This transaction merely transfers some remaining property rights of Interplay in the Fallout brand to Bethesda," he said. "It doesn't have any effect on us. We are going forward with all our previous plans concerning the Fallout franchise."

As for the catalyst behind the move, Hines noted simply, "A decision was made by management to purchase the remaining property rights to Fallout that we didn't already control when that opportunity was presented to us."