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Fallout MMO Emerges From The Interplay Apocalypse News
Chris Leyton
12/12/2006
An SEC form filed last month reveals Interplay's plans to survive the Fallout...
Interplay may be a name that has long since fallen from the wayside; however, it seems the end is not yet nigh for the publisher most famously known for Baldur's Gate, Earthworm Jim, and Fallout
Reportedly teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, a recent discovery on the SEC website has suggested that the publisher may still have one card to play when it comes to the latter of the titles listed above.
Recognised as a cult fan-favourite and a critically acclaimed RPG, it seems as though Interplay could possibly be risking everything in a final roll of the dice by jumping on the MMO bandwagon with a Fallout MMOG.
Despite financial issues the report alleges that development will begin during January 2007 with a planned release in July 2010, allocating $5 million to pre-production; $40 million to production and $30 million as a launch budget - exactly where Interplay have discovered these funds is currently unclear, perhaps Eric Caen won the Euro Lottery recently...
Detailing the assumptions of the project, Interplay hopes to achieve one million subscribers during its first year - something that only three titles (Lineage, Lineage 2 and World of Warcraft) have managed to attain as of July 2006. The projections continue with the hope to make a profit in the second year, generating revenue of $160 million per year after the first, with a return on investment occurring during the third year of operation.
The report proposes the sale of Interplay common stock on the Euronext exchange as a means to generating part of the $75 million budget, though the NASDAQ listing considers Interplay's market worth to be considerably less then this at $17 million.
Last month Interplay confirmed its intentions to float on the EuroNext, which had an immediate effect on the company's NASDAQ share price by ten-fold. Interplay hopes to generate close to 50 million euros from the listing, which is expected to close by December 31st 2006.
Commenting on the announcement, Herve Caen said, "Having significantly reduced our debt over the past two years, we are now in an improved position to raise capital. This private placement will be another critical step toward the funding and development of our Fallout property into a Massively Multiplayer Online Game, which represents our plan for growth in the coming years."
A troubled Interplay sold the license to develop Fallout 3 to Elder Scrolls developer and publisher, Bethesda Softworks, back in 2004 but retained the rights to develop an MMO based on the property - something that fans believed never would occur...
