By Jason Parris, Production Editor
The long legal battle over the rights to the Fallout MMO has finally come to an end.
Bethesda and Interplay have settled out of court. Bethesda will get the rights to the Fallout MMO in exchange for $2 million. Interplay will retain the rights to publish Fallout 1, 2 and Tactics through the end of 2013, at which point Bethesda will get the rights to those games, too.
Both sides are paying their own legal costs.
Litigation began in earnest between the two developers in 2009, when Bethesda sued Interplay for releasing the Fallout Trilogy pack shortly after Fallout 3 came out. They alleged that Interplay violated their licensing agreement because consumers might have been confused by the multiple Fallout releases.
Naturally, both sides see the outcome of the case differently.
Robert Altman, CEO of Bethesda's parent company ZeniMax, said, "While we strongly believe in the merits of our suits, we are pleased to avoid the distraction and expense of litigation while completely resolving all claims to the Fallout IP."
Meanwhile, Interplay president Eric Caen claimed that Bethesda had the option of buying the entire IP up-front for $50 million, insinuating that Bethesda bullied its way into a cheaper price with the lawsuit.
So now that all the legal nonsense is over, the most important bit of news: There's still no word on how much work was finished on the Fallout MMO or whether it will even be released. Of course.
Source: gamesindustry.biz
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