Interplay Restarting Game Development
Yep, after managing to actually make money last year from the sale of the Fallout IP (not hard to do when you're effectively a one-man company), Interplay has announced that they are officially restarting game development (not just hinting at it), hiring staff and planning new installments in several franchises like Earthworm Jim, MDK and Descent. Given that Herve Caen turned Interplay into basically a shovelware company when they actually had talent, I don't know how he expects to put out and promote quality titles that people will want to buy now, especially since he now has to develop on next-gen systems. With his reputation, the only talent he can get is going to be:
1. New to the industry and wanting to start out.
2. Not good enough to get hired at a respectable studio.
3. One of the many developers recently put out of work by studio closures who needs a job to tide them over.
None of these three scenarios will turn into good games. If he wanted a ton of money quickly, he should have put the entire back catalog of Interplay (or what of he he still owns) up on Steam like a lof of other guys are doing. To get the Interplay D&D stuff, Descent, Kingpin, Redneck Rampage, Cyberia 1 & 2 and the first two fallouts, I'd happily fork out money. That would require Caen to have a shred of intelligence though.
I hold out a tiny sliver of hope as I think the industry needs more competition right now but I'm not holding my breath.
"We're taught from a young age how to dodge rock hard objects moving at incredible rates of speed while simultaneously beating folks half to death with sticks. We do this for fun." -kung fu grip
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MDK3 would be at the top of my wishlist, but I'm also fond of a number of their other IP's, Descent and Lost Vickings to name just a couple.
Did Interplay develop Descent: Freespace?
I'm really hoping this means a new Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance game. The cliffhanger ending of the second one really made me anxious for a sequel that never came.
Oh, and, errm... *cough*
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Not internally no. Volition did and Interplay published it but Interplay owns the Descent IP.
"We're taught from a young age how to dodge rock hard objects moving at incredible rates of speed while simultaneously beating folks half to death with sticks. We do this for fun." -kung fu grip
http://blog.digital-lifeline.ca
Yeah, we are talking about the guy who canceled Fallout 3, for Fallout Brotherhood of Steel, the hack'n'slash console game.
Do they have the rights to Sacrifice?
"PEACE ON EARTH. GOOD WILL TO MEN. PUBLIC SHELTER. ADMISSION 50¢"
Yes they do. The first Sacrifice flopped though so I don't know if we'll see another one. Man I would love that though and the way Sacrifice played would lend itself well to them making it multiplatform.
"We're taught from a young age how to dodge rock hard objects moving at incredible rates of speed while simultaneously beating folks half to death with sticks. We do this for fun." -kung fu grip
http://blog.digital-lifeline.ca
Sacrifice was awesome. I would love for Interplay to return to its former glory, but I just don't see it happening.
They do need to get their catalog on STEAM and Stardock's download services as soon as possible.
For instance, there are 108 beads in a Catholic rosary and there are 108 stitches in a baseball. When I learned that, I gave Jesus a chance. ~Ron Shelton, Bull Durham, 1988
F*ck Interplay right in the ear.
Fedaykin98 wrote:
wordsmythe wrote:
Wow, an MMO? I'm sure he'll succeed! Especially considering another MMO with exceptionally good design, based on an incredibly lucrative franchise (LotRO) is only doing "modestly well."
I hope he sells Descent to someone with talent to pay his bills. I want me another Freespace.
NOTE: This is not a doodle bug.
Spore
I would actually be totally in to a new non-freespace Descent game, what with the caves in stuff.
Think I'm pretty much on my own there though.
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Well, I was going to write a lengthy diatribe about what I thought about Interplay coming back, but I think that effectively sums up my feelings.
Yeah, they had some good IP's, but so what? Aside from their stupid business decisions they treated players like an inconvenience. "For gamers by gamers" my hairy ass.
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Less chatter more splatter!
Bugger the rest of them, just give me a great new version of Descent and I'll be more than happy vomiting again, and cursing the fact that I was at the exit and still didn't make it out of the mine in time!!
That's what they are going to need to do: remind people of who they are and what they can really do.
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The rantings of the Lord of Leisure. Enjoy!!
In case you missed this little gem from late March - there's always something fishy going on over at Interplay.
And yet, LotRO is very, very lucrative. The thing about MMO's is that you don't have to be WoW to be a success. WoW brings is unbelievable revenue. So much, in fact, that even a tiny fraction of that income would be more than enough to get Interplay going with other development costs. You don't need a WoW killer, just something with a decent number of subscribers. Hosting an MMO hasn't really gotten much more expensive than it was at the very beginning, and Everquest's numbers were considered insanely lucrative, once upon a time.
"PEACE ON EARTH. GOOD WILL TO MEN. PUBLIC SHELTER. ADMISSION 50¢"
If I recall correctly, eGenesis' business plan for A Tale in the Desert called for 5000 subscribers to make it sustainable. 5 years later they are still in business, so I'm guessing they were onto something.
(@)