Immediately after the release of Fallout 2, Black Isle Studios began working on another sequel to the series. Interplay at the time had just gone public on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange and their shares began to take a nosedive after several years of reporting loses. Even though Interplay published some great games, they were purportedly spending boatloads of cash on projects like Star Trek: The Secret of Vulcan Fury,a project I was eagerly awaiting, having seen a preview in PCGamer magazine. Fallout 3 along with many other upcoming projects were cancelled.

Interplay was funding its projects through credit agreements, game sales, and loans from the head of the company himself, Brian Fargo. They never kept much cash at the ready, and once troubles grew out of their hands in 1999, Titus Interactive, a French based production company, acquired a majority interest in Interplay. In 2001, Brian Fargo, the original founder, left the company and Titus Interactive’s own Herve Caen took over as CEO. A deal with Vivendi Universal was signed to publish Interplays games, giving a much needed lifeline to the troubled company.​