Company News Interplay homeless

[Saint_Proverbius]

Tags: Interplay

<b>Odin</b> of <A href="Http://www.nma-fallout.com">No Mutants Allowed</A> has just told me that as of 5pm today, <A href="Http://www.interplay.com">Interplay</A> will be locked out of their building for lack of paying rent. Employees were notified to clear out by then as that's when the doors get locked down. He also said employees were told by human resources that they can now file for unemployment.
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So, yeah, I guess it's finally over for the company as a development house. All that's left is either liquidation or sale of the company.
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[Spazmo]

Okay, I hereby declare Interplay to be dead. The winner of the IPLY death betting pool is Otaku_Hanzo, who had picked May 31 - June 6. If he shows up to claim his prize, I'll mail him a fish or something.

EDIT: Saint sez it's not over until they're sold or liquidated, so it's still on.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

I feel bad for the middle men (develpoers) but I'm glad that IPLY has finally kicked the bucket. 2 Q's. 1) Who won the bet. 2) How many people were actually left working there.

 

[Transcendent One]

I thought Herve said the company will survive. Wtf

 

[Vault Dweller]

Update from NMA:

Just heard from the employees

HR has advised them to file unemployment.... Herve and Eric are no where to be found.

As of this time the future is unclear... They reported in, are in the process of taking personal effects were told that at 5pm they would be shuttered. And that they would be advised in the "future" what was being done

NO CHECKS! NO HERVE! NO HOME!

Well, I guess now would be a good time to buy Iply stock real cheap

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

Well, I guess now would be a good time to buy Iply stock real cheap

Someone did. At around 10am this morning, someone bought enough shares to boost IPLY from 4.5 cents a share to 5 cents a share. They better sell those things fast, though.

 

[JJ86]

IT'S STILL ON BABY.

 

[DemonKing]

I can see the next press release now:

"Interplay CEO announces future return to profitability by focusing resources on new range of games focusing on exciting new mobile phone technology: 'As we have no office, and hence no land-line phone at this time, our QA department is ideally situated to test these exciting new products in their own time and expense on their exisiting mobile phone connections'. Herve then added, we hope to make good use of our existing range of fantastic I.P.s to ensure our launch into this exciting new market is a success, starting with our first announced release, "Fallout: Tactics of Steel"."

In other news Interplay shares fell a further 5c to -0.5c/share: a new record low price for any shares.

EDIT: I forgot to ask - who gets to take the Ping Pong Table home? Surely SK Reynolds has first dibs! :wink:

 

[bizarrofrank]

Does this mean that the Fallout franchise will be up for purchase? I know that some company purchased the Heroes of might and magic license when 3do kicked it. Are there any legal issues that can block the process?

 

[Whipporowill]

Damn. I had May 30th - but hey, it's not dead until it starts smelling!

Wait, it's been smelling for at least a year... nevermind!

 

[Sol Invictus]

God damn, I have my fingers crossed hoping that TROIKA gets the license and not Silver Style... or worse - Atari, EA, or Eidos. UGH.

That's just it - I'd much prefer to see the Fallout license in the hands of Carsten Strehse than any of those 3. It's much easier to relate to an individual you can speak to (like Carsten) than some gigantic corporate entity. At least you can berate Carsten for fouling up, if he does.

 

[Spazmo]

Nonsense. If Carsten gets it, you know he'll immediately insert himself into any availible orifice. If the big corps get it (my money's on Vivendi), there's a hope it'll get lost in the beaurocracy.

 

[Whipporowill]

I don't think any developer we know can afford the fallout franchise, apart from possibly Bioware. It'll be one of the big publishers, possibly one of the companies that I-Play owes money...

 

[Sol Invictus]

Vivendi is probably one of the only sane remaining megacorps out there right now. They're publishing Evil Genius, the new Tribes game, NOLF3, Warhammer 40k and a ton of other good, upcoming games for the PC. I suppose Activision is nearly as good, with Vampire, Doom 3 and Rome Total war in the works.

Sure as hell don't want to see it in the hands of EA, though. They'd sit on it and do nothing with it until they die... which is never, because their games, no matter how crappy and no matter how dead, still manage to sell like hotcakes. They always find some way to reinvigorate licenses with just a bit more juice to keep them running - like C&C Generals (a mere shadow of the Red Alert games.), the ton of sports games they release each year, and The Sims. NFS:U seems to be the only rehash that doesn't suck.

 

[Spazmo]

...NOLF3...

Monolith's MYSTARY game from E3 (the 'bullets taste like chicken' thing) isn't NOLF3. It's something totally new.

 

[Sol Invictus]

Interplay owes a lot of money to Vivendi, so that's likely where the license is going.

As for the Monolith game - I'm happy it's for PC. They're also working on some strange counter-terrorist type game with SCARINESS involved, or something. Looks pretty neat from what I saw in the videos.

Vivendi's also the only company right now making an adventure game worth mentioning - Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude. Al Lowe isn't on it (damn it!) but he's seen it and he says the writing is very funny. I'll take his word on that, since he's always been an honest guy.

 

[Whipporowill]

Vivendi's also the only company right now making an adventure game worth mentioning - Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude

You have GOT to be kidding me? What about the Longest Journey 2: Dreamfall?

 

[Shevek]

I dont find that LSL game worth mentioning - the whole minigames thing they are doing just seems kinda bleh to me (saw it at e3...very disappointing) and very much not a direction that seems in step with the goals of the series. Also, this LSL wont have the original designer of the series behind it which makes me seriously question the quality of this title (Al Lowe was behind all 6 previous titles - there wasnt a part 4, only 1,2,3,5,6,and 7 - he has asked to be involved in the title and been rebuffed, see more here ). The next Longest Journey sequel seems to be far more interesting since its being done by the people that brought us part one but they are fiddling a bit and adding in action elements (at least they arent annoying minigames like LSL). The action elements may work since, hell, they worked in Outcast and Omikron and, honestly, the era of point and click adventures seems to be behind us (I will miss em).

 

[Sol Invictus]

Why are minigames automatically annoying, Shevek? I much prefer minigames with funny dialogue (as exhibited in LSL: MGL) to spritehunting and trying every possible combination of items like LSL6.

 

[Shevek]

Adventure titles are about strong story, dialog and and puzzle elements. If you dont like those, you dont like adventure games. Playing some odd minigame to determine my success in a character interaction is not what I would call good adventure design. You may come to a similar conclusion when you see the thing in action (or not) but I will say that if Grim Fandago, Last Express, A Final Unity or countless other excellent adventure titles were like LSLCL they would be horrible. Frankly, this game is a dark blot on great and fading genre.

 

[Ausir]

I wouldn't mind Strategy First getting it, too.

 

[StraitLacedDeviant]

Who do you think will get herves moustache?

 

[Rayt]

I wouldn't mind Strategy First getting it, too.

They're the Disciples 2 guys, right?

 

[Psilon]

They've also got the Jagged Alliance license.

 

[Nightjed]

who got the wizardry license ? strategy first as well ?