Putting the 'role' back in role-playing games since 2002.
Donate to Codex
Good Old Games
  • Welcome to rpgcodex.net, a site dedicated to discussing computer based role-playing games in a free and open fashion. We're less strict than other forums, but please refer to the rules.

    "This message is awaiting moderator approval": All new users must pass through our moderation queue before they will be able to post normally. Until your account has "passed" your posts will only be visible to yourself (and moderators) until they are approved. Give us a week to get around to approving / deleting / ignoring your mundane opinion on crap before hassling us about it. Once you have passed the moderation period (think of it as a test), you will be able to post normally, just like all the other retards.

Company News Interplay: The history of the fall

Vault Dweller

Commissar, Red Star Studio
Developer
Joined
Jan 7, 2003
Messages
28,024
Tags: Interplay

<a href=http://www.nma-fallout.com>NMA</a> reports that <b>Corith</b> has posted an article called <a href=http://www.itsuckstobejoe.com/interplay.asp>The Fall of the House of Interplay</a>.
<br>
<br>
<blockquote>Why did Interplay crumble into dust? As I stated previously, we will never know, but Herve did make some major missteps that give us a hint.
<br>
<br>
Herve was not a gamer, nor much of a businessman. In the fall, prior to Interplay's closure. The company produced two, nearly identical products, one of which was ready prior to the Christmas shopping season. Although he had never played either one, Herve held back the completed product back until the first of the year when the second product would be ready, on the justification that they were different enough and they complemented each other. With such a view, it was obvious to everyone, that he had not played either. As a result, Interplay had no products for that Christmas season, resulting in a major loss of revenue.
<br>
<br>
Herve also failed to understand his consumer base. He came from making games for consoles (xbox, Playstation, gamecube) and pushed Interplay product line toward that market instead of staying with PC titles that Interplay had been renowned for. He also tried to milk a popular title with cheaply made games that had little to do with the original product, other than a similar name. Interplay's customers were not fooled, they knew crap when they saw it. Herve's games did poorly compared to titles created prior to his arrival.
<br>
<br>
Herve also made other poor decisions, although minor compared to the above, no doubt they contributed to Interplay's downfall. In a stroke of utter stupidity, he closed down the game division responsible for some of Interplay biggest sellers, and fired all its personnel only days after it created a working demo of a long requested sequel to one of Interplay's most popular titles.
<br>
<br>
Interplay is still there. Herve has a small office for him and three or four others. He's sold off most his rights to the games Interplay made in the past, and he claims he has plans for a massive game project, if he can only get somebody to give him money. Since he drove interplay's stock off nasdaq and down to the value of copper penny, I can only wonder who would be so foolish as to give him financing to repeat his errors.</blockquote>
<br>
Herve's stupidity and greed were indeed legendary. Someone should put him in the Guinness Book of World Records as the most stupid man evar.
<br>
<br>
Spotted at: <A HREF="http://www.nma-fallout.com/">NMA</A>
 

DemonKing

Arcane
Joined
Dec 5, 2003
Messages
5,958
Nothing really new here...personally I'm surprised the author hung around as long as he did considering most of the Interplay fan base realised it was doomed by midway through last year with the release of Lionheart and the announcement of FO:BOS for consoles...
 

Visceris

Liturgist
Joined
Aug 8, 2003
Messages
379
Oh well, Interplay had a good run over the years, but it was pretty obvious that Interplay was slowly going intot he shitter when Brian Fargo leaving, then the closure of Black Isle. Well, its dead and buried.
 

Digit

Liturgist
Joined
Nov 8, 2004
Messages
129
I loved the Interplay games. The default install was C:\Games... I mean, genius. Ok maybe not _everyone_ uses this, but who the hell installs their games into publisher named folders?

Digit
 

Saint_Proverbius

Administrator
Staff Member
Joined
Jun 16, 2002
Messages
11,475
Location
Behind you.
DemonKing said:
Nothing really new here...personally I'm surprised the author hung around as long as he did considering most of the Interplay fan base realised it was doomed by midway through last year with the release of Lionheart and the announcement of FO:BOS for consoles...

Well, a lot of people have been deathwatching Interplay since 2001. I think the way Giants, Starfleet Command 2, and Fallout Tactics were released way too early was the big wake up call for a lot of people - especially those of us who bought all three games.

Interplay was in the shitter long before Fargo left. They had one foot in the can when they decided that they should shift from PC games to having more console games. Interplay has always made the majority of their money from PC sales and their console games haven't sold nearly as well. They had pretty good market share in the PC market, and they were willing to gamble that away in an attempt to grab market share in an area where they haven't historically done as well in.

So, buggy PC games, which was their bread winner in addition to shifting development away from their mainstay market to one they didn't do well in is what killed them, IMHO. They started doing that under Fargo, though Titus had a 33% share in the company at that time.
 

As an Amazon Associate, rpgcodex.net earns from qualifying purchases.
Back
Top Bottom