Re. Fargo
GS: Looking back, is there anything you would do differently?
BF: From a market perspective, I would have clearly moved onto the console platforms much faster than we did. We moved slowly to change--our approach being influenced by a background of over a decade of straight profits from the PC. The cheese didn't just move, it teleported. And, organizationally, I would have focused on writing down our corporate ideology and building programs to support it. While we had great instinctive ideas about what made an Interplay person, we grew fast and ended up with people in the company who didn't fit. One of the bigger things I learned in management is that it's better to have no person doing a job than the wrong person. Because if no one is in the position, I know the job isn't being done, instead of thinking it is because there's a warm body in the chair. It's all been a wonderful learning experience that will help shape the next great company.
http://www.gamespot.com/news/brian-fargo-interview-2848761
On top of that - going by Tim Cain's postmortem, the Forces of Evil had pervaded Interplay as far back as 1994, with Fallout almost being cancelled twice because of them. Since that was in Fargo's time, way before the Titus buyout, it appears to be Fargo's leadership that led to that.
On the other hand, he
did OK Fallout (after Tim begged him).
Now, I wonder - is he an agent of decline, masquerading as a hardcore RPG enthusiast, or is he the genuine article, who just made some mistakes in the past, or was reluctantly forced into the role of a suit?
It appears that we are, quite literally, betting on the latter...