Fallout 3 Lives!

[Dozer]

July 12, 2004 (Rockville, MD) - Bethesda Softworks® announced today that it will develop and publish Fallout® 3 -- a sequel to the highly popular Fallout® role-playing game franchise. Bethesda licensed the rights to the Fallout® franchise from Interplay Entertainment Corp. (OTC Bulletin Board: IPLY) in a deal that awards Bethesda exclusive worldwide rights to the Fallout® franchise on the PC, home consoles, handhelds, and other media, with the rights to develop and publish additional sequels.
“We’re extremely excited about this opportunity and what it means both for Bethesda and for Fallout fans around the world,” said Vlatko Andonov, president of Bethesda Softworks. “Fallout is one of the great RPG franchises. Millions of Fallout games have been sold worldwide, and fans have been eagerly awaiting the release of a Fallout 3 title. Bethesda’s proven expertise in this genre, building on our experience and the tremendous success we have enjoyed with our cutting-edge Elder Scrolls® series, will enable us to create the next chapter of Fallout that is worthy of the franchise.”

Originally released in 1997, Fallout places a player in the role of a Vault-dweller, who ventures from his secluded, underground survival Vault into a post-apocalyptic world of mutants, radiation, gangs and violence. The game has been widely hailed as one of the outstanding role-playing games and video games of all time with its unique gameplay, style, and setting.

Commenting on this development, Interplay Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Herve Caen said, “This is a good agreement for both companies and for gamers. Although several parties had a high level of interest in licensing Fallout, we are most impressed by Bethesda’s execution of role-playing titles. Bethesda is an ideal steward of the Fallout franchise.”

Fallout 3 will be developed by Bethesda along with the next chapter of The Elder Scrolls, both under the direction of Todd Howard, executive producer of The Elder Scrolls. The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind® won every national and international award of note in 2002, including Game of the Year and RPG of the Year, and is one of the best-selling games ever released on Xbox.

“We are overjoyed,” said Howard. “Fallout is one of my favorite games, and we plan to develop a visually stunning and original game for Fallout 3 with all the hallmarks of a great RPG: player choice, engaging story, and non-linearity.”

Future announcements about the release of Fallout 3 will be made as work on the title progresses.

From the people who made Morrowind, too. Suddenly I'm excited about Fallout again :D

[Assur]

Hi

The MMORPG rights remain with Interplay, but since they are financially in very bad way probably not for long. Something for Blizzard :unsure:

good karma

[Cryptic]

Wow, Bethesda. Makers of the most engaging, fun, and bug-ridden games on the face of the planet.

Hope it goes through a beta!
:P

[Artega]

Who wants to bet it'll be in first-person? :P

[Crusader]

Wheee!

I absolutely loved fallout 1. enough for me to go scrounging around for fallout 2 just about a year ago. I got it and am still playing it between World of warcraft sessions now and then.

The future looks dark and glum, and that's how we like it. :D

[TaiDaishar]

Who wants to bet it'll be in first-person?  :P

Yes please, I'd like a drool-cleaner with that.

[Taeme]

Wow, Bethesda.  Makers of the most engaging, fun, and bug-ridden games on the face of the planet.

It's arguable that when a game is that bugged you can really count them as bugs anymore. It's more like 'wacky programming'.

[NiteFox]

Wow, Bethesda.  Makers of the most engaging, fun, and bug-ridden games on the face of the planet.

Following the cockroach* filled trainwreck that was the final version of Fallout 2, if Bethesda continues on with their track record then it would actually be an improvement :)

I'm skeptical and, it must be said, a little worried. Anyone can make a game, a game that anyone can play which is fine, but it takes a certain amount of skill to maintain a universe. Fallout's universe was a fairly rich, well-thought out, and deep universe.

So what happens when you ask a different company to make a game for a story continuity that they didn't make? Fallout Tactics, or even worse, Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel.

I have no doubt that Bethesda can write a fantastic story, everything I've heard of the Morrowind saga has been good. But let's be fair: Can they do Fallout? No more so than the original Fallout team could do a Morrowind game, I reckon.

The only way I'll be happy and secure in the knowledge that Bethesda will do a good job of FO3 is if they headhunt and recruit every single man and woman that made the first two Fallouts and make it their responsibility to do the game - Nobody else in the office touches it. Erect barbed-wire fences between the cubicles in necessary. Second option is to haul out the designers (Avellone and the like) and dialogue writers from whatever they're doing now and set them up in an advisory role. Otherwise, it's just a bunch of strangers prodding and poking at and trying to get something they have no fundamental clue about working.

Ain't gonna happen. It may look like Fallout, but it'll be Fallout Lite, one-cal Fallout, not nearly Fallout enough.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Bugs, natch.

[SwissMercenary]

Even if one of the two happens, sucess may not be guaranteed. I need only look at Ion Storm's track record for proof.