Interplay Entertainment

Last updated

Interplay Entertainment Corp.
FormerlyInterplay Productions (1983–1998)
Company type Public
Expert Market :  IPLY
Industry Video games
FoundedOctober 1983;40 years ago (1983-10) in Irvine, California, US
Founders
Headquarters,
US
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Hervé Caen (CEO)
Products
Revenue1,380,000 United States dollar (2010)  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
1,030,000 United States dollar (2010)  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Website interplay.com

Interplay Entertainment Corp. is an American video game developer and publisher based in Los Angeles. The company was founded in 1983 as Interplay Productions by developers Brian Fargo, Jay Patel, Troy Worrell, and Rebecca Heineman, as well as investor Chris Wells. As a developer, Interplay is best known as the creator of the Fallout series and as a publisher for the Baldur's Gate and Descent series.

Contents

History

Interplay Productions

The logo used for Interplay Productions on the cover of Wasteland; Brian Fargo stated that the logo was intended to resemble a person seated in front of a keyboard. Old Interplay Logo.jpg
The logo used for Interplay Productions on the cover of Wasteland ; Brian Fargo stated that the logo was intended to resemble a person seated in front of a keyboard.

Prior to Interplay, the company's founding developers—Brian Fargo, Troy Worrell, Jay Patel, and Rebecca Heineman—worked for Boone Corporation, a video game developer based in California. [2] When Boone eventually folded, the four got together with investor Chris Wells and, believing they could create a company that was better than Boone, founded Interplay in October 1983. [2] [3] [4] The first projects were non-original and consisted of software conversions and even some military work for Loral Corporation. [5] After negotiations with Activision, Interplay entered a US$100,000 contract to produce three illustrated text adventures for them. [6] [5] Published in 1984, Mindshadow is loosely based on Robert Ludlum's Bourne Identity while The Tracer Sanction puts the player in the role of an interplanetary secret agent. Borrowed Time which features a script by Arnie Katz's Subway Software followed in 1985. These adventures built upon work previously done by Fargo; his first game was the 1981-published Demon's Forge. [5]

The same year, Interplay Productions, then contracted out by Electronic Arts, ported EA's Racing Destruction Set to the Atari 8-bit computers. The conversion, entirely coded by Rebecca Heineman, was released in 1986 via Electronic Arts for the United States and Ariolasoft for the European market.

Interplay's parser was developed by Fargo and an associate and in one version understands about 250 nouns and 200 verbs as well as prepositions and indirect objects. [7] In 1986, Tass Times in Tonetown followed. Interplay made a name for itself as a quality developer of role-playing video games with the three-part series The Bard's Tale (1985–1988), critically acclaimed Wasteland (1988) and Dragon Wars (1989). All of them were published by Electronic Arts.[ citation needed ]

Interplay started publishing its own games, beginning with Neuromancer and Battle Chess , in 1988, and then moved on to publish and distribute games from other companies, while continuing internal game development. In 1995, Interplay published the hit game Descent , developed by startup Parallax Software. Interplay published several Star Trek video games, including Star Trek: 25th Anniversary for computers and for Nintendo Entertainment System and Star Trek: Judgment Rites . These games had later CD-ROM editions released with the original Star Trek cast providing voices. Interplay also published Starfleet Academy and Klingon Academy games, and Starfleet Command series, beginning with Star Trek: Starfleet Command . Another game, Star Trek: Secret of Vulcan Fury , was in development in the late 1990s but was never completed and much of its staff laid off due to budgetary cuts prompted by various factors. In 1995, after several years of delays, Interplay finally published its role-playing game Stonekeep . Other PC games released during the mid- to late 1990s included Carmageddon , Fragile Allegiance , Hardwar and Redneck Rampage .[ citation needed ]

In 1997, Interplay developed and released Fallout , a successful and critically acclaimed role-playing video game set in a retro-futuristic post-apocalyptic setting. Black Isle Studios, a newly created in-house developer, followed with the sequel, Fallout 2 , in 1998. Another successful subsequent Interplay franchise was Baldur's Gate , a Dungeons & Dragons game that was developed by BioWare and which spawned a successful expansion, sequel and spin-off series. The spin-off series started with Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance ; the game's success forged a sequel as well. Aside from Dark Alliance, Interplay published a few notable console series such as Loaded and the fighting game series ClayFighter and the games by Shiny Entertainment, MDK and Wild 9 . [8] [ citation needed ]

Rebranding as Interplay Entertainment, Titus minority acquisition (1998–2002)

In 1998, Interplay's financial issues went under dire with the company threatened to be placed under bankruptcy due to status in the banktruptcy court. To avert bankruptcy, Interplay went public on the NASDAQ stock exchange under the name Interplay Entertainment. [9]

By 1999, Interplay continued to endure losses under Brian Fargo due to increased competition, less-than-stellar returns on Interplay's sports division, and the lack of console titles. Because of this, the company forced itself to seek additional funding from an outside third-party. On February 17, 1999, the company entered into a distribution agreement with British game publisher Virgin Interactive, where Interplay would acquire a 43.9% stake (initially a 49.9% stake) in the company and allow Virgin to exclusively distribute their titles in Europe, effectively replacing Interplay's own distribution arm in the region. Interplay also announced that they would distribute Virgin Interactive's titles in North America and several other territories including South America and Japan. [10] [11] On March 23, 1999, it was announced that the Paris-based Titus Interactive had invested $10 million in the publisher with a considered chance of purchasing Universal Pictures' stake in Interplay, which would allow Titus to own 34% of the company's shares and allow for Interplay to distribute Titus' products in North America. [12] By May, $25 million was invested by Titus, which within a few months was increased by another $10 million. [13] By August, Titus owned 57% of Interplay's shares. [14]

On 16 April 2001, Titus announced they had expanded their control shares in Interplay to 72.5%. On the same day, they announced they had purchased Interplay's stake in Virgin Interactive, effectively making the latter a fully-owned subsidiary of Titus, which was to allow the three companies to simplify their European distribution arms under the singular Virgin Interactive umbrella. [15] On August 28, Titus announced that they had appointed Vivendi Universal Publishing as Interplay's North American distributor in order for Interplay to focus more on development. Prior to this, Titus resecured full distribution rights to its titles in North America, which were not counted for as part of the Vivendi Universal deal. [16] On September 27, Interplay announced that Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance and Giants: Citizen Kabuto would become the first titles under the new agreement. [17] On November 29, 2001, BioWare announced that they had ended their partnership with Interplay, citing unpaid royalties and Titus sublicensing distribution to third-parties for the reason. [18] BioWare took Neverwinter Nights with them, with Infogrames purchasing worldwide publishing rights to the title in January 2002, while BioWare eventually reconsidered with Interplay. [19]

Continued struggles (2002–2018)

On January 24, 2002, Interplay founder and CEO Brian Fargo resigned from the company, following Interplay's failed move to expand to console gaming as well as conflictions with Titus Interactive. [20] [21] He later went on to found InXile Entertainment. Titus' co-founder Hervé Caen took over as Interplay's new CEO and began a range of several unpopular but arguably necessary decisions to cancel various projects, in order to save the company. In April 2002, the company sold Shiny Entertainment to Infogrames for $47 million, which at turn also included a then-upcoming video game based on The Matrix as well as the video game rights to the property transferring over. [22] Due to a low share price, Interplay's shares were delisted from the NASDAQ in 2002 and now trade on the over the counter (OTC) market. [23]

The company continued to struggle throughout 2003 following an assortment of poorly-selling console titles. On September 29, 2003, the company was entered into a lawsuit with Vivendi Universal over alleged breaches of their partnership and a failure of payment. This led to Interplay ending their North American distribution deal with Vivendi Universal Games. [24] On December 8, 2003, Interplay closed down Black Isle Studios and laid off their entire staff. [25] The company was also involved in issues including debt. Feargus Urquhart later left Black Isle Studios and Interplay suffered a loss of US$20 million in that year. [26]

By June 2004, Interplay's fate was appearing to show, once employees were showing up locked out of the company's offices and other events ensuring, although Titus' co-founder Eric Caen denied that Interplay was closing, deeming them as being "Still There". [27] However, by June 7, it was reported that several California labor investigators had forcefully shut down Interplay's offices over unpaid royalties to developers, unpaid employees and not issuing any health insurance to them. [28] By June 9, Interplay's offices had reopened after Herve Caen secured the funds to pay the insurance for Interplay's staff. On the same day, Titus Interactive announced they were declaring bankruptcy, which made Interplay's future uncertain. [29] In July, they sold the Redneck Rampage franchise to Vivendi Universal Games for $300,000, and in October, licensed the rights to the Fallout franchise to Bethesda Softworks under a three-game deal, while Interplay would retain ownership of the franchise as well as full rights to an MMO title – Fallout Online . [30] By then, Interplay's financial issues began to worsen.

In January 2005, Titus Interactive was officially declared bankrupt and closed down all its French operations effectively. [31] Interplay soon purchased Titus' former assets and led to the company being burdened with debt.

In 2006, Interplay was brought up to the bankruptcy court once again in order to avoid the company going out of business.

In April 2007, in order to pay off creditors, the company altered its licensing agreement with Bethesda Softworks and sold the Fallout IP to them. [32] [33]

In September 2008, several games from Interplay's catalog were re-released on the digital distribution service GOG.com after being unavailable in retail distribution for years. [34]

In August 2013, Interplay acquired the remaining rights to the FreeSpace franchise for $7,500 after THQ went to bankruptcy court. [35]

Focus on re-releases of IP (2018–present)

Interplay is co-publishing, with 3D Realms, a remaster of Xatrix Entertainment's 1999 game Kingpin: Life of Crime , which was originally published by Interplay. Known as Kingpin: Reloaded, the game will be developed by Slipgate Ironworks. This was announced on January 17, 2020. [36]

In 2021, Interplay, via Black Isle Studios, re-released Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance on modern consoles, and later that year also released a port of it on PC for the first time. [37] [38]

Litigation

In 2003 and 2004 Snowblind Studios and Interplay Entertainment had a dispute regarding the Dark Alliance Engine for Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel , Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II, and the GameCube version of the original Dark Alliance. The resolution allowed Interplay to retain the work they had already done using that engine, but not to use it in new work.[ citation needed ]

Bethesda Softworks sued Interplay in 2009, seeking an injunction to stop Interplay from developing Fallout Online and from selling Fallout Trilogy. After several trials spanning almost three years, Interplay gave Bethesda the full rights for Fallout Online for $2 million. Interplay's rights to sell and merchandise Fallout, Fallout 2, and Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel expired on December 31, 2013. [39]

In 2010, TopWare Interactive revealed that they were developing Battle vs. Chess to be published by SouthPeak Games. [40] Interplay sued them and won an injunction to stop sales in the United States. Interplay won the case by default, and a settlement for $200,000 plus interest was agreed upon on November 15, 2012. [41]

Games

NameYearGenre(s)PlatformsNotes
Actua Tennis 1999 Sports PS, WinPublished the North American version only.
The Adventures of Rad Gravity 1990 Platform NESPublished by Activision.
Alone in the Dark 1993 Survival horror 3DO, DOS, MacDeveloped by Infogrames.
Another World 1991 Action-adventure 3DO, Ami, AppGS, DOS, Mac, SMD, SNES, STAlso known as Out of This World in the US, developed by Delphine Software.
Astro Chase 3D 1994 Shooter MacDeveloped by First Star Software.
Atomic Bomberman 1997 Action Win
Baldur's Gate 1998 Role-playing Mac, WinDeveloped by BioWare.
Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn 2000 Role-playing Mac, WinDeveloped by BioWare.
Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance 2001 Role-playing GCN, PS2, XboxDeveloped by Snowblind Studios. GameCube version developed by High Voltage Software.
Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II 2004 Role-playing PS2, Xbox
The Bard's Tale 1985 Role-playing Ami, AppGS, AppII, C64, DOS, Mac, STReleased as Tales of the Unknown, Volume 1: The Bard's Tale, published by Electronic Arts.
The Bard's Tale Construction Set 1991 Role-playing Ami, DOS
The Bard's Tale II: The Destiny Knight 1986 Role-playing game Ami, AppGS, AppII, C64, DOSPublished by Electronic Arts.
The Bard's Tale III: Thief of Fate 1988 Role-playing game AppII, C64Published by Electronic Arts.
Battle Arena Toshinden 2 1998 Fighting WinDeveloped by Kinesoft.
Battle Chess 1988 Chess 3DO, Ami, AppGS, AppII, C64, CD32, CDTV, DOS, Mac, ST, Win
Battle Chess 4000 1992 Chess DOS
Battle Chess Enhanced CD-ROM 1992 Chess DOS, Mac
Battle Chess II: Chinese Chess 1990 Chess Ami, DOS
Battle Chess: Game of Kings 2015 Chess Win
Battlecruiser 3000AD v2.0 1998 Space trading and combat simulator Win
Beat the House 2 1997 Casino WinDeveloped by Cetasoft.
Black Dahlia 1998 Adventure WinPublished the North American and South American versions only.
Blackthorne 1994 Platform DOS, GBA, Mac, S32X, SNESDeveloped by Blizzard Entertainment.
Blood & Magic 1996 Real-time strategy DOS, WinDeveloped by Tachyon Studios.
Boogerman: A Pick and Flick Adventure 1995 Platform SMD, SNES, Wii
Borrowed Time 1985 Interactive fiction Ami, App, C64, DOS, ST, MacPublished by Activision.
Bust-A-Move 4 2000 Puzzle WinDeveloped by Taito.
Buzz Aldrin's Race Into Space 1993 Construction and management, turn-based strategy DOSDeveloped by Strategic Visions.
Byzantine 1997 Adventure, educational WinDistributed the North American version only.
Caesars Palace 2000 2000 Casino DC, PS1, WinDeveloped by Runecraft.
Caesars Palace II 1998 Casino GBC, PS1
Caesars Palace Slots 1998 Casino DOS
Carmageddon 1997 Racing, vehicular combat DOS, Mac
Carmageddon II 1998 Racing, vehicular combat GBC, Mac, N64, PS1, Win
Casper 1996 Action-adventure 3DO, GBC, PS1, Sat
Castles 1991 Strategy Ami, DOS, STDeveloped by Quicksilver Software.
Castles II: Siege and Conquest 1991 Real-time strategy Ami32, DOS, Mac
Championship Golf: The Great Courses of the World, Volume One – Pebble Beach 1986 Sports Ami, DOS
Checkmate 1990 Chess Ami32, ST
ClayFighter 1993 Fighting NDSi, SMD, SNES, WiiDeveloped by Visual Concepts.
ClayFighter 2: Judgment Clay 1995 Fighting SNES
ClayFighter 63⅓ 1997 Fighting N64
ClayFighter: The Sculptor's Cut 1998 Fighting N64Released as a Blockbuster Video rental exclusive.
ClayFighter: Tournament Edition 1994 Fighting SNESDeveloped by Visual Concepts and released as a Blockbuster Video rental exclusive
Claymates 1993 Platform SNESDeveloped by Visual Concepts.
Conquest of the New World 1996 Strategy DOS, Mac
Crazy Cars: Hit the Road 2012 Racing Droid, iOS, WinDeveloped by Little World Entertainment and published by Microïds.
Crazy Cats Love2011 Puzzle iOS
Crime Killer 1998 Action PS1, WinDeveloped by Pixelogic.
Cruise for a Corpse1991 Adventure Ami, DOS, MacPublished by Interplay.
Cyberia 1994 Action-adventure 3DO, DOS, PS1, Sat
Darius Gaiden 1998 Shoot 'em up WinDeveloped by Kinesoft
Death and the Fly 2011 Puzzle-platform WinDeveloped by Independent Programmist Group.
Descent 1994 First-person shooter Arc, DOS, Mac, PS1, WinDeveloped by Parallax Software.
Descent II 1996 First-person shooter Arc, DOS, Mac, PS1, WinDeveloped by Parallax Software.
Descent 3 1999 First-person shooter Mac, Lin, WinDeveloped by Outrage Entertainment.
Descent: FreeSpace – The Great War 1998 Space combat simulator WinDeveloped by Volition.
Descent to Undermountain 1997 Role-playing DOS
Die by the Sword 1998 Action-adventure WinDeveloped by Treyarch Invention.
Disruptor 1996 First-person shooter PS1Published the PAL and Japanese versions only.
Dragon Dice 1997 Strategy Win
Dragon Wars 1989 Role-playing Ami, AppGS, AppII, C64, DOS
Dragon's Blood 2000 Hack and slash DCPublished non-North American releases.
Dungeon Master II: The Legend of Skullkeep 1993 Role-playing Ami, DOS, Mac, PC98, SCD
Earth 2140 1997 Real-time strategy DOSPublished by Interplay in North America.
Earthworm Jim 1994 Platform SCD
Earthworm Jim 3D 1999 Platform N64, WinPublisher only. Rockstar Games was licensed to publish the North American release of the N64 version.
Earthworm Jim 4 Unreleased Platform AmicoReportedly canceled.
Evolva 2000 Action WinDeveloped by Computer Artworks.
F/A-18E Super Hornet 2000 Combat flight simulator WinDistributed the North American version only.
Fallout 1997 Role-playing DOS, Mac, Win
Fallout 2 1998 Role-playing DOS, Mac, Win
Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel 2001 Tactical role-playing WinDeveloped by Micro Forté.
Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel 2004 Action role-playing PS2, Xbox
Fatal Fury 3: Road to the Final Victory 1998 Fighting WinDeveloped by Kinesoft
The Forgotten Realms Archives 1997 Role-playing DOS, WinA compilation of several Advanced Dungeons & Dragons games by Strategic Simulations, Inc.
Fragile Allegiance 1997 Real-time strategy DOS, WinPublished the North American version only.
Frankenstein: Through the Eyes of the Monster 1995 Adventure Mac, Sat, WinDeveloped by Amazing Media.
FreeSpace 2 1999 Space combat simulator WinDeveloped by Volition.
Future Wars 1990 Adventure Ami, DOS, STDeveloped by Delphine Software.
Gekido 2000 Beat 'em up PS1Published the North American version only.
Gex: Enter the Gecko 1999 Platform GBCPublished the European version only.
Giants: Citizen Kabuto 2000 Third-person shooter PS2, Win
Hardwar 1998 Space combat simulator WinPublished the North American version only.
Heart of Darkness 1998 Platform PS1, WinPublished the North American version only.
Heart of the Alien 1994 Platform SCDBy Interplay Entertainment and Delphine Software. Developed by Virgin Interactive.
Homesteader2011 Tile-matching WinDeveloped by Bogemic Games.
Hostile Waters: Antaeus Rising 2001 Real-time strategy WinPublished the North American version only.
Hunter: The Reckoning 2002 Hack and slash GCN, Xbox
Icewind Dale 2000 Role-playing Win
Icewind Dale II 2002 Role-playing Win
Incoming 1999 Shooter DCPublished the North American version only.
International Rally Championship 1997 Racing WinDeveloped by Magnetic Fields.
Interplay Sports Baseball Edition 2000 1999 Sports PS1, WinReleased as Interplay Sports Baseball 2000 for PS1.
Invictus 2000 Real-time strategy WinDeveloped by Quicksilver Software.
J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, Vol. I 1990 Role-playing Ami, DOS
J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, Vol. I 1994 Role-playing SNES
J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, Vol. II: The Two Towers 1992 Role-playing DOS
Jagged Alliance 2: Unfinished Business 2000 Tactical role-playing WinDeveloped by Sir-Tech.
James Bond 007: The Stealth Affair 1990 Adventure Ami, DOS, STPublished the North American release only.
Jetfighter III 1997 Combat flight simulator DOSDeveloped by Mission Studios.
Jetfighter: Full Burn 1998 Combat flight simulator WinPublished the North American and South American versions only.
Kingdom: The Far Reaches 1995 Interactive film 3DO, DOS, Mac
Kingpin: Life of Crime 1999 First-person shooter Lin, WinDeveloped by Xatrix Entertainment.
Kingpin: Reloaded TBA First-person shooter NS, PS4, Win, XBOTo be published by Interplay & 3D Realms.
The Last Express 2000 Adventure DOS, MacRe-release only.
Learn to Program BASIC 1998 Educational Mac, Win
Legendary Wars: T-Rex Rumble 2010 Real-time strategy NDSi
Lexi-Cross 1991 Word DOS, Mac
Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader 2003 Role-playing WinCo-developed with Reflexive Entertainment.
Loaded 1995 Shoot 'em up PS1, SatPublished the North American version only.
The Lost Vikings 1992 Puzzle-platform Ami, Ami32, DOS, SMD, SNESDeveloped by Silicon & Synapse.
The Lost Vikings 2 1997 Puzzle-platform PS1, Sat, SNES, WinKnown in the United States as Norse By Norsewest: Return of the Lost Vikings
Mario Teaches Typing 1992 Educational DOS, Mac
Mario Teaches Typing 2 1997 Educational Mac, Win
Mario's Game Gallery 1995 Game compilationDOS, Mac, WinOriginally sold for DOS and Macintosh, later rereleased as Mario's FUNdamentals for Macintosh and Windows
MDK 1997 Third-person shooter DOS, Mac, PS1, Win
MDK2 2000 Third-person shooter DC, PS2, Wii, WinDeveloped by BioWare.
MDK2 HD 2011 Third-person shooter WinDeveloped by Overhaul Games.
Meantime Canceled Role-playing AppII, C64
Mechanized Assault & Exploration 1996 Strategy DOS
Mechanized Assault & Exploration 2 1998 Strategy Win
Men in Black: The Series 1999 Shoot 'em up GBCPublished the European version only.
Messiah 2000 Action game, shooter game WinDeveloped by Shiny Entertainment.
Metropolis Card Club 2001 Casino Win
Milo's Astro Lanes 1999 Sports N64Published the PAL version only.
Mindshadow 1984 Adventure Ami, AppII, ATR, C64, CPC, DOS, Mac, ST, ZXPublished by Activision.
Mortyr 2093-1944 1999 First-person shooter WinPublished the North American version only.
Mummy: Tomb of the Pharaoh 1996 Adventure Mac, WinDeveloped by Amazing Media.
Neuromancer 1988 Action-adventure Ami, AppGS, AppII, C64, DOS
Normality 1996 Adventure DOSPublished the North American version only.
Of Light and Darkness: The Prophecy 1998 Adventure Win
Omar Sharif on Bridge 1992 Card DOSPublished the North American version only.
Off-Road Redneck Racing 2001 Racing WinPublished the North American version only.
Peter Jacobsen's Golden Tee Golf 1998 Sports WinDeveloped by Incredible Technologies.
Pinball Yeah! 2010 Pinball Mac, iOS, WinDeveloped by CodeRunners and published under the label Interplay Discovery.
Planescape: Torment 1999 Role-playing Win
Poker Night with David Sklansky 1999 Casino WinDeveloped by Cetasoft.
Prehistorik Man 2010 Platform NDSi
Pro League Baseball 1992 Sports DOSDistributor only.
Project V13 Canceled Role-playing Win
Puzzle Bobble 1996 Tile-matching WinDeveloped by Kinesoft.
Puzzle Bobble 2 1997 Tile-matching WinDeveloped by Kinesoft.
R/C Stunt Copter 1999 Flight simulator PS1
Raiden II 1997 Shoot 'em up WinDeveloped by Kinesoft.
Realms of the Haunting 1997 Action-adventure DOSPublished the North American version only.
Red Asphalt 1998 Racing PS1
Redneck Deer Huntin' 1998 Sports DOSDeveloped by Xatrix Entertainment.
Redneck Rampage 1997 First-person shooter DOS, MacDeveloped by Xatrix Entertainment.
Redneck Rampage Rides Again 1998 First-person shooter DOSDeveloped by Xatrix Entertainment.
Re-Loaded 1996 Shoot 'em up DOS, PS1
Renegade Racers 2000 Racing PS1, WinDeveloped by Promethean Designs.
The Riddle of the Maze 1994 Interactive fiction Mac
RoboCop Versus The Terminator 1993 Platform SNESPublished by Virgin Interactive.
Rock n' Roll Racing 1993 Racing GBA, SMD, SNESDeveloped by Silicon & Synapse.
RPM Racing 1991 Racing SNESDeveloped by Silicon & Synapse.
Run Like Hell 2002 Third-person shooter PS2, XboxDeveloped by Digital Mayhem
Russian 6 Pak 1994 Game compilationDOSDeveloped by MIR Dialogue.
Sacrifice 2000 Real-time strategy Win
Samurai Shodown II 2000 Fighting WinDeveloped by Kinesoft.
Sandwarriors 1997 Combat flight simulator WinPublished the North American version only.
Shattered Steel 1996 Vehicle simulator DOS, MacDeveloped by BioWare.
SimCity Enhanced CD-ROM 1994 City-building DOSLicensed by Maxis.
Solitaire Deluxe for Windows 1995 Card Win
Solitaire for Windows 1993 Card Win
Soulbringer 2000 Role-playing WinPublished the North American version only.
Star Reach 1994 Real-time strategy DOS
Star Trek: 25th Anniversary 1992 Adventure Ami, DOS, Mac
Star Trek: 25th Anniversary 1992 Adventure NESPublished by Ultra Games in North America and Konami in Europe.
Star Trek: 25th Anniversary 1992 Action GBProduced by Interplay, developed by Visual Concepts, published by Ultra Games.
Star Trek: Judgment Rites 1993 Adventure DOS, Mac
Star Trek: Klingon Academy 2000 Space flight simulator Win
Star Trek: New Worlds 2000 Strategy Win
Star Trek Pinball 1998 Pinball DOS
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy 1997 Space flight simulator Mac, Win
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy – Starship Bridge Simulator 1994 Simulation S32X, SNESDeveloped by Paramount Interactive
Star Trek: Starfleet Command 1999 Real-time tactics, space flight simulator Win
Star Trek Starfleet Command II: Empires at War 2000 Real-time tactics, space flight simulator Win
Start-Up 2000 Business simulation game WinDistributed the North American version only.
Stonekeep 1995 Role-playing DOS
Stonekeep: Bones of the Ancestors 2012 Role-playing WiiDeveloped by Alpine Studios.
Super Castles 1994 Strategy SNESA Japan-exclusive video game
Super Runabout: San Francisco Edition 2000 Racing DCPublished the North American version only.
SWIV 3D 1996 Shoot 'em up DOS, WinPublished the North American version only.
Swords and Serpents 1990 Role-playing NESPublished by Acclaim Entertainment.
Tanktics 1999 Strategy PS, WinPublished the North American version only.
Tass Times in Tonetown 1986 Interactive fiction Ami, AppGS, AppII, C64, DOS, Mac, STPublished by Activision.
Tempest 2000 1996 Shoot 'em up PS1, SatDeveloped by High Voltage Software. Titled Tempest X3 for PlayStation.
Time Gate: Knight's Chase 1996 Action-adventure DOSCo-published with I-Motion in North America.
Tommy Tronic 2010 Platform WinDeveloped by Oasis Games and published under the label Interplay Discovery.
Total Recall 1990 Platform NESDeveloped by Acclaim Entertainment.
The Tracer Sanction 1984 Interactive fiction AppII, C64, DOSPublished by Activision.
Track Meet 1991 Sports GB
Trog! 1991 Maze NESLicensed by Bally Midway Mfg Co. Produced by Interplay, developed by Visual Concepts, published by Acclaim Entertainment, Inc.
USCF Chess 1997 Chess Win
Virtual Deep Sea Fishing 1999 Fishing WinDeveloped by Taff System.
Virtual Pool 1995 Sports DOS, Mac, PS1, WinDeveloped by Celeris.
Virtual Pool 2 1997 Sports WinDeveloped by Celeris.
Virtual Pool 3 2000 Sports WinDeveloped by Celeris.
Virtual Pool Hall 1999 Sports WinDeveloped by Celeris.
Virtual Snooker 1996 Sports DOSDeveloped by Celeris.
VR Baseball 2000 1998 Sports Win
VR Baseball '97 1997 Sports PS1, Win
VR Baseball '99 1998 Sports PS1
VR Soccer 1996 Sports DOS, PS1, Sat
VR Sports Powerboat Racing 1998 Racing PS1, WinDeveloped by Promethean Designs.
Wall Street Trader 2000 1999 Business simulation WinDistributed the North American version only.
Warcraft: Orcs & Humans 1994 Real-time strategy WinPublished the European version only.
Wasteland 1988 Role-playing AppII, C64, DOS
Waterworld: The Quest for Dry Land 1997 Real-time strategy DOSDeveloped by Intelligent Games.
Whiplash 1996 Racing DOSDeveloped by Gremlin Interactive.
Wild 9 1998 Platform PS1
Wild Wild Racing 2000 Racing PS2Developed by Rage Software.
Wolfenstein 3D 1994 First-person shooter 3DO, MacDeveloped by id Software.
Y2K: The Game 1999 Adventure WinDeveloped by Runecraft.
Zeitgeist: Laser Fighter 1998 Rail shooter WinDeveloped by Kinesoft.
Zero Divide: Techno Warrior 1998 Fighting WinDeveloped by Kinesoft.


Studios

Interplay Discovery

This is a program in which Interplay publishes video games for indie developers. Five games have been released under the program and each is either a platformer or a puzzle video game and is released under digital distribution.

Games released under Interplay Discovery

  • Pinball Yeah! is Interplay's first game, created by the Coderunners team based in Portugal and their first game since their return. The player must fight against an evil virtual AI system that wants nothing more than to see the demise of the player's high score. [42]
  • Tommy Tronic is Interplay's second game by the Discovery program and was developed by Oasis Games and was the studio's first project. Tommy Tronic features classic platforming. The player must run away from Giant Carrots and fight mutated tomatoes. [43]
  • Despite being the fourth announced game for the Discovery program, Homesteader is the third game released for the Discovery program. The game is developed by Bogemic Games and is a match-3 puzzle game. The game was released for the PC and had a framerate error. [44]
  • Despite being the third game announced for the Discovery program, Death and the Fly is the fourth game released for the Discovery Program. [45]
  • Crazy Cats Love is developed by Wolf Games and is Interplay's first video game made using the Unity 3D engine.

Defunct studios

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<i>Baldurs Gate II: Shadows of Amn</i> 2000 video game

Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn is a role-playing video game developed by BioWare and published by Interplay Entertainment. It is the sequel to 1998's Baldur's Gate and was released for Microsoft Windows in September 2000. Following its predecessor, the game takes place in the Forgotten Realms, a fantasy campaign setting, and is based on the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition rules. Powered by BioWare's Infinity Engine, Baldur's Gate II uses an isometric perspective and pausable real-time gameplay. The player controls a party of up to six characters, one of whom is the player-created protagonist; the others are certain characters recruited from the game world.

Obsidian Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Irvine, California. It was founded in June 2003, shortly before the closure of Black Isle Studios, by ex-Black Isle employees Feargus Urquhart, Chris Avellone, Chris Parker, Darren Monahan, and Chris Jones.

<i>Van Buren</i> (video game) Video game

Van Buren was the codename of a canceled role-playing video game developed by Black Isle Studios. It was intended to be the third game in the mainline Fallout series. Set in the year 2253, the plot of Van Buren revolved around a prisoner who would explore the American Southwest while being chased by robotic prison guards. The main antagonist was a mad scientist named Victor Presper, who planned on using the prisoner as an inadvertent vector to spread a deadly virus. Gameplay would have included a mixture of real-time and turn-based combat. The player would explore the map with a team of non-playable character (NPC) companions. Each NPC would make their own independent decisions which would affect the story.

<i>Baldurs Gate</i> (video game) 1998 video game

Baldur's Gate is a role-playing video game that was developed by BioWare and published in 1998 by Interplay Entertainment. It is the first game in the Baldur's Gate series and takes place in the Forgotten Realms, a high fantasy campaign setting, using a modified version of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (AD&D) 2nd edition rules. It was the first game to use the Infinity Engine for its graphics, with Interplay using the engine for other Forgotten Realms-licensed games, including the Icewind Dale series and Planescape: Torment. The game's story focuses on a player-made character who travels across the Sword Coast alongside a party of companions.

Darren Monahan is the chief information officer and producer of Obsidian Entertainment and one of Obsidian's founders. Monahan works in the game industry, having worked for Interplay Entertainment in various capacities, including as a senior producer for Black Isle Studios, manager of quality assurance, and a programmer on many of Interplay's titles. As a producer, Monahan managed the development of six published products, including the entire Icewind Dale and Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance series.

<i>Baldurs Gate: Dark Alliance</i> 2001 video game

Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance is a 2001 action role-playing video game developed by Snowblind Studios and published by Interplay Entertainment subsidiary Black Isle Studios for the PlayStation 2 and the Xbox consoles, with High Voltage Software handling the GameCube port, and Magic Pockets developing the Game Boy Advance version. CD Projekt was developing a version for Microsoft Windows, but was ultimately cancelled. In 2021, a 4K port of the game was released for the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch and PC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Snowblind Studios</span> American video game developer

Snowblind Studios was an American video game developer located in Kirkland, Washington. They were founded in 1997, specializing in role-playing video games.

<i>Fallout Online</i> Cancelled video game

Fallout Online is a cancelled massively multiplayer online game (MMO) set in the Fallout universe that was being developed by Masthead Studios and was to be published by Interplay, with members of the Interplay team providing creative control and design. Chris Taylor and Mark O'Green, two of the creators of the original Fallout, were among the developers; Jason Anderson, one of the other makers of Fallout, was involved in the project between 2007 and 2009, but then left the team. Interplay's rights to develop and publish this game have been the subject of legal disputes between Interplay and Bethesda Softworks, the current owner of the Fallout franchise. An out-of-court settlement was reached in 2012 as Bethesda received full rights to the Fallout online game for two million dollars, eventually releasing its own online game, Fallout 76, six years later.

Baldur's Gate III: The Black Hound was a cancelled role-playing video game developed by Black Isle Studios for the Microsoft Windows platform. Announced in 2002 under the codenames FR6 and Project Jefferson, it was planned to be the third main entry in the Baldur's Gate series, utilizing the Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition ruleset. The game was set to use a 3D graphics engine developed for the game, rather than the Infinity Engine used for the developer's previous games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Gaider</span> Canadian writer and game designer

David Gaider is a Canadian narrative designer and writer. He was the lead writer and creator of the setting for the role-playing video game series Dragon Age.

Western role-playing video games are role-playing video games developed in the Western world, including The Americas and Europe. They originated on mainframe university computer systems in the 1970s, were later popularized by titles such as Ultima and Wizardry in the early- to mid-1980s, and continue to be produced for modern home computer and video game console systems. The genre's "Golden Age" occurred in the mid- to late-1980s, and its popularity suffered a downturn in the mid-1990s as developers struggled to keep up with changing fashion, hardware evolution and increasing development costs. A later series of isometric role-playing games, published by Interplay Productions and Blizzard Entertainment, was developed over a longer time period and set new standards of production quality.

<i>Baldurs Gate 3</i> 2023 video game

Baldur's Gate 3 is a 2023 role-playing video game developed and published by Larian Studios. It is the third main installment to the Baldur's Gate series, based on the tabletop fantasy role-playing system of Dungeons & Dragons. A partial version of the game was released in early access format for macOS and Windows in October 2020. It remained in early access until its full release for Windows in August 2023, with versions for PlayStation 5, macOS, and Xbox Series X/S releasing later that year.

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