Interplay Going Under

[Atrocities]

Man this is some depressing news. If you have a moment to read the about this I would. http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/06/04/news_6100019.html]LINK

The labor officials' visitation was prompted by complaints by seven Interplay workers who claimed their wages had gone unpaid. Dean Fryer, spokesman for the California Labor Commissioner, told the Register, "An employer has responsibilities when they open a business. The responsibilities include proper and timely payment of wages. It includes providing workers compensation coverage in case there are injuries. If the employer cannot accommodate those basic issues of doing business, we cannot allow employees to work."

As a penalty for its infractions, Interplay was fined $1,000 for each employee on the payroll for a total of $79,000. This sum is in addition to the $179,000 it already owes the state in back taxes and the $432,000 in unpaid rent it owes its landlord, Arden Realty, who is reportedly on the verge of evicting the company. In addition, it is being sued for $156,000 in back Baldur's Gate royalties by BioWare. As of part of its mid-April financial statements, Interplay declared it only had $1.2 million in cash on hand. <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Interplay has made some of the greatest games I have played and it hurts to see them going under like this. Well this Interplay is not the same interplay I knew, it still is Interplay.

[Gandalf Parker]

That is depressing news. I remember them fondly also.

But on the other hand.. I wonder what games they had that might fit into the Shrapnel catalog? Probably get outbid on the big-name ones but they may have some smaller or in-development ones that could be approachable.

THanks for bringing it up.

[Atrocities]

Good luck. I think Bioware will get most of them as well as Atari. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif

[Azselendor]

Some of the older titles may go back to the original authors and game designers, which might be good for shrapnel to pursue.

Hopefully some will strike out on thier own.

[Atrocities]

I enjoyed Decent tiltes, freespace titles, and SFC, as well as the boldergate.

I recall reading when Interplay was owned by its orginator how he placed the companies entire future on that game and the gamble semi paid off. The game was a success but he lost control of the company and was retired. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif

[StarTux]

Originally posted by Atrocities:
Good luck. I think Bioware will get most of them as well as Atari. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Bioware is primarily a developer at this time. Atari, yes they would snap up their share I'd imagine.

Interplay managed to lose Bioware's NeverWinter Nights, some disagreement over who knows what.

[Rasorow]

&lt;sigh&gt; http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif Another great game company from the Good Ole Days goes out with a whimper.

I still have the 25th aniversary ed of Star Trek and many other of their older games....

&lt;Salutes the old great Interplay: for gamers by gamers&gt;

[DarkAnt]

good ol' fallout, that was a great game. This is indeed sad news.

[Gillissie]

I hate to say it, but I saw this coming about 10 years ago when you could no longer get ahold of tech support, and every game nagged you until you registered. The only thing registering got you was a telemarketing call trying to sell you some of their old games. Also, they entered the era of "release now, patch later" with some really bad releases.

Remember when their slogan was "By gamers for gamers."? Those were the good ol' days alright.

[ June 28, 2004, 06:07: Message edited by: Gillissie ]

[Atrocities]

I have to agree. They lost focus and went for the $$ and that ruined them. But still they did make some nice games. Freespace, Decent, Balders Gate, etc.

[Gandalf Parker]

There were alot of things they did which caused them problems. One of the things I like to point to is their advertising policies. Every game they had they liked to do full-page full-color ads on in every major game magazine. Remember seeing those every 10 pages or so?

There are good intentioned people in every marketing area who inform people in their own field how things should be done. I heard it when running a mud, I heard it when working for ISPs, I heard it during the dot-com boom, and I hear it now in the area of games markets. "If you dont do what the big guys do then you will crash and burn". But thats alittle too simple.

What they should be saying is "if you want to be like the big boys then watch what they do and do that". That would be less arguable. But as far as the crash-and-burn part it then becomes "that way you will either be big or crash big".

In none of the areas Ive worked in have I ever seen crash-and-burn for not doing what the big guys do. I HAVE seen it because people decided to go ahead and DO what the big guys do. It was always regrettable because they were always doing well where they were before they took the chance. There is always room in every niche and level for someone who does it well. And if anyone doesnt like it then there is always the option to do it themselves. Dont try to convice my favorite (insert whatever organization here) to do it for you.

In gaming terms what would that be? "I request that you make war on that other nation. Dont worry, I will be right behind you"

Gandalf Parker
-- (suitable sig)
Me: Some play to win or lose. Others play to stay in the game.
Them: Are we talking about games? Or about life in general?
Me: Exactly.

[ July 10, 2004, 14:52: Message edited by: Gandalf Parker ]

[Atrocities]

With all fairness they went under not because of their advertising practices, but because they spent to much time developing games and not releasing games.

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif

Decent
Decent II
Decent III
Decent Freespace
Freespace II
Bolders Gate
Bolders Gate II
Star Fleet Command
Star Fleet Command II

Were all excellent games with effective advertising. But since then, NOTHING. What really hurt Interplay was the lack of support for their games.

[Azselendor]

Advertising costs a lot of money. Interplay spent a small fortune on it. It may not have pulled them over, but it is one bad business plan they had.

I think interplay just got too complacent with development and stopped making good games - or at least interesting games. They just kept cranking out games expecting to get thier royalities advance and to have thier publishers hand them money and cover development up front when they came knocking.

Then one day, everyone stopped answering the door when they came knocking.

[Gandalf Parker]

If there was just one answer then of course everyone would not do that and would win. InterPlay has always been an example because they were fairly extreme. "Look! InterPlay runs full page ads in every gaming magazine for every one of their games". Im thinking that must be a sizeable gamble which raises the bar on the break-even point. Now Interplay is still an example of "Look! InterPlay used to run full page ads for every one of their games".

I dont know that things like that are a do/dont-do thing as much as a touchy measurement of scales and best use of resources. How MUCH do you do. Im thinking that we here should have no problem understanding this. Action shoot-em-up gameplayers might have a problem but tactic strategy war gamers should be able to see the concept of having to consider a scale-balance in everything you do. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Im just guessing though.