Interplay previously acted as licensor of the Fallout IP, granting the rights to Fallout 3 and additional sequels to Bethesda while retaining the rights to a Fallout MMO.
Now the roles have switched, and Bethesda is the “sole and exclusive owner” of Fallout and will be granting IP rights for the Fallout MMO to Interplay, which intends to develop the game.
The agreement to sell the IP closed April 9.
Bethesda paid $2 million on closing of the agreement. According to the filing, Interplay expects to fulfill its part of the deal and receive the rest of the agreed amount during third quarter 2007.
The terms of the deal require Interplay to begin “full-scale” development of the Fallout MMO within 24 months of the deal’s effective date. Interplay said that it will have secured $30 million minimum financing by the time development begins.
If Interplay fails to begin full-scale development and meet the minimum financing within that time period, the company will lose its license rights permanently.
But if Interplay meets those two requirements, it can’t sit on its hands. The company would also lose its Fallout MMO rights if it fails to commercially launch the game within four years of the beginning of the game’s development.
The game would also have to maintain a minimum of 10,000 paying subscribers.
Bethesda will receive 12 percent of sales and subscription fees from the Fallout MMO.
A separate Interplay filing in late November indicated that the company hoped to gather a total Fallout MMO development budget of $75 million (including pre-production, production and launch expenses) by selling Interplay stock on one of the Euronext pan-European exchanges.