Interplay Entertainment |
Interplay Entertainment Corporation is an United States video game and computer game video game publisher and video game developer. It has been teetering on the brink of bankruptcy since mid-2004.
= History =
The company was founded as Interplay Productions in Southern California in 1983 by former employees of a small video game developer called Boone Corporation. Interplay made a name for itself as a quality computer game developer with the role-playing games Bard s Tale (1985) and Wasteland (computer game) , which were published by Electronic Arts.
Interplay started publishing its own games, starting 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 1993, Interplay published the hit game Descent_(computer_game) , developed by startup Parallax Software.
In 1997, Interplay released and developed Fallout (computer game) , a successful and critically-acclaimed role-playing game set in a retro-futuristic post-apocalyptic setting which was followed by a sequel, Fallout 2 . The most successful subsequent Interplay franchise was probably Baldur s Gate Series , a Dungeons & Dragons game that was developed by BioWare and published by Interplay s Black Isle Studios branch and spawned a successful sequel and several expansion packs.
Over the years, Interplay s most successful titles were , but Interplay was never quite able to establish a long-lasting console franchise.
Interplay attempted to get several of its games made into movies, notably Descent , Redneck Rampage and Fallout , but no such movies were ever made.
Interplay went public, with shares sold on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange, in 1998, changing its name to Interplay Entertainment Corp. The company then reported several years of losses. In 2002, Interplay shed most of its publisher functions and signed a long-term agreement by which Vivendi Universal would publish Interplay s games. Immediately afterwards, French publisher Titus Software completed its acquisition of majority control of the company, and founder Brian Fargo departed. Later in 2002, Interplay s shares were delisted from the NASDAQ due to the company s low share price.
In 2004, the company was given an eviction notice by its landlord for non-payment of rent, and was briefly shut down by the California labor board for non-payment of workers paychecks. The company said it had relocated to a small office and seemingly continues to operate, issuing occasional press releases about new publishing deals or the sale of an intellectual property to another publisher. The company s web site has been inoperative since about August 2004.
In Summer 2005, the Interplay website re-launched with a logo and three links: About Interplay , SEC Filings/Financial , Investor Relations .
In Interplay s latest 10-K is currently accepting new offers for the licensing of it s MMO-RTS technology as well as it s almost finished game.
In Interplay s latest 10-Q SEC filing made on June 21 2005, it was revealed that under Commitments and Contingencies that Interplay Productions has multiple legal proceedings filed against them. Of interest is that Interplay received a notice from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service stating that they owe approximately United States dollar117,000 in payroll tax penalties and that Interplay was fined by the California Labor Board $10,000 for failure to meet payroll obligations and that an August 2005 trial date was set, and that Interplay s general liability, auto, fiduciary liability, workers compensation and employment practices liability, have been cancelled, however Interplay has entered into a new workers compensation insurance plan, Interplay is appealing a separate California Board of Labor fine of $79,000 for having lost their workers compensation plan for a period of time . Under Contractual Obligations it is revealed that Interplay does not have a headquarters at present because Interplay, in 2004, forfeited its lease and vacated its office space in Irvine, California. (Source: [http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1057232/000117091805000423/0001170918-05-000423.txt Interplay s current 10-Q filing])
Recently its website, interplay.com came back online, and is now focusing on GamesOnLine, allowing consumers to become part of a unique online community of gamers and access selected content.
=Notable titles=
=External links=
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