NEWS - Thursday, June 3, 2004
(RUMOR) - Interplay Closing Their Doors?
American reports are suggesting that Interplay may have finally closed its doors, although no official comment has been published on the matter as yet. The American firm is now not responding to any email or phone activity, a fact that doesn’t bode well considering it reportely admitted recently that it was three months behind with its rent at its offices in Irvine, California. Several sites are now reporting that employees have been told that they will not be readmitted to the Irvine offices after the close of play today. However, it must be stressed that no confirmation has been issued by the US-based publisher as yet. The longstanding company recently showed something of a plucky nature by announcing a third in the Fallout series. But with debts spiralling out of control and lawsuits queuing up, including one from BioWare for Baldur’s Gate royalties, the US$1.2 million it claimed it had in the bank in its mid-April financial report was never going to go very far. Interplay has enjoyed an illustrious history as a heavyweight RPG publisher, but has fallen out of favour in recent years, especially as the hugely successful Baldur’s Gate series came to a natural conclusion. Founder and CEO Brian Fargo recently re-emerged with new outfit with a remake of The Bard’s Tale - one of the games that kicked off Interplays success almost 20 years ago. Official comment on the matter of closure is expected in the next 24 hoursSource: http://www.gamesindustry.biz
