The Interplay vs. Bethesda legal battle continues to rage on today, with Interplay coming out saying that the IP sale could be cancelled if they are blocked from making Fallout Online. Interplay president Eric Caen said: “We sold the Fallout IP to Bethesda in exchange for a certain amount of cash and the right to do the Fallout MMO. If they refuse to let us do the game, then the sale of the IP is terminated, and they will be allowed to do only one more Fallout, 5”.

The actual deal was that Interplay had to start work on the Fallout MMO by a certain time period, which Bethesda feels they didn’t. Interplay only started work on the MMO after Fallout 3 became a success and they wanted to cash in on that. Caen considers Fallout: New Vegas as the fourth game in the series.

“The original licensing deal was for three games and their DLC,” Caen went on to say. “So they already did Fallout 3, then Fallout: New Vegas, and they can only do one more Fallout, 5, if the sale of the IP is cancelled by the court. We will love if we have to do Fallout 6 and sequels. But we will see what happens in court. It can be this year or later… We have the back-up of our shareholders to fund this fight.”

Bethesda brought the rights to the Fallout franchise from Interplay in 2004 for $5.75 million. It licensed the online rights back to the publisher before starting development on Fallout 3. Today’s argument started after Bethesda’s VP or PR Pete Hines claimed that “We own the rights to the MMO. We own the rights to everything Fallout. The licence is ours. Fallout belongs to us.”

Going by the deal outlined above, he’s absolutely right and Interplay’s meddling is a result of them trying to cash in on the series’ newfound success. However, it appears that the contract could’ve been poorly worded and therefore interpreted differently by the different parties. Regardless, this is getting petty already and the real legal mud-slinging hasn’t even begun yet. We’re surprised Bethesda’s owners (ZeniMax Media) haven’t just waded in and brought Interplay. They have enough money in the bank, and it would be an effective way to stop this PR nightmare.

Interplay has confirmed that MDK2 will be ported to the Wii and that MDK2 HD will be coming to the PC. The Wii game will be a WiiWare title, and should be released this Winter. The PC version will be released sometime afterwards on the Beamdog distribution platform. Beamdog are developing both games. MDK2 was originally developed by BioWare, and it was first released on the PC and Dreamcast in 2000.

Interplay has confirmed that they are seeking beta sign-ups for Fallout Online on the game’s new website. The website is loading a little slow right now, which is unsurprising given Interplay’s legal and financial difficulties. Bethesda owns the Fallout IP after they brought it from Interplay, but have now leased it back to the old-school publisher for the MMO version. Don’t expect the crazy first-person style of Fallout 3 though; Interplay wants to make an old-school third person style game.