Interplay is resurrecting Black Isle Studios

Legendary role playing games (RPG) developer, Black Isle, seems to be ready to make a comeback. The studio has returned out of nowhere and hardly any information is known. The Black Isle website has nothing but a way to sign up for updates from the company. Very little is known besides the fact that the Facebook page, Twitter account and website of Black Isle Studios is registered to Herve Caen, CEO of Interplay. The website reads: “Our goal has always been to make the world’s best RPGs. Black Isle Studios is back.”

The new website of Black Isle Studio

Black Isle Studios is famous among the older gamers as the people who made Fallout 2. The studio also made games like Icewind Dale and Planescape: Torment. Strangely though, employees of the original Black Isle during the company’s good days mostly work at Obsidian and inXile, and they say that they aren’t involved with the return of Black Isle at all.

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Former Black Isle lead designer and current lead designer for Obsidian Chris Avellone told Eurogamer, “Doesn’t involve Obsidian at all.” He continued, “No idea what it’s about. I wasn’t aware anything beyond the name was left at Interplay.” Brian Fargo, originally founder of Interplay, tweeted, “I just read that Interplay is bringing back Black Isle. Hmm… Not enough info for me to comment.”

Interplay is resurrecting Black Isle Studio

The most recent thing that Interplay has done before this was giving up the rights to Fallout, a massively multiplayer online game (MMOG) to publishing giant Bethesda. Interplay had given up the rights to the game earlier this year. According to the terms of the legal battle, Interplay, who created the Fallout brand in 1997 before selling it to Bethesda in 2004, will be allowed to sell the original Fallout, Fallout 2 and Fallout: Tactics until December 2013. All rights to market those titles will then become the property of Bethesda.

“While we strongly believe in the merits of our suits, we are pleased to avoid the distraction and expense of litigation while completely resolving all claims to the Fallout IP,” commented ZeniMax CEO Robert Altman. “Fallout is an important property of ZeniMax and we are now able to develop future Fallout titles for our fans without third party involvement or the overhang of others’ legal claims.”

Bethesda has radically changed the Fallout games from what they were. Originally, Fallout was played from an isometric perspective and the combat was turn based strategy. In Bethesda’s Fallout 3 and Obsidian’s Fallout: New Vegas, the game is set in a first person perspective similar to that of the Elder Scrolls games.