Interplay to sell rights to 70 games

Game developer and publisher Interplay will sell the trademark rights to 70 games and dozens of characters. The company’s portfolio includes rights to Earthworm Jim, FreeSpace, Kingpin, MDK, Battle Chess, and Descent.

Interplay announces through a press release that the rights to seventy game titles are for sale. The company does not provide a complete list, but it seems to concern all brand rights of games that the publisher and studio still own. Interested parties should contact an investment company for more information.

Founded in 1982, Interplay was successful in the late 1990s and early into the new millennium with games such as Fallout 1 and 2, MDK, FreeSpace, Descent, Jagged Alliance, Kingpin, Redneck Rampage, PlaneScape: Torment, and Baldur’s Gate.

In 2003, Interplay had to close its development studio Black Isle, because the company was in dire straits financially. Black Isle was responsible for successful RPGs including the first two Fallout games, Planescape: Torment and the Icewind Dale series. After the closure, Obsidian Entertainment was founded by the laid-off employees.

The rights to the Fallout games were previously sold to Bethesda. Recently, Interplay granted a group of developers the rights to create a successor to the Descent games. They do this through a campaign on Kickstarter, which raised $ 600,000.

Interplay itself has not released any new games for years. The company was in several legal conflicts. It is not known whether that is the reason that the company is selling its assets and intellectual property.