Interplay IPs for Sale

[CARRiON]

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 7, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Leading video game software developer, publisher, and licensor, Interplay Entertainment Corp., today announced a process to sell its library of video game assets and intellectual property. The expected sale represents some 70 titles and dozens of characters.

"Interplay has entertained millions of players with its well-recognized games, including Earthworm Jim, Freespace, Giants, Kingpin, Messiah, MDK, Run Like Hell, Sacrifice, Battlechess, Clayfighter, Dark Alliance, and Descent. As game creators, we are proud of the entertainment these properties have provided over the years. With the proliferation of mobile, augmented reality, virtual reality and other new forms of consumption, we believe that consumers are ready to experience and interact with Interplay's characters, stories and game play in ways never possible before. We look forward to seeing how this unique portfolio of interactive entertainment icons will evolve for the worldwide audience," states Eric Caen, President of Interplay.

For more information about Interplay's sale of intellectual property, please contact Joe Morgan at Wedbush Securities (joe.morgan@wedbush.com), who has been engaged by the company to assist in this process.

LINK

Here is a small fraction of games they own and sell currently on GOG.com

The ship is finally sinking. No longer will shutting their eyes and plugging their ears shield them from the facts. Interplay can finally rest in peace. (Even though they died long ago)

So, who do you think will buy what? Also, if there are any Interplay games on Steam/GOG you want, better get them before they inevitably get taken down for who knows how long.

I'd like to see Deep Silver go after Freespace, since they have Volition already. I also hope Parallax gets their game Descent back. Lots of strange and underrated games there too, like Sacrifice, Giants and Messiah.

Will be interesting to see who grabs up Kingpin, Shogo and Redneck Rampage.

[PsychoGoatee]

CARRiON said:

Will be interesting to see who grabs up Kingpin, Shogo and Redneck Rampage.

I know we're in the era of remaking everything, but just curious, why?

Take Shogo for example. I liked it, fun game, it's stereotypical 90s/late 80s anime style. If somebody wanted to make a shooter influenced by sci-fi anime with mecha, why not just make one? Why would it need the Shogo name in particular?

Ditto for Kingpin, it's just a dingy city urban action shooter. Anybody could make a game like that, and having the name of a maybe semi-successful (was it?) shooter from the 90s wouldn't really matter.

I'll give you Redneck Rampage has some more unique character to it, and might have an amusing remake. Though again to be fair, somebody could make such a game without that license.

Just my thought on that.

[Fulgrim]

It would be kind of cool to see Flying Wild Hog buy Redneck Rampage.

[Chezza]

@Psycho Goatee. I think you know why. They are established brands names / products that can be easily milked for nostalgia. You don't have to build it from scratch. That's probably the biggest reason.

I would really love to see these games return although I'm nearly certain they will never fulfill the spirit of the originals.

[CARRiON]

PsychoGoatee said:

I know we're in the era of remaking everything, but just curious, why?

Because, for example, Shogo is an established universe, with original characters, mech designs and weapons. Shogo still has a fanbase that would probably like to see a sequel, seeing as the original's planned expansions were cancelled, and even Monolith has teased a sequel with a Shogo 2 easter egg in FEAR 2.

For the record, I loved the ideas around the game, but hated the game itself, I thought it was executed very poorly. So in my case, seeing that game's universe brought back and up to snuff would be interesting to see. How many already established anime-inspired FPS do you know of?

That's kinda like asking why make DOOM 4 when someone could make a fast FPS with demons and a double barrel shotgun, just call it "It's Green and Pissed". Obviously DOOM is more popular than Shogo, but you'd be surprised how many people enjoy these more "underrated" FPS games. Especially after they are brought back to one's memory.

[Lila Feuer]

I would be very amused if anyone was interested in doing something with Run Like Hell just for someone to write it off as a Dead Space clone (or Mass Effect clone with Dead Space monsters).

[june gloom]

I guess it couldn't circle the drain forever.

[PsychoGoatee]

CARRiON said:

Because, for example, Shogo is an established universe, with original characters, mech designs and weapons. Shogo still has a fanbase that would probably like to see a sequel, seeing as the original's planned expansions were cancelled, and even Monolith has teased a sequel with a Shogo 2 easter egg in FEAR 2.

For the record, I loved the ideas around the game, but hated the game itself, I thought it was executed very poorly. So in my case, seeing that game's universe brought back and up to snuff would be interesting to see. How many already established anime-inspired FPS do you know of?

That's kinda like asking why make DOOM 4 when someone could make a fast FPS with demons and a double barrel shotgun, just call it "It's Green and Pissed". Obviously DOOM is more popular than Shogo, but you'd be surprised how many people enjoy these more "underrated" FPS games. Especially after they are brought back to one's memory.

I'm not saying no game should get a sequel or remake. I just think Shogo and Kingpin are pretty generic genre fare, and don't seem to be particularly popular either, so might as well just make original titles. You could remake it, that's fine, it'd just be odd if seemingly every notable single-player FPS coming out was a remake or sequel.

I don't know what the asking price is, I just think a studio that's gung-ho about making a sci-fi anime style shooter or streets crime shooter could make a name for themselves with their own take on it. And their new one might even be more popular than either of those kind of middle of the road 90s licenses, without having to pay for those rights.

If they must have a 90s license, might as well go with Project Horned Owl. :P Maybe just make a Patlabor shooter, more name recognition there.

[vinnie245]

PsychoGoatee said:

I'm not saying no game should get a sequel or remake. I just think Shogo and Kingpin are pretty generic genre fare, and don't seem to be particularly popular either, so might as well just make original titles. You could remake it, that's fine, it'd just be odd if seemingly every notable single-player FPS coming out was a remake or sequel.

I don't know what the asking price is, I just think a studio that's gung-ho about making a sci-fi anime style shooter or streets crime shooter could make a name for themselves with their own take on it. And their new one might even be more popular than either of those kind of middle of the road 90s licenses, without having to pay for those rights.

If they must have a 90s license, might as well go with Project Horned Owl. :P Maybe just make a Patlabor shooter, more name recognition there.

Personally i'd LOVE a new kingpin game, it's one of the most atmospheric shooters ever made and if they enhanced the features that made it somewhat unique back in the day (Side missions, open up the cash system, MORE CYPRESS HILL, larger non-linear areas and more emphasis on big gang fights) i think it could end up fantastic.
And dont be silly, a lot more people know about Kingpin than any of the other games you mentioned... i don't expect the rights to sell for that much anyway.

[Pencil of Doom]

If Flying Wild Hog gets Redneck Rampage that would be good, same for Kingpin, also if the source code of these ips gets released it would be even better, Redneck Rampage would benefit a lot from a proper source port.

[PsychoGoatee]

As long as we all agree Clayfighter is the most money license they've got. Or to keep it FPS, how about a Clayfighter FPS? :D

[Reisal]

Just keep it out of Activision, EA and Ubisoft's hands.

[june gloom]

PsychoGoatee said:

As long as we all agree Clayfighter is the most money license they've got. Or to keep it FPS, how about a Clayfighter FPS? :D

Ugh.

[Koko Ricky]

Redneck Rampage is begging for a remake because the original has some serious problems with aiming, collision detection, a lack of enemy variety and sometimes stale level design. There's a great game underneath all of that that could be really refreshing if someone were to take a stab at rebooting it.

[scalliano]

Who knows, maybe someone will pick up Rock'n'Roll Racing again.

And subsequently ruin it.

[Koko Ricky]

Right, with a bunch of shit songs no doubt. Rock 'n' Roll racing was pretty freakin' cool back in the day though. The SNES was able to emulate surprisingly good guitar tones!

[Fonze]

Well it's a shame to hear that the bucket is no longer large enough to bail out the water they are taking on, but I would like to say I really enjoyed Stonekeep (when it didnt crash), Battle Chess (best chess game of all time for me), Clay Fighter, and Earthworm Jim.

[CARRiON]

Here is the IP list.

Odd that the list is missing some games, like Redneck Rampage. Also, I tweeted Jace Hall and apparently they shouldn't even own the rights to Shogo, he seems pretty adament WB Games does.

[MrSkeltal]

I remember a rumour eons ago that Blizzard owns the Redneck Rampage IP.

[BigDickBzzrak]

Is this a chance for my beloved MDK to be resurrected by some generous company?
I'd die to see Kurt Hectic (the main protagonist of the series) in 201x. Of course, just see, my computer's too weak to play.

[PsychoGoatee]

dethtoll said:

Ugh.

It's humor, folks.

[MrGlide]

I was sad to see this, If I was rich I would buy interplay up.

[CARRiON]

MrGlide said:

I was sad to see this, If I was rich I would buy interplay up.

Any reason? I mean, this Interplay isn't what the Interplay of the 90's was. This Interplay hasn't done anything but sit around and rot. Well, that and fight over the Fallout IP. The only other company as dead as this would be Atari.

Speaking of, I wonder if they're next to sink?

[june gloom]

I'd hope so, maybe the Blood IP would go to Jace.

[MrDeAD1313]

Glaice said:

Just keep it out of Activision, EA and Ubisoft's hands.

And Gearbox too while we're at it

[[McD] James]

GoatLord said:

Redneck Rampage is begging for a remake because the original has some serious problems with aiming, collision detection, a lack of enemy variety and sometimes stale level design. There's a great game underneath all of that that could be really refreshing if someone were to take a stab at rebooting it.

I really can't think of anything positive to say about Redneck Rampage. I suppose the humour is something of an acquired taste, but I just felt annoyed and insulted by it. I hope it stays buried and forgotten.

[Lila Feuer]

Ajora said:

I really can't think of anything positive to say about Redneck Rampage. I suppose the humour is something of an acquired taste, but I just felt annoyed and insulted by it. I hope it stays buried and forgotten.

It's easily the weakest of The Big Four (Duke3D, SW, Blood and RR) but it probably has the best overall realistic visual style (environmentally, not the models) and impressively large levels with a lot of things to find. I like the atmosphere of being in the deep south (despite IRL not caring for it) and how eerily quiet everything is (when the IMO obnoxious soundtrack is turned off).

Combat is pretty meh though and it seems really hard at first until you find out you got to get both the gut and alcohol meters in the green and it activates the game's take on armor and you become much more resilient to damage, allowing for more run-n-gun gameplay like the other BUILD titles.

You gotta be in the mood for it however. If you're the impatient type that doesn't want to explore and/or hate Hexen-style puzzles in your FPS then you'll get miserable fast.

[MrGlide]

CARRiON said:

Any reason?

Earthworm jim in the right hands would rake in cash and be great. would love to own the interplay name personally because it helped shape a bit of my childhood with many of the games they made on ps1, Loved the art for there games back in the day. They introduced me to some of my favorite artists and got me into Fantasy illustration.

[GuyMcBrofist]

I hope the Freespace IP goes to Volition. Those games are just awesome.

[Clonehunter]

I'll give them 25 to 75 dollars for King Pin. Price is negotiable.