Fallout Online
Setting: Post-apocalyptic | Developer: Interplay/Masthead Studios | Announcement: 2006 | Cancellation: 2009 | Planned Platforms: PC
What was Fallout Online supposed to be? Interplay planned a classic MMORPG in the Fallout universe. The idea for Fallout Online came to Interplay a year before they sold the trademark rights for Fallout to Bethesda in 2007. Interplay, however, was allowed to continue working on the MMORPG under license according to the contract with Masthead Studios. A game world of approximately 170,000 km² was even created for it.
Players could play characters from different races, each race having its own starter zone. There were NPCs that distributed quests, monsters and mutants for combat, a crafting system, and a skill system through which players could improve their characters.
What was the special feature? Players were supposed to be able to establish and expand their own settlements. Guilds would have managed these settlements, and in the social centers, players would have met for joint adventures.
Why was it canceled? When Bethesda founded Zenimax Online in 2007, the thought arose to perhaps develop their own Fallout MMO. In 2009, Bethesda wanted to revoke the license for an MMO in this universe from Interplay, as there was allegedly a breach of contract, because according to Bethesda, the development of the game was not yet in full swing.
This led to a legal dispute. However, the two companies were able to come to an out-of-court settlement, and Bethesda developed Fallout 76, while the development of the MMO Fallout Online was discontinued.
