Bethesda vs Interplay, MMO license is 'null and void'

Today Shacknews is reporting Bethesda the publisher of Fallout has settled with Interplay the original publisher of the Fallout series over the frozen development of the much anticipated MMO based off of the Fallout universe. When Interplay sold the intellectual property of Fallout to Bethesda in 2007 it retained the right to develop an MMO. The stipulation was Interplay had to be in full scale development of the MMO by April 4, 2009 with a minimum of a 30 million dollar budget. Bethesda claimed Interplay failed to meet this criteria and wanted full control of the Fallout intellectual property including the developing MMO.

However, today Bethesda and Interplay have apparently called a truce. ZeniMax, Bethesdas parent company announced the following, "ZeniMax will pay Interplay $2 million as consideration in the settlement, each party will bear its own costs of the litigation, and Bethesda will continue to own all Fallout intellectual property rights."

This agreement also allows Interplay the right to continue the sale of original Fallout titles, including Fallout, Fallout 2, and Fallout Tactics through December 2013. Does this mean we will see a MMO based off of the Fallout universe from Bethesda now? Only time will tell. However if Interplay wants to continue to carry the older titles past the agreed submission date we may have another battle on our hands. War. War never changes.