Fallout MMO Lawsuit Ends

The legal battle between Bethesda and Interplay over the latter's Fallout MMO "Project V13" is over. Word is that Bethesda has dropped their lawsuit.

Back in 2007, Interplay sold Bethesda the rights to create single-player RPG's in the Fallout universe. However, they retained the MMO rights with the understanding that they'd begin full-scale development on the project by April 2009. Bethesda's lawsuit alleged that Interplay missed that deadline and therefore they should lose the rights to create an MMO.

Duck and Cover, relying on information from an Interplay investor, reports that Bethesda dropped the suit after the two companies made a deal. The terms of the agreement weren't revealed but Duck and Cover guesses that one condition was that Interplay dropped their countersuit. The countersuit accused Bethesda of undermining Interplay's other Fallout-related business ventures such as a pen-and-paper RPG.

Interplay believes that the Project V13's beta will begin in 2012. Now that one big hurdle has been cleared, that estimate seems much more practical.