Interplay Entertainment
Interplay Entertainment Corporation is an Americann video game and computer game publisher and developer. The company's most well-known games include:
- The Bard's Tale - RPG, internally developed
- Wasteland - RPG, internally developed
- Battle Chess - chess game, internally developed
- Descent - action game, developed by Parallax Software
- Alone in the Dark - survival horror game, developed by I-Motion
- Fallout - RPG, internally developed
- The Lost Vikings
- Virtual Pool - pool (billiards) game, developed by Celeris
- Redneck Rampage - first-person shooter game, developed by Xatrix
- Baldur's Gate - RPG, developed by Bioware
History
The company was founded as Interplay Productions in Southern California in 1983 by former employees of a small video game company called Boone Corporation. Interplay made a name for itself as a quality computer game developer with the role-playing games The Bard's Tale and Wasteland, which were published by Electronic Arts. The company started publishing its own games, starting with Neuromancer and Battle Chess, in 1988, and then moved on to publish and distribute games from other companies, while continuing internal game development.
Interplay went public, with shares sold on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange, in 1998, and then reported several years of losses. In 2002, Interplay shed most of its publisher functions and signed a long-term agreement by which Vivendi Universal would publish Interplay's games. Also in 2002, Interplay's shares were delisted from the NASDAQ due to the company's low share price. French publisher Titus Interactive acquired majority control of the company and founder Brian Fargo departed. The company announced it would henceforth focus on game development rather than publishing.
