Black Isle, Fallout 3 Dead [Dec 08, 2003, 10:32 pm ET] – Share – Viewing Comments
More bad news at Black Isle Studios, where lead designer J.E. Sawyer resigned
just last month (story), as Farewell,
but not goodbye on the Interplay Entertainment Forums (thanks Nels Nelson)
is a post from Damien "Puuk" Foletto that indicates that the studio is
now shut down, referring to today as his "last day at the (former) BIS."
This follows suit with a note sent along by designer John Deiley:
Today marks the end of an era. Black Isle Studios is no more. In yet another sweeping layoff of employees, Interplay has officially let go the last of it's Black Isle employees (save two that I know of) and dissolved the division. Also, the non-announced title that the division was working on, Fallout 3, has been "shelved" to quote management.
I think the interesting test case would be to take an established franchise (Baldur's Gate, KOTOR, Deus Ex), and make a complex, hardcore PC-only game using that franchise.
I say this because I wonder if part of the reason for the PC flops is that they were unfamiliar subjects (Planescape? I remember looking at the box and scratching my head, not knowing what it was. Only after reading glowing reviews did I take a risk).
If a speculative Baldur's Gate 3 - a game using a very established "hook", but made with a plot and dialogue as rich as Planescape: Torment - bombed badly in the marketplace, I think we'd have to concede that the hardcore audience is just too small to support our passion.
Thoughts?
Istari
I say this because I wonder if part of the reason for the PC flops is that they were unfamiliar subjects (Planescape? I remember looking at the box and scratching my head, not knowing what it was. Only after reading glowing reviews did I take a risk).
If a speculative Baldur's Gate 3 - a game using a very established "hook", but made with a plot and dialogue as rich as Planescape: Torment - bombed badly in the marketplace, I think we'd have to concede that the hardcore audience is just too small to support our passion.
Thoughts?
Istari
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