Interplay Announces
First Quarter 2004 Earnings And Future Direction (thanks
Frans) is the press
release announcing the latest financial results from the troubled game developer
and publisher. The future direction they announce is "the company's strategic
decision to enter Massively Multiplayer Online Gaming (MMOG) with Interplay's
wholly owned intellectual properties." The announcement goes on to address what
this means in light of the losses reflected in the accompanying balance sheet
and recent reports that the company is on the verge of going under, while
specifically mentioning Fallout as one of the properties they would like to take
the massive route:
Commenting on the announcement, Mr. Caen said, "Based
on a detailed review of where our industry stands and the level of interest in
the gaming community in taking some of our premier properties online, we are now
pursuing several options to fund our entry into Massively Multiplayer Online
Gaming with titles including Fallout. Initial feedback from our investment bank
and ongoing dialogue with others in the gaming sector appear to confirm that the
combination of our valuable and popular intellectual properties with the rapidly
growing online gaming community is the best way to maximize Interplay
shareholder value."
Mr. Caen continued, "As outlined in our 10-Q filing, several short-term
obstacles remain for Interplay. Management is focused on simultaneously
financing and executing our new long-term strategy and finding ways to solve
these short-term issues."
Mr. Caen added that the company would likely continue to develop select games
for personal computers and next generation gaming consoles as well as develop
purely online games.