Interplay Entertainment Corp. is an American
video game developer
A video game developer is a broad term for a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games. A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a large ...
and
publisher
Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...
based in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
. The company was founded in 1983 as Interplay Productions by developers
Brian Fargo
Frank Brian Fargo (born December 15, 1962) is an American video game designer, producer, programmer and executive, and founder of Interplay Entertainment, inXile Entertainment and Robot Cache.
Biography
Early life
A descendant of the family ...
, Jay Patel, Troy Worrell, and
Rebecca Heineman
Rebecca Ann Heineman is an American video game designer and programmer. Heineman was a founding member of video game companies Interplay Productions, Logicware, Contraband Entertainment, and Olde Sküül. She has been chief executive officer ...
, as well as investor Chris Wells. As a developer, Interplay is best known as the creator of the ''
Fallout
Nuclear fallout is the residual radioactive material propelled into the upper atmosphere following a nuclear blast, so called because it "falls out" of the sky after the explosion and the shock wave has passed. It commonly refers to the radioac ...
'' series and as a publisher for the ''
Baldur's Gate
''Baldur's Gate'' is a series of role-playing video games set in the Forgotten Realms '' Dungeons & Dragons'' campaign setting. The game has spawned two series, known as the ''Bhaalspawn Saga'' and the ''Dark Alliance'', both taking place mostl ...
'' and ''
Descent
Descent may refer to:
As a noun Genealogy and inheritance
* Common descent, concept in evolutionary biology
* Kinship, one of the major concepts of cultural anthropology
**Pedigree chart or family tree
** Ancestry
** Lineal descendant
**Heritag ...
'' series.
History
Interplay Productions
Prior to Interplay, the company's founding developers—
Brian Fargo
Frank Brian Fargo (born December 15, 1962) is an American video game designer, producer, programmer and executive, and founder of Interplay Entertainment, inXile Entertainment and Robot Cache.
Biography
Early life
A descendant of the family ...
, Troy Worrell, Jay Patel, and
Rebecca Heineman
Rebecca Ann Heineman is an American video game designer and programmer. Heineman was a founding member of video game companies Interplay Productions, Logicware, Contraband Entertainment, and Olde Sküül. She has been chief executive officer ...
—worked for Boone Corporation, a
video game developer
A video game developer is a broad term for a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games. A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a large ...
based in
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
.
When Boone eventually folded, the four got together with investor Chris Wells and, believing they could create a company that was better than Boone, founded Interplay in October 1983.
The first projects were non-original and consisted of software conversions and even some military work for
Loral Corporation
Loral Corporation was a defense contractor founded in 1948 in New York by William Lorenz and Leon Alpert as Loral Electronics Corporation. The company's name was taken from the first letters of each founder's surname.
History
Loral Corporation or ...
.
[Rusel DeMaria, Johnny L. Wilson, "High Score." 2nd edition, McGraw-Hill/Osborne: Emeryville, California, 2004. p.209. ] After negotiations with
Activision
Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one o ...
, Interplay entered a
US$100,000 contract to produce three illustrated
text adventure
''
Interactive fiction, often abbreviated IF, is software simulating environments in which players use text commands to control characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narratives, either in the ...
s for them.
Published in 1984, ''Mindshadow'' is loosely based on
Robert Ludlum
Robert Ludlum (May 25, 1927 – March 12, 2001) was an American author of 27 thriller novels, best known as the creator of Jason Bourne from the original '' The Bourne Trilogy'' series. The number of copies of his books in print is estimated b ...
's ''
Bourne Identity'' while ''The Tracer Sanction'' puts the player in the role of an interplanetary secret agent. ''
Borrowed Time'' which features a script by Arnie Katz' ''Subway Software'' followed in 1985. These adventures built upon work previously done by Fargo: his first game was the 1981-published ''Demon's Forge''.
The same year, Interplay Productions, then contracted out by Electronic Arts, ported EA's ''
Racing Destruction Set
''Racing Destruction Set'' is a racing video game published in 1985 for the Commodore 64 by Electronic Arts. It was advertised as being Commodore 128 compatible. A version for the Atari 8-bit family, programmed by Rebecca Heineman of Interplay, ...
'' to the
Atari 8-bit family
The Atari 8-bit family is a series of 8-bit home computers introduced by Atari, Inc. in 1979 as the Atari 400 and Atari 800. The series was successively upgraded to Atari 1200XL , Atari 600XL, Atari 800XL, Atari 65XE, Atari 130XE, Atari 800XE, ...
of computers. The conversion, entirely coded by
Rebecca Heineman
Rebecca Ann Heineman is an American video game designer and programmer. Heineman was a founding member of video game companies Interplay Productions, Logicware, Contraband Entertainment, and Olde Sküül. She has been chief executive officer ...
, was released in 1986 via Electronic Arts for the United States and Ariolasoft for the European market.
Interplay's
parser
Parsing, syntax analysis, or syntactic analysis is the process of analyzing a string of symbols, either in natural language, computer languages or data structures, conforming to the rules of a formal grammar. The term ''parsing'' comes from Lati ...
was developed by Fargo and an associate and in one version understands about 250 nouns and 200 verbs as well as prepositions and indirect objects. In 1986, ''
Tass Times in Tonetown
''Tass Times in Tonetown'' is an adventure game published by Activision in 1986. It was designed by Michael Berlyn and Muffy McClung Berlyn and programmed by Rebecca Heineman of Interplay (credited as Bill Heineman) in cooperation with Brainw ...
'' followed. Interplay made a name for itself as a quality developer of
role-playing video game
A role-playing video game (commonly referred to as simply a role-playing game or RPG, as well as a computer role-playing game or CRPG) is a video game genre where the player controls the actions of a character (or several party members) immers ...
s with the three-part series ''
The Bard's Tale
''The Bard's Tale'' is a fantasy role-playing video game franchise created by Michael Cranford and developed by Brian Fargo's Interplay Productions (1985–1992) and inXile Entertainment (2004–present).
The initial title of the series was ''T ...
'' (1985–1988), critically acclaimed ''
Wasteland
Wasteland or waste land may refer to:
* Desert or barren area
* an uncultivated area of land, whether wooded or not, whether common land or not
Art, entertainment, and media Comics
* ''Wasteland'' (DC Comics), 1987–1989 anthology-style horror/ ...
'' (1988) and ''
Dragon Wars'' (1989). All of them were published by
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted the d ...
.
Interplay started publishing its own games, beginning with ''
Neuromancer
''Neuromancer'' is a 1984 science fiction novel by American-Canadian writer William Gibson. Considered one of the earliest and best-known works in the cyberpunk genre, it is the only novel to win the Nebula Award, the Philip K. Dick Award, and ...
'' and ''
Battle Chess
''Battle Chess'' is a computer game version of chess with animated three-dimensional graphics. It was originally developed and released by Interplay Entertainment for the Amiga in 1988 and subsequently on many other systems, including 3DO Inter ...
'', in 1988, and then moved on to publish and distribute games from other companies, while continuing internal game development. In 1995, Interplay published the hit game ''
Descent
Descent may refer to:
As a noun Genealogy and inheritance
* Common descent, concept in evolutionary biology
* Kinship, one of the major concepts of cultural anthropology
**Pedigree chart or family tree
** Ancestry
** Lineal descendant
**Heritag ...
'', developed by startup
Parallax Software
Deep Silver Volition, LLC (formerly Parallax Software Corporation and Volition, Inc.) is an American video game developer based in Champaign, Illinois. Mike Kulas and Matt Toschlog founded the company as Parallax Software in June 1993, developi ...
. Interplay published several ''
Star Trek
''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...
'' video games, including ''Star Trek: 25th Anniversary''
for computers and
for Nintendo Entertainment System and ''
Star Trek: Judgment Rites''. These games had later
CD-ROM
A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains data. Computers can read—but not write or erase—CD-ROMs. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold both comput ...
editions released with the original ''Star Trek'' cast providing voices. Interplay also published ''
Starfleet Academy
In the Setting (fiction), fictional universe of ''Star Trek'', Starfleet Academy is where recruits to Starfleet's officer corps are trained. It was created in the year 2161, when the United Federation of Planets was founded. The Academy's mot ...
'' and ''
Klingon Academy
''Star Trek: Klingon Academy'' is a Space flight simulator game, space flight simulator video game developed by 14 Degrees East, an internal development house of publisher Interplay Entertainment. The game follows a young Klingon warrior named Tor ...
'' games, and ''Starfleet Command'' series, beginning with ''
Star Trek: Starfleet Command''. Another game, ''
Star Trek: Secret of Vulcan Fury'', was in development in the late 1990s but was never completed and much of its staff laid off due to budgetary cuts prompted by various factors. In 1995, after several years of delays, Interplay finally published its role-playing game ''
Stonekeep''. Other PC games released during the mid- to late 1990s included ''
Carmageddon
''Carmageddon'' is a vehicular combat video game released for personal computers in 1997. It was produced by Stainless Games and published by Interplay Productions and Sales Curve Interactive. It was later ported to other platforms, and spawned ...
'', ''
Fragile Allegiance'', ''
Hardwar'' and ''
Redneck Rampage
''Redneck Rampage'' is a 1997 first-person shooter game developed by Xatrix Entertainment and published by Interplay Entertainment, Interplay. The game is a first-person shooter with a variety of weapons and levels, and has a hillbilly theme, pr ...
''.
In 1997, Interplay developed and released ''
Fallout
Nuclear fallout is the residual radioactive material propelled into the upper atmosphere following a nuclear blast, so called because it "falls out" of the sky after the explosion and the shock wave has passed. It commonly refers to the radioac ...
'', a successful and critically acclaimed role-playing video game set in a
retro-futuristic
Retrofuturism (adjective ''retrofuturistic'' or ''retrofuture'') is a movement in the creative arts showing the influence of depictions of the future produced in an earlier era. If futurism is sometimes called a "science" bent on anticipatin ...
post-apocalyptic setting.
Black Isle Studios
Black Isle Studios is a division of the developer and publisher Interplay Entertainment that develops role-playing video games. It has published several games from other developers.
Black Isle is based in Irvine, California. The division was f ...
, a newly created in-house developer, followed with the sequel, ''
Fallout 2
''Fallout 2: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game'' is a 1998 role-playing video game developed by Black Isle Studios and published by Interplay Productions. It is a sequel to ''Fallout (video game), Fallout'' (1997), featuring similar graphics and ...
'', in 1998. Another successful subsequent Interplay franchise was ''
Baldur's Gate
''Baldur's Gate'' is a series of role-playing video games set in the Forgotten Realms '' Dungeons & Dragons'' campaign setting. The game has spawned two series, known as the ''Bhaalspawn Saga'' and the ''Dark Alliance'', both taking place mostl ...
'', a ''
Dungeons & Dragons
''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical Studies Rules ...
'' game that was developed by
BioWare
BioWare is a Canadian video game developer based in Edmonton, Alberta. It was founded in 1995 by newly graduated Doctor of Medicine, medical doctors Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuk and Augustine Yip, alongside Trent Oster, Brent Oster, and Marcel Zes ...
and which spawned a successful expansion, sequel and spin-off series. The spin-off series started with ''
Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance''; the game's success forged a sequel as well. Aside from ''Dark Alliance'', Interplay published a few notable console series such as ''
Loaded'' and the fighting game series ''
ClayFighter
''ClayFighter'' is a fighting/beat 'em up series of video games. The series is noted for having character sprites rendered from clay-animated figures, and for having humorous parodies of other fighting games such as ''Street Fighter'' and ''M ...
'' and the games by
Shiny Entertainment
Shiny Entertainment, Inc. was an American video game developer based in Laguna Beach, California. Founded in October 1993 by David Perry (game developer), David Perry, Shiny was the creator of video games such as ''Earthworm Jim (video game), E ...
, ''
MDK
''MDK'' is a 1997 third-person shooter video game developed by Shiny Entertainment for Microsoft Windows. It was ported to Mac OS by Shokwave, and to the PlayStation by Neversoft. It was published on all systems by PIE in North America, with S ...
'' and ''
Wild 9
''Wild 9'' is a 2.5D platform video game for the PlayStation (console), PlayStation. The game was designed by David Perry (game developer), David Perry, developed by Shiny Entertainment, and published by Interplay Productions; all of which were pa ...
''.
Interplay Entertainment
By 1998, the financial situation at Interplay was dire and the company was in bankruptcy court. To avert bankruptcy, Interplay went public on the
NASDAQ
The Nasdaq Stock Market () (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations Stock Market) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the US by volume, and ranked second ...
stock exchange under the name Interplay Entertainment.
Interplay continued to endure losses under Brian Fargo due to increased competition, less than stellar returns on Interplay's sports division and the lack of console titles. This forced Interplay to seek additional funding two years later with an investment from
, a Paris-based game company. Titus agreed to invest 25 million dollars in Interplay and a few months later this was followed up by an additional 10 million investment. Interplay also acquired a 49.9% ownership in publisher
Virgin Interactive
Virgin Interactive Entertainment (later renamed Avalon Interactive) was the video game publishing division of British conglomerate the Virgin Group. It developed and published games for major platforms and employed developers, including Westwo ...
in February 1999. With this, Interplay would be able to distribute Virgin's games in North America, while Virgin would distribute Interplay's games in Europe.
By 2001, Titus Interactive completed its acquisition of majority control of Interplay. Immediately afterwards, they shed most of Interplay's publisher functions and signed a long-term agreement under which
Vivendi Universal Games
Vivendi Games was an American video game publisher and holding company based in Los Angeles. It was founded in 1996 as CUC Software, the publishing subsidiary of CUC International, after the latter acquired video game companies Davidson & Associ ...
would distribute Interplay's games. Eventually, Interplay founder Brian Fargo departed at the start of 2002 to found
InXile Entertainment
inXile Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer and a studio of Xbox Game Studios based in Tustin, California. Specializing in role-playing video games, inXile was founded in 2002 by Interplay co-founder Brian Fargo. The studi ...
as Fargo's plan to change Interplay's main focus from PC gaming to console gaming failed. Herve Caen took over the role of CEO to perform triage and made several unpopular but arguably necessary decisions to cancel various projects, in order to save the company. Interplay sold
Shiny Entertainment
Shiny Entertainment, Inc. was an American video game developer based in Laguna Beach, California. Founded in October 1993 by David Perry (game developer), David Perry, Shiny was the creator of video games such as ''Earthworm Jim (video game), E ...
to
Infogrames
Atari SA (formerly Infogrames Entertainment SA) is a French video game holding company headquartered in Paris. Its subsidiaries include Atari Interactive and Atari, Inc. It is the current owner of the Atari brand through Atari Interactive. Bec ...
and several game properties while closing
BlueSky Software
BlueSky Software was an American video game developer based in California. Formed in 1988, BlueSky closed in March 2001, when parent company Titus Interactive was in financial trouble. The BlueSky trademark continued to be owned by Titus Interac ...
. Due to a low share price, Interplay's shares were delisted from the NASDAQ in 2002 and now trade on the over the counter (OTC) market. Interplay's European operations were completely sold to Titus Interactive, which included their share of Virgin Interactive, which Titus renamed to
Avalon Interactive
Virgin Interactive Entertainment (later renamed Avalon Interactive) was the video game publishing division of British conglomerate the Virgin Group. It developed and published games for major platforms and employed developers, including Westwo ...
in August 2003. With this, Titus had complete control over publishing and distributing Interplay's games in Europe under the Avalon Interactive name.
On September 29, 2003, Interplay announced it had canceled its distribution deal with
Vivendi Universal Games
Vivendi Games was an American video game publisher and holding company based in Los Angeles. It was founded in 1996 as CUC Software, the publishing subsidiary of CUC International, after the latter acquired video game companies Davidson & Associ ...
, due to Vivendi suing them for alleged breaches of the working agreement and failure of payment. On December 8, 2003, Interplay laid off the entire Black Isle Studios staff. The company was also involved in issues including debt.
Feargus Urquhart
Feargus Urquhart is a Scottish-American video game designer and CEO of Obsidian Entertainment.
Career
Urquhart is best known for his work at Interplay Entertainment, particularly as leader of Black Isle Studios, Interplay's internal ro ...
later left Black Isle Studios and Interplay suffered a loss of US$20 million in that year.
In 2005, Titus Interactive, S.A. filed for bankruptcy and closed down all their assets parts of which Interplay acquired. The bankruptcy of Titus led to Interplay being burdened with debt. Interplay faced bankruptcy again and was brought to bankruptcy court in 2006. To pay off creditors, the company altered its licensing agreement with Bethesda Software and then sold the Fallout
IP to
Bethesda Softworks
Bethesda Softworks LLC is an American video game publisher based in Rockville, Maryland. The company was founded by Christopher Weaver in 1986 as a division of Media Technology Limited, and in 1999 became a subsidiary of ZeniMax Media. In its ...
in 2007.
In September 2008, several games from Interplay's catalog were re-released on the
digital distribution
Digital distribution, also referred to as content delivery, online distribution, or electronic software distribution, among others, is the delivery or distribution of digital media content (media), content such as Sound recording and reproductio ...
service
GOG.com
GOG.com (formerly Good Old Games) is a digital distribution platform for video games and films. It is operated by GOG sp. z o.o., a wholly owned subsidiary of CD Projekt based in Warsaw, Poland. GOG.com delivers DRM-free video games through it ...
after being
unavailable in retail distribution for years.
In August 2013, Interplay acquired the remaining rights to the ''
FreeSpace'' franchise for $7,500 after THQ went to bankruptcy court.
In September 2016, Interplay announced its intent to sell off its
intellectual property
Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, cop ...
, composed of 70 games, working together with Wedbush Securities.
Interplay is co-publishing, with
3D Realms
3D Realms Entertainment ApS is a video game publisher based in Aalborg, Denmark. Scott Miller (entrepreneur), Scott Miller founded the company in his parents' home in Garland, Texas, in 1987 as Apogee Software Productions to release his game ' ...
, a remaster of Xatrix Entertainment's 1999 game ''
Kingpin: Life of Crime'', which was originally published by Interplay. Known as ''Kingpin: Reloaded'', the game will be developed by
Slipgate Ironworks. This was announced on January 17, 2020.
In 2021 Interplay, via Black Isle Studios, re-released ''Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance'' on modern consoles, and later that year also released a port of it on PC for the first time.
Litigation
In 2003 and 2004 Snowblind Studios and Interplay Entertainment were engaged in a dispute regarding the
Dark Alliance Engine
Snowblind Studios was an American video game developer located in Kirkland, Washington. They were founded in 1997, specializing in role-playing video games.
In February 2009, Snowblind Studios was acquired by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. ...
for ''
Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel'', ''Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II'', and the
GameCube
The is a home video game console developed and released by Nintendo in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, and in PAL territories in 2002. It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 (1996), and predecessor of the Wii ...
version of the original ''Dark Alliance''. The dispute was resolved and Interplay would be allowed to work with materials already using the Dark Alliance Engine.
Bethesda Softworks
Bethesda Softworks LLC is an American video game publisher based in Rockville, Maryland. The company was founded by Christopher Weaver in 1986 as a division of Media Technology Limited, and in 1999 became a subsidiary of ZeniMax Media. In its ...
sued Interplay in 2009, regarding the ''
Fallout Online
''Fallout Online'' is a cancelled massively multiplayer online game (MMO) set in the ''Fallout'' universe that was being developed by Masthead Studios and was to be published by Interplay, with members of the Interplay team providing creative ...
'' license and selling of ''Fallout Trilogy'' and sought an injunction to stop development of ''Fallout Online'' and sales of ''Fallout Trilogy''. After several trials spanning almost three years, and in exchange for $2 million dollars, Interplay gave Bethesda the full rights for ''Fallout Online''. Interplay's rights to sell and merchandise ''Fallout'', ''Fallout 2,'' and ''
Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel'' expired on December 31, 2013.
In 2010,
TopWare Interactive
TopWare Interactive – AC Enterprises e.K. is a German video game publisher based in Karlsruhe. The company is best known for publishing the '' Two Worlds'' series developed by its Reality Pump Studios division.
History
TopWare Interactive w ...
revealed that they were developing ''
Battle vs. Chess'' to be published by
SouthPeak Games
SouthPeak Interactive Corporation, doing business as SouthPeak Games, was an American video game publisher based in Midlothian, Virginia. Founded on March 1, 1996, as a subsidiary of SAS Institute in Cary, North Carolina, it was sold and move ...
. Interplay sued them and won an injunction to stop sales in the United States. In 2012, Interplay won the case via default and a settlement for $200,000 plus interest was agreed upon on November 15, 2012.
Games
Studios
*
Interplay Discovery; a subdivision founded in 2010 aimed at publishing games made by independent video game developers.
*
Black Isle Studios
Black Isle Studios is a division of the developer and publisher Interplay Entertainment that develops role-playing video games. It has published several games from other developers.
Black Isle is based in Irvine, California. The division was f ...
in
Orange County, California
Orange County is located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in Southern California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,186,989, making it the third-most-populous county in California, the sixth-most-populous in the United States, a ...
, started in 1996.
Defunct studios
*
14 Degrees East
Interplay Entertainment Corp. is an American video game developer and publisher based in Los Angeles. The company was founded in 1983 as Interplay Productions by developers Brian Fargo, Jay Patel, Troy Worrell, and Rebecca Heineman, as well a ...
, the strategy division of Interplay, located in
Beverly Hills
Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. A notable and historic suburb of Greater Los Angeles, it is in a wealthy area immediately southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Bev ...
and founded in 1999.
*
BlueSky Software
BlueSky Software was an American video game developer based in California. Formed in 1988, BlueSky closed in March 2001, when parent company Titus Interactive was in financial trouble. The BlueSky trademark continued to be owned by Titus Interac ...
in California, started in 1988, closed in 2001.
* Brainstorm in
Irvine, California
Irvine () is a Planned community, master-planned city in South Orange County, California, United States, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Irvine Company started developing the area in the 1960s and the city was formally incorporated on ...
.
* Digital Mayhem, an Interplay development studio that ported ''
Giants: Citizen Kabuto'' to the PS2 and developed ''
Run Like Hell
"Run Like Hell" is a song by the English progressive rock band Pink Floyd, written by David Gilmour and Roger Waters. It appears on the album ''The Wall''. It was released as a single in 1980, reaching #15 in the Canadian singles chart as well as ...
''.
* FlatCat
* Interplay Films, a division of Interplay Entertainment, was formed in 1998 and was supposed to develop seven of the company's most popular video game titles into movies, including ''Descent'', ''Redneck Rampage,'' and ''Fallout''. Its president was Tom Reed.
*
Interplay Sports
Interplay Entertainment Corp. is an American video game developer and publisher based in Los Angeles. The company was founded in 1983 as Interplay Productions by developers Brian Fargo, Jay Patel, Troy Worrell, and Rebecca Heineman, as well a ...
located in Beverly Hills was the internal sports division at Interplay. The division was founded in 1995 as VR Sports, but changed its name in 1998.
*
MacPlay
MacPlay is the name used by a series of three American publishers of Macintosh video games.
History
MacPlay was founded in the early 1990s as a division of Interplay Entertainment. It was led by producer Bill Dugan. During this period, M ...
, ported games to
Mac OS
Two major famlies of Mac operating systems were developed by Apple Inc.
In 1984, Apple debuted the operating system that is now known as the "Classic" Mac OS with its release of the original Macintosh System Software. The system, rebranded "M ...
from 1990–1997. The brand was licensed to United Developers, LLC in 2000.
*
Shiny Entertainment
Shiny Entertainment, Inc. was an American video game developer based in Laguna Beach, California. Founded in October 1993 by David Perry (game developer), David Perry, Shiny was the creator of video games such as ''Earthworm Jim (video game), E ...
in
Laguna Beach, California
Laguna Beach (; ''Laguna'', Spanish language, Spanish for "Lagoon") is a seaside resort city located in southern Orange County, California, in the United States. It is known for its mild year-round climate, scenic coves, environmental preservat ...
, founded in 1993, acquired in 1995, sold to
Atari
Atari () is a brand name that has been owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by French publisher Atari SA through a subsidiary named Atari Interactive. The original Atari, Inc. (1972–1992), Atari, Inc., ...
in 2002. It later merged with
The Collective to form
Double Helix Games
Double Helix Games was an American video game developer based in Irvine, California, founded in October 2007 through the merger of The Collective and Shiny Entertainment, two studios owned by Foundation 9 Entertainment. Double Helix was acquir ...
in 2007.
* Tantrum Entertainment, developer of ''
NHRA Drag Racing''
* Tribal Dreams, a developer that had only finished one game, ''
Of Light and Darkness
''Of Light and Darkness: The Prophecy'', also known as simply ''Of Light and Darkness'', is a first-person point-and-click adventure video game developed by Tribal Dreams and published by Interplay Entertainment in 1998.
Plot and gameplay
''Of L ...
''. They were shutdown in late 1998 in conjunction with the cancelled adventure game ''
Star Trek: Secret of Vulcan Fury''.
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
American companies established in 1983
1983 establishments in California
Brentwood, Los Angeles
Companies based in Los Angeles
Companies traded over-the-counter in the United States
Video game companies based in California
Video game companies established in 1983
Video game companies of the United States
Video game development companies
Video game publishers