Black Isle Studios is a division of the

developer Developer may refer to: Computers * Software developer, a person or organization who develop programs/applications * Video game developer, a person or business involved in video game development, the process of designing and creating games * Web d ...

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 ...

Interplay Entertainment Interplay Entertainment Corp. is an American video game developer and Video game publisher, publisher based in Los Angeles. The company was founded in 1983 as Interplay Productions by developers Brian Fargo, Jay Patel, Troy Worrell, and Rebecca ...

that develops role-playing video games. It has published several games from other developers. Black Isle is based in Irvine,

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. The division was formed in 1996, adopting the name "Black Isle Studios" in 1998. The idea for the division's name came from the

Black Isle The Black Isle ( gd, an t-Eilean Dubh, ) is a peninsula within Ross and Cromarty, in the Scottish Highlands. It includes the towns of Cromarty and Fortrose, and the villages of Culbokie, Jemimaville, Rosemarkie, Avoch, Munlochy, Tore, and ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

- founder

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 ...

's ancestral country. Black Isle Studios is most famous for working on the first two games in 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 as well as the critically acclaimed '' Planescape: Torment''. They achieved success with the ''

Icewind Dale ''Icewind Dale'' is a role-playing video game developed by Black Isle Studios and originally published by Interplay Entertainment for Windows in 2000 and by MacPlay for the Macintosh in 2002 (both the Classic Mac OS and OS X). The game takes pl ...

'' and ''

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 ...

'' series of role-playing video games, though they only published the ''Baldur's Gate'' series. In 1999,

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...

's RPG Vault gave it the award for a Developer of the Year. The company was closed in late 2003 due to Interplay's financial troubles. Interplay briefly revived the Black Isle name in August 2012 with the intention of producing new role-playing games under that label. Black Isle Studios released '' Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance'' remastered in May 2021.

History

Created in 1996 by

, the studio was named Black Isle after Urquhart's homeland. The studio, although credited for the creation of ''

'' was, in fact, not responsible for the game. Rather a key portion of the original studio came from the team that made ''Fallout''. When developing ''

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'' (1997), featuring similar graphics and game mechanics. The ...

'', the studio's first official game, several employees left Interplay to form

Troika Games Troika Games was an American video game developer co-founded by Jason Anderson, Tim Cain, and Leonard Boyarsky. The company was focused on role-playing video games between 1998 and 2005, best known for '' Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscur ...

after they "were unable to come to an agreement with Interplay as to how heirnext team should be structured." The remaining team would go on to release such critically acclaimed games as ''Fallout 2'', '' Planescape: Torment'', and ''

''. The studio also released critically acclaimed ''

'' and '' Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn'' developed by

BioWare BioWare is a Canadian video game developer based in Edmonton, Alberta. It was founded in 1995 by newly graduated medical doctors Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuk and Augustine Yip, alongside Trent Oster, Brent Oster, and Marcel Zeschuk. Since 2007, ...

. In the years leading to the closure of Black Isle, Interplay's financial difficulties would worsen, leading for the team to cancel anticipated games as ''

Black Isle's Torn ''Black Isle's Torn'' was a role-playing video game developed for Windows by Black Isle Studios, announced on March 22, 2001 and cancelled in July of that year. The game was to use a modified version of the SPECIAL role-playing system, which ha ...

'' and '' Stonekeep 2: Godmaker'', releasing only ''

Icewind Dale II ''Icewind Dale II'' is a role-playing video game developed by Black Isle Studios and published by Interplay Entertainment, released on August 27, 2002. Like its 2000 predecessor ''Icewind Dale'', the game is set in the ''Forgotten Realms'' fanta ...

'', publishing '' Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader'' and developing '' Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II''. On December 8, 2003, in the midst of serious financial difficulties, Interplay laid off the entire Black Isle Studios staff, which also resulted in the cancellation of '' Baldur's Gate III: The Black Hound'', '' Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance III'' and the original ''

Fallout 3 ''Fallout 3'' is a 2008 action role-playing game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. The third major installment in the ''Fallout'' series, it is the first game to be developed by Bethesda after acquiring ...

''. In 2012, Interplay had been trying for several years to get the troubled

Project V13 ''Project V13'' is a role-playing video game under development by the resurrected Black Isle Studios. The game is the successor to the cancelled Interplay Entertainment '' Fallout Online'' project. The game is reliant on the Black Isle Mayan Ap ...

off the ground. Originally conceived as an

massively multiplayer online game A massively multiplayer online game (MMOG or more commonly MMO) is an online video game with a large number of players, often hundreds or thousands, on the same server. MMOs usually feature a huge, persistent open world, although there are ...

set in the world of ''Fallout'', the project suffered a significant setback when Interplay lost all rights to use the Fallout brand. As part of their efforts to restart the project anew, Interplay revived Black Isle Studios with two of its original team members and began a crowdfunding campaign to fund a prototype in 2012. The campaign did not raise sufficient funds to develop a playable prototype, and communications from Interplay and Black Isle about the project had ceased completely by early 2014.

Games

Developed

*''

'' (1997) *''

'' (1998) *'' Planescape: Torment'' (1999) *''

'' (2000) *'' Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter'' (2001) *'' Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter - Trials of the Luremaster'' (2001) *''

'' (2002) *'' Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II'' (2004)

Published

*''

'' (1998) *'' Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast'' (1999) *'' Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn'' (2000) *'' Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal'' (2001) *'' Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance'' (2001) *'' Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader'' (2003) *'' Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II'' (2004)

Compilations

Two compilations bearing their name were also released: *''Black Isle Compilation'' (2002) *''Black Isle Compilation Part Two'' (2004)

Canceled

Canceled projects include: *'' Stonekeep 2: Godmaker'' (2001) *'' Torn'' (2001) *'' Van Buren'' (2003) *'' Baldur's Gate III: The Black Hound'' (2003) *'' Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance III'' (2004) *''

'' (2012)

Notes

References

{{Authority control Companies based in Irvine, California Video game companies established in 1996 Video game companies disestablished in 2003 Video game companies established in 2012 Video game companies of the United States Video game development companies Interplay Entertainment Re-established companies 1996 establishments in California 2003 disestablishments in California 2012 establishments in California