Rest in Peace, Black Isle Studios

[Tristan Palmgren]

Black Isle, the dev team that created the Fallout series, co-authored Baldur's Gate, Planescape: Torment, and others, has been almost entirely laid off, and their major projects (among them, now confirmed, Fallout 3 and Baldur's Gate 3, though BG3 was not a continuation of earlier storylines) have been canceled. The entirety of the original dev team is gone, and the Black Isle logo is now just a meaningless sticker that the floundering Interplay parent company will slap on games as it shifts to budget shooters and console games.

So, the lobotomized gerbils that run Interplay have decided that the ambitious, highly-anticipated projects that they've already poured oddles of cash into are suddenly no longer worth it -- so they've laid off the entire Black Isle team, the same team that has habitually brought them their highest revenues, two weeks before Christmas.

Interplay hasn't even offered an explanation.

Visiting the Interplay forums right now, I have to admit I'm getting a particularly malicious sense of satisfaction as I see hundreds of people join the forums just to revolt and boycott future Interplay products.

[Jim Doe]

This . . . isn't right.

I wasn't really prepared to believe you at first, Sir Tris . . . despite the fact that you are one of the most reliable people I've known on the 'net, ya have to admit that this is a pretty damn hard pill to swallow, neh? But I just got done skimming through the Black Isle forums myself and . . . damn. This just isn't right at all.

What in the world would possess Interplay to pull such a stunt?! If they were looking to make cost cuts, then surely there was somewhere else they could make them, neh? Giving the Black Isle developers the axe seems to be fairly equatable to Interplay cutting off their right arm then not worrying about stopping the bleeding! Why get rid of one of their biggest moneymakers?!

It's just made worse that this was done to these people this close to Christmas, and it was even announced on one of the developer's birthday.

I just hope that maybe the Black Isle folks will be able to band together either under another banner or, perhaps (and this is strictly a pipe dream, I well understand) form their own company sometime in the near future.

Thank you for the news, Sir Tristan, even if it is like a dagger right in the back. I guess hope for a Planescape: Torment sequel has to go on hold, if not given up on forever.

[Yojimbo101387]

Meh, Interplay probably had their reasons, but that sucks. Word to the wise: never form an opinion until you know the entire story.

[Tristan Palmgren]

Interplay hasn't gone out of their way to offer one.

When someone acts like a lobotomized gerbil and won't explain why, I think you have every right to believe that they are, in fact, lobotomized gerbils.

[Jim Doe]

Besides, regardless of their reasons, the effect is still the same . . . we are extremely unhappy about the fact that they've dismissed Black Isle.