Fans awaited the arrival of the long-over due Fallout 3 with excitement, only to weep when it was announced that Interplay was ceasing work on the game. A tech demo hit the internet which only rubbed salt in the wounds of many but Bethesda swooped in and picked up the rights. While fans are still hotly debating whether or not their take on the universe was well executed or not, others are waiting with the same contained anxiety for the planned Fallout MMO.

When Bethesda purchased the Fallout IP from Interplay they left behind the MMO rights as part of an agreement that hinged upon Interplay beginning ‘full scale’ work on the game by April fourth as well as having secured funding for the development of the title. Bethesda is considering legal action as they claim that Interplay has fulfilled neither of these conditions.

Interplay is denying all of these claims and their work on a game called ‘Project V13′ hints that there might be more going on than Bethesda is aware of. Unfortunately for Interplay if Bethesda goes ahead with legal action and wins, they’ll have lost all rights to the license and that could lead to problems with the financing as MMOs based on a brand new IP have a low rate of success due to the colossal grip WoW has on the market.