Industry Veteran Interplay Puts Its Entire Library Of Properties Up For Sale

that's quite a library!

I never could get into Earthworm Jim even though I've tried it a few times. Lost Vikings was very fun, I played so much of the GBA version.

Hopefully if a 3rd Party buys the Earthworm Jim IP, I hope to any deity it's not going to be EA.

Hopefully Way Forward, Nintendo, or Sega snatch Earthworm Jim up. It would be really be awesome if we get a true Earthworm Jim 3 sequel or a remake of EWJ2 as well.

Earthworm Jim? Yes

Clayfighter? Burn it!

I just wish that interplay had bothered to put some of those properties up on the Virtual Console. I never had a chance to play The Lost Vikings, Earthworm Jim or Rock N Roll Racing.

Someday (when I have money), I will buy Clayfighter to remade the serie. Dont forgter tell us who will buy this rights.

@Darknyht Earthworm Jim 1 & 2 are both on the Wii VC, it's the Sega Genesis releases.

I loved the idea of Clayfighter at the time but it was beyond disappointing when I actually got around to playing it.

I know Clayfighter was horrible, but I had so much fun with those games as a kid. I tried revisiting them and was severely disappointed. I guess they're best remembered through the rose-colored glasses of nostalgia.

Somebody needs to pick up Earthworm Jim.

What a huge library of games! I wonder who's gonna purchase the license for Earthworm Jim.

I'll swap you an unopened copy of Xenoblade Chronicles on the Wii version for the MDK IP?

Rayman Origins/Legend are the modern equivalent of Earthworm Jim. This game is so ahead of it's time.

MDK is another pioneering game, probably the first cinematic game using full orchestral soundtrack. (or is it MGS?)

Ah...Earth Worm Jim.
I ever watched the show when i was Teen.

Interplay only published Lost Vikings and Rock N' Roll Racing—though they did develop Rock N' Roll Racing 2—, which were developed by Blizzard (earlier known as Silicone & Synapse). Blizzard were later responsible for publishing GBA ports of both games, so I suspect they retained, reacquired or shared the rights for both.

I bought my first "modern" PC in 1994 (the one in 1983 was a whole other story) and Descent was one of the first games I played that stuck w/ me.

Interplay was pretty much synonymous w/ PC games for me back then.

And who can forget this. I wonder if they could release this in 2016?

And since Damo mentioned them in the article, and this is "Mario on iOS" week, 20 years ago was Mario on PC.

Here's one that Nintendo and DeNA could bring to mobile, Mario teaches texting.
Shame Interplay has gone downhill though.

One of the big publishers will likely purchase these franchises and never do anything with them .. Looking at you, Konami - you never did anything when you purchased Hudson Soft.

Anything worth Nintendo buying? Probably not considering the amount of IP they already have that don't get used every generation. Still I'd like to see Retro make an Earthworm Jim.

This might be something Nordic Games could buy though. They seem to be doing ok with THQ's properties, and they are Nintendo friendly

Hopefully Doug Tennapel gets his hands back on Earthworm Jim.

Also a pity that The Neverhood isn't among those for sale.

Wish Nintendo would buy 'em. Oh well.

That image has so many funny innuendo possibilities.

Earthworm Jim would be an excellent addition to the list of great Nintendo IP's!

Time to put Earthworm Jim in Smas5, complete with EJ2 title screen music and the opening theme from the animated series. Do it Nintendo, do it.

This may mean the Wii VC releases of Interplay's games may be getting pulled soon unless someone that supports the Virtual Console purchases these.

I'd love to see nintendo pick up Earthworm Jim and Boogerman. They were fun games (even though I ended up playing them on the Genesis) and I've been waiting to replay all three of them in HD...even the cursed Earthworm Jim 3D and even though they remade Earthworm Jim for the PS3 and 360. Here's to hoping that nintendo buys their licenses...it's also been a long time for a new Clay Fighters title!!!

@Damo Yep, Blizzard developed The Lost Vikings and Rock n Roll Racing, though they were called Silicon & Synapse back then.

nintendo's already got kid friendly platforming characters across the spectrum. i think earthworm jim is edgier than their normal fare. if they got him, he would be lost in the mire. i think ubisoft is a better fit for the annelid and would look great in their ubiart framework.

Would have been nice to see the list of 70 titles up for grabs.

But safe to say Mario Teaches Typing is the best one available, as it is still the GOAT. It's how I learned typing, way better than the teacher at school.

So many of my favorite games. Is there a full list of IPs they are putting up for sale?

Does anyone know who owns Claymates? Interplay was only the publisher, so does Visual Concepts (now 2K Games) own the rights?

I really loved MDK when I was a kid. I passed the game so many times...

Also The Lost Vikings & Rock n Roll Racing are free on Battle.Net, so Blizzard must own all the rights to those?

https://us.battle.net/account/download/

EDIT: Well Rock n Roll Racing is just a demo, so don't get too excited. lol

Aside from Earthworm Jim... Descent and MDK are where it's at. Any straight 3DS port for either one would rock.
Same for Battlechess, if it's the Battlechess I'm thinking of - you know, the one with the red king and the blue queen making out before one kills the other.

@AlexSora89 Christ I loved Battleschess on the Amiga...even with the awful loading times.

@retro_player_22 I wish someone would remake EWJ2 the way they remade EWJ1. I really liked the remake.

@Jamotello Yes. Ubisoft would be able to make really good use of EWJ. I hope they go for it.

I'd like to see a HD remake of EWJ3 with better controls.

Seems like I'm the only one who liked Interplay's other "clay" game, the side-scroller Claymates for the SNES.
(although I think it was developed by a developer later bought out by Sega. Visual Concepts?)

@rjejr aw man, i thought they seemed like the people that did freespace. ...hey...wait a second...WE need someone to pick up freespace ASAP!

@Yoshis95 Well they did do Descent Freespace long before Freespace was a thing.

I'm still waiting for Ntineod to restart "Free Realms" myself, only called "amiibo Realms" which would make it the opposite of free.

Edit - broken link, sorry.

Wayforward

Buy earthworm Jim.

Now.

@Yorumi Thanks, did not know that.

Rock n' Roll Racing is easily one of my favorite SNES games of all time. Love that game.

I grew up playing the Bard's Tale on the old Apple ii. Feeling a bit wistful right now.

@Yorumi Freespace 2 is my favorite flight sim type game, and probably the best space sim that really gives you a good feeling of the scale of things. it really made you feel small next to those capital ships. The story was amazing too. That darn cliff hanger at the end man. Someone definitely need to pick this up. Quick! someone call cloud imperium games

Wayforward would be a good home for Earthworm Jim....

@KingMike I love Claymates. It was indeed Visual Concepts. They are now a part of Take-Two/2K Games.

I seriously thought this happened years ago.

The fanboy in me wants sega to purchase earthworm jim (I don't know why)

@SuperDude95 I've tried many times, but the Genesis is just an inferior system. I would rather not play them than to use what I consider an inferior port.

Earth Worm Jim and Lost Vikings for Smash Brosh would be monumentally awesome.

Oh and Nintendo Battle Chess with small minigames and different teams would be beyond that. Just think Zelda army vs. Kirby army in a gruel game of chess and minibattles. A Fleeting dream if there ever was one, but now I will have that for the rest of m'life.

Personally, I believe that Sega should have Earthworm Jim. After all, Earthworm Jim was home to Sega consoles. Plus, it's an IP that Sega's Western Subsidiary like Relic Entertainment can pull off!

Rock n' Roll Racing, man. I love that game so much.

Nintendo should pick up one or two of these IP's.

Now if only Konami would follow their example...

I've seen others mention this but I like the idea of Sega having these IP

Descent is looking to have a proper successor in the name of Overload from the original devs. There's a "playable teaser" of it available on Steam. There's also Descent: Underground, but that seems multiplayer-focused and Descent in name only.

Not Nintendo, but seeing some of those titles made me remember how weird and experimental they were. I played MDK, Messiah, and Sacrifice back then. not necessarily great or even good, but pretty memorable.

@GrailUK
Was it the one I was thinking of? With weird battle animations, golem-like Towers and everything?

Interesting news. I wonder how the future will unfold with the franchises/IPs.

@AlexSora89 Yes, the castles transformed into rock monsters that lumbered to squares and squished pawns. The queens were rather sexy too.

Playtonic should buy Earthworm Jim

All I ask is that the Dark Alliance series be picked up. Seriously this is probably my favorite coach co-op dungeon crawler.

@GrailUK
Interplay was behind one of my favorite bonkers titles I used to play on my PC then!

Too bad the WiiWare version of MDK2 never came to Europe. That's a great game.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE I think Clayfighter could be something humourous if it made it into the hands of the right developers. Who those are... eh, I have no idea.

Earthworm Jim however; give that man to Playtonic who have the games kind of hilarity down path.

Wasn't MDK the game where Nintendo basically took all the money from the WiiWare version because it didn't sell enough, like the contract said?

Oh how I dream of playing a new Clay Fighter

Well crap

The Adventure s of Rad Gravity! If someone else doesn't do something about that, I just might. It's an amazing and forgotten gem of a game!

Doesn't look as if anything of value is being lost here. Do they intend to sell ALL of their IP in a once-off transaction or are they selling off their IP piecemeal?

Earthworm Jim and Descent are the only IP there with any "value" that I know of (and even that is stretching it). There could be some value here for Nintendo if the price is right (they could potentially reap most, if not all of the profits of any future VC releases), but I see very little potential in these brands. Considering that Nintendo didn't buy out Atlus when they had the chance, there's no way they'd be touching Interplay's "bargain bin"-calibre IP.

Dark Alliance was one of my favorite games when I was a kid.

Rock n Roll Racing and both Lost Vikings games are some great hidden gems.

Well there are some assets for RCMADIAX to buy now.

Interplay was one of my favorite developers/publishers back in the day.

I'm glad to see the IPs up for sale, this way they might even return to the hands of some of the originators.

Another World, Blackthorne, The Lost Vikings, Fallout and last but not least, Planescape Torment. Interplay was quite the publisher. Their name meant more to me than any other in the world of gaming back in the 90s.

I want Nintendo to buy Earthworm Jim.

I'd like him in Smash brothers.

Also, it didn't last long, but his cartoon was awesome.

Earthworm Jim WOULD be the best buy... I'm pretty sure it's the most developed series.
I haven't heard of the lost Vikings in years!

Maybe I'll take a crack at those licenses. I could use some new toilet paper. Just gimme a minute to crack open my piggy bank...