Bethesda has paid Interplay $5.75 million in exchange for the rights to the Fallout IP. This is in addition to the earlier payment of $1.14 million that was made to secure the rights to the franchise. Bethesda is now licensing the Fallout IP to Interplay for four years, which Interplay must use to launch the Fallout MMO, or lose the license altogether. In exchange, Bethesda will receive 12 percent of all of the fees collected for the MMO.

The Fallout series of games was made by the now-defunct Black Isle Studios. The series currently consists of Fallout, Fallout 2, and Fallout Tactics - Brotherhood of Steel.

Bethesda has added a Fallout section to their website, opening the official forums for the franchise.