Interplay Entertainment

Background

Interplay Entertainment Corp. is an American video game developer and publisher based in Los Angeles. The company was founded in November 1983 as Interplay Productions by developers Brian Fargo, Jay Patel, Troy Worrell and Rebecca Heineman, as well as investor Chris Wells. Interplay is best known as the creator of the Fallout series and as a publisher for the Baldur's Gate and Descent series.

In the late 90's, Interplay owned several smaller studios, including Shiny Entertainment, BlueSky Software and Black Isle Studios, while also acquiring a 49% stake in British game publisher Virgin Interactive. By 2001, French game publisher Titus Software owned a majority control in the company, which originally helped fund Interplay since a few years before as the company tried to avoid bankruptcy.

After their well-known financial struggle throughout the early 2000s which culminated in 2006, when Interplay was one step away from total bankruptcy after majority owner Titus Software filed for such (which Interplay later acquired the assets of), no games were made for several years; instead, the company sold the Fallout IP to Bethesda Softworks in 2007 to pay off most of its debt.

Today, the studio seems to be attempting a full revival, with a remaster of Kingpin: Life of Crime announced in January 2020, a 4K port of Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance released to modern consoles and PC in 2021 and an Earthworm Jim animated series in production.

1st Logo (February 10, 1988-October 31, 1999, February 15, 2010-October 15, 2012)

Clayfighter
Descent
Redneck Rampage
Earthworm Jim HD
Earthworm Jim HD (copyright screen)
Atomic Bomberman
Renegade Racers

Nicknames: "Signature", "The Interplay Signature"

Logo: The custom-drawn word "Interplay", with a swirl signature line below.

Variants:

The early version is tilted left a little bit, and has no signature line.
The signature-less logo was also seen on a green marble plate, different from the one used in the second logo. This was spotted on Battle Chess 4000 and Buzz Aldrin's Race Into Space.
Sometimes, the logo features red text and a blue signature line.
On Clayfighter for SNES, the logo scrolls to the back of the screen, then turns 90º towards the front of the screen, zooms out and immediately zooms back on to the front of the screen, then splits apart to the left and right of the screen.
On Clayfighter 63⅓ for N64, the signature is in rainbow color and made out of plasticine. The letter P drips down into a C, making the name.
On Clayfighter: The Sculptor's Cut for N64 (a special edition of Clayfighter 63⅓, which was only released as a Blockbuster Video rental exclusive), the logo rotates like a gyroscope in the top-left corner, with "Interplay" to the left and the signature line to the right. In the bottom-right corner is copyright info. The logo also emits sparks.
On Descent, the logo lies on stone and looks more realistic, like it's made of gold.
On Descent 2 for PS1, the logo is in space and has "presents" below.
On Blackthorne for 32X, the logo is small and placed on a stone background.
On Atomic Bomberman, the purple logo hangs over a bomb. The fuse acts as the signature line.
On Redneck Rampage and its add-ons, we see the logo on a shot wooden sign. There are the words "POPULATION 414", "BY GAMERS FOR GAMERS" and the website URL.
On Carmageddon 2, the logo is placed on a wooden wall at night with three lamps lighting the wall. As the camera slowly scrolls to the right, a car's light is seen moving through the wall, as well as the red lights of a police car on the nearby trees.
On Renegade Racers, the logo lies on water and has a ripple.
On MDK 2 and Virtual Pool 3, the neon logo lies on a stone-like surface.
On Earthworm Jim HD for iOS, the background is white and the logo has the slogan "BY GAMERS FOR GAMERS" below.

FX/SFX: None, except for the Clayfighter and Carmageddon variants.

Music/Sounds: None or the opening theme of the game.

Music/Sounds Variants:

On Clayfighter 63⅓, there is an announcer saying "Interplay presents... Clayfighter 63⅓."
On Carmageddon 2, the sounds of a car and a police car are heard over crickets in the background.

Availability: The gold logo can be seen on Clayfighter, Claymates, Earthworm Jim, Descent and other games. The red-blue logo is seen on M.A.X., Redneck Rampage, the Carmageddon games and Interplay's iPhone games.

2nd Logo (1994-1999)

Nicknames: "The Interplay Signature II", "Interplay in Space"

Logo: On a space background, we see a green marble rectangle flying from the left side of the screen, tilting and spinning around slowly, until it zooms so far away, it appears to be just a little green dot. Then, a red laser comes out of nowhere, engraving something on the rectangle. The camera suddenly zooms in, and we turn 90 degrees to see that it is drawing the word "Interplay" in a cursive font with the swirly signature line underneath. When the laser stops drawing the logo, the logo centers itself as fiery sparks shoot out.

Variant: The logo may be still and take up the whole screen.

FX/SFX: The marble rectangle moving and the laser writing.

Music/Sounds: An ominous synth-bass hum, then a choir sounder, which ascends into an uplifting orchestral tune that sounds like something you would hear in a 1990s action movie. None for the still version.

Availability: Can be seen on games like Cyberia and Norse by Norsewest for DOS. Some games still contained the 1st signature logo. The static version appeared on Virtual Pool and Crime Killer.

3rd Logo (September 30, 1997-January 14, 2004)

Nicknames: "The Interplay Signature III", "The Interplay Orbit", "Interplay in Space II", "By Gamers, For Gamers"

Logo: We see a planet with an orbit around it, with a rocket spinning around the planet by that orbit (all made of metallic gold). The circle made out of Interplay's tagline "BY GAMERS FOR GAMERS" spins around the planet too. Suddenly, the word "Interplay" appears in the words' line, centers on the planet and stops. Then the logo fades while the rocket keeps flying, leaving only "Interplay" in its familiar font.

Trivia: The planet in the logo (along with its rocket) was originally the logo for the fictional Galaxy News Network in the Fallout introduction cinematic.

Variants:

On Wild 9, the logo is sped-up.
On Draconus: Cult of the Wyrm, the logo is still with the rocket at a lower point.

FX/SFX: CGI animation.

Music/Sounds: The last 15 seconds from the previous logo, albeit without the laser sounds.

Music/Sounds Variants:

On Draculus: Cult of the Wyrm, the logo is silent.
On Wild 9, the music is sped-up.

Availability: Appears on games like Fallout (the first game with this logo), its sequel and the spin-off Brotherhood of Steel, Wild 9, Icewind Dale, Lionheart, and Gekido.