More Black Isle Goodbyes

I hate having to post such sad news, but I noticed that Black Isle’s Tom French and Kevin Osborne stopped by Interplay’s official forums to post their goodbyes. Here is what Tom had to say:

Earlier this week I had originally written a really long post, full of stories and emotions narrative that I was going to post, but deleted it as it was really starting to read like a voice over to a movie that really wasn’t going anywhere (kinda like the last two Matrix movies ) and I felt I needed to simplify and just express the core of it. So I’ve spent most of this week just sitting back and thinking about what happened to myself and my team. I was pretty much the first “new” employee in Black Isle up until, what I perceive for all intensive purposes to be, the end of it. All I can say is it’s hard to really just completely just let go of something that I put so much of myself into over the past six years.

I can say I’m very proud to have been a part of it all. I’ve made so many great games while part of Black Isle, how could I not be. In the end I just really want to say thanks to all the people I worked with over the years, especially the team I was working with in the end. A very dedicated group who struggled through some of the worst conditions possible in order to keep working on the game we kept making up until the final day. Most of us stayed, despite having other offers lined up on the table, for mainly two reasons: 1) Loyalty to Black Isle and what it once was and a desire to keep it alive and 2) The desire to make another great Fallout game. Over the past six months, each and every one of those people gave me a reason to stay and help try and keep pushing things forward. Would the glory days of BIS return in the future? That remains to be seen, but what I think what would have happened would have been a sort of second renaissance for our games. Things would have been different, but we would have most likely proven with Van Buren that we as a division still cared a great deal about the games we made and the fans they were for. In the end, if there’s anything I will most regret, it will be not finishing this game with my team. I love them all.

So where do I go now? Currently, I’m just collecting my thoughts and ideas on this subject and am not going to really make any big pushes until the new year rolls around. I have a few options on my plate, some leads to others, or a chance to figure it out and do what I’ve always wanted to do in the game industry.

Since I’m not sure how often I’ll be back to these forums (hell, I was bad about checking on them when I was at BIS ), I want to thank you all for all your support, kind words, and even offering to put up funds for us (not really necessary, but thank you), THANK YOU VERY MUCH! Hopefully, in the years to come, our paths will cross again.