Wasteland 3 will be Brian Fargo’s swan song.
The CEO of InXile Entertainment and the founder of Interplay told Eurogamer he plans to retire after the post-apocalyptic game ships in 2019.
“I think some relaxation is in order,” Fargo said in an email to GamesBeat. “I’ve been on the front lines reinventing myself for almost 40 years.”
Wasteland 3 has gathered more than $3.1 million in crowdfunding money, and Fig announced this morning that investors and fans will be able to invest in the game project, pending regulatory approval.
Fargo started working in games in 1981, and he founded Interplay in 1983. Interplay made games such as Bard’s Tale and the original Wasteland title. It also created games such as Battle Chess, Stonekeep, and many others. At its peak, the company had more than 600 employees.
Fargo also gave other developers their shot at greatness, publishing titles such as BioWare’s Baldur’s Gate and Parallax Software’s Descent. He also contracted the founders of Blizzard (known earlier as Chaos Studios) — Allen Adham, Mike Morhaime, and Frank Pearce — to make their first game.
Interplay filed for a public offering in 1998, and it raised more money from Titus Software in 1999. The relationship deteriorated, and Fargo left Interplay in 2000. He formed InXile Entertainment in 2002. The company saw a strong revival in recent years as an independent publisher of titles, such as crowdfunding successes Wasteland 2 and Torment: Tides of Numenera.
“Wasteland 3 is set to finish and ship in September 2019, so I have a while, though two years goes fast in development time,” Fargo said.
Fargo told Eurogamer, “I love this industry, but I’ve been at this since 1981. I’ve been at it with Ken and Roberta Williams [Sierra co-founders], Trip Hawkins [EA founder], the guys from Brøderbund – I look at my friends, they have a lot more spare time than I do. It’s a very intense business. It’s all encompassing. It seems like I should relax for a little bit.”
