Black Isle Studios

Lore & Background

Created in 1996 by Feargus Urquhart, the studio was named Black Isle after Urquhart's homeland. The studio, although credited for the creation of Fallout was, in fact, not responsible for the game. Rather a key portion of the original studio came from the team that made Fallout. When developing Fallout 2, several employees left Interplay to form Troika Games after they 'were unable to come to an agreement with Interplay as to how [their] next team should be structured.' The remaining team would go on to release such critically acclaimed games as Planescape: Torment, and Icewind Dale. The studio also released critically acclaimed Baldur's Gate and Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn developed by BioWare. In the years leading to the closure of Black Isle, Interplay's financial difficulties would worsen, leading to the cancellation of anticipated games such as Black Isle's Torn and Stonekeep 2: Godmaker, releasing only Icewind Dale II, publishing Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader and developing Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II. On December 8, 2003, in the midst of serious financial difficulties, Interplay laid off the entire Black Isle Studios staff, which also resulted in the cancellation of Baldur's Gate III: The Black Hound, Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance III and the original Fallout 3. In 2012, Interplay had been trying for several years to get the troubled Project V13 off the ground. Originally conceived as a massively multiplayer online game set in the world of Fallout, the project suffered a significant setback when Interplay lost all rights to use the Fallout brand. As part of their efforts to restart the project anew, Interplay revived Black Isle Studios with two of its original team members and began a crowdfunding campaign to fund a prototype in 2012. The campaign did not raise sufficient funds to develop a playable prototype, and communications from Interplay and Black Isle about the project had ceased completely by early 2014.

Reader's Guide

Black Isle Studios developed Fallout (1997), Fallout 2 (1998), Planescape: Torment (1999), Icewind Dale (2000), Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter (2001), Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter – Trials of the Luremaster (2001), Icewind Dale II (2002), and Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II (2004). It published Baldur's Gate (1998), Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast (1999), Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn (2000), Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal (2001), Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance (2001), and Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader (2003). Two compilations bearing its name were also released: Black Isle Compilation (2002) and Black Isle Compilation Part Two (2004). Cancelled projects include Stonekeep 2: Godmaker (2001), Torn (2001), Van Buren (2003), Baldur's Gate III: The Black Hound (2003), Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance III (2004), and Project V13 (2012).

Did You Know?

• In 1999, IGN's RPG Vault gave Black Isle Studios the award for Developer of the Year.
• Black Isle Studios released Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance remastered in May 2021.