02.16.99
Interplay Entertainment Corp. has signed an agreement with Virgin Interactive, announcing that today the two companies have completed agreements regarding publishing, sales, marketing, and distribution operations in Europe. Under the agreement, Virgin will distribute most of Interplay's titles in Europe, and Interplay will most of Virgin's titles in North America, South America, and other territories, including Japan. As part of the agreement, Interplay has acquired 49.9% ownership interest in the parent company of Virgin. Virgin will also hire on Interplay's sales and marketing personnel. All of this is being done in an effort to return Interplay to profitability.

"We have initiated efforts to reduce our operating costs company-wide and have implemented a narrower product development focus by returning to the kinds of titles, such as role-playing games, upon which we built the company and where we have a dominant position," said Brian Fargo, Interplay's chairman and chief executive officer. "Both Baldur's Gate and Fallout 2 have done very well and we have an exciting lineup of titles scheduled for introduction later this year. We believe there are synergistic opportunities available to us where we can combine our strengths with those of other companies to maximize Interplay's long-term growth."