Interplay up for grabs

Interplay Entertainment Corp. has announced today that it is negotiating with an as-yet unidentified third party to be acquired. Interplay remarked that “no binding or definitive agreement had been reached” with its unnamed buyer however, and it says that there can be no assurance than an agreement will be reached.

Interplay is a longtime publisher of computer and video games. The company was once a leading publisher of Macintosh games — throughout the 90’s its MacPlay division offered A-list and casual games for Mac users. When Apple fell on hard times prior to the iMacs release in 1998, Interplay ceased its Mac efforts. The MacPlay brand continues to live on, however. It was relaunched last year under the ownership of United Developers.

Interplay has continued to have a hand in Macintosh gaming, albeit as a rather distant third party. The company has licensed its titles for the Mac through publishers like GraphSim Entertainment (which brought Baldur’s Gate and Descent III to the Mac). The new MacPlay has plans to bring several Interplay-licensed titles to the Mac, as well — including Baldur’s Gate II, Starfleet Command II, Giants: Citizen Kabuto and Sacrifice. Interplay also plans to publish Bioware’s Neverwinter Nights role-playing game, which will ship with support for four platforms out of the box, including Mac OS.

Interplay said that the price discussions “reflected a modest premium” compared with the company’s current stock value over the past 20 trading days. The company’s stock is trading at just less than $3 per share as we went to press with this article, about 5 percent off from the day’s opening trade (it’s been hovering between 2 and 3 dollars per share for the past month.)