Type Subsidiary Products Video games Founder Feargus Urquhart Parent organization Interplay Entertainment | Industry Video game industry Website www.blackisle.com Ceased operations 2003 | |
 | ||
Key people Feargus Urquhart, Chris Avellone, Josh Sawyer, Darren Monahan, Chris Parker Founded 1996, Orange County, California, United States Headquarters Irvine, California, United States Video games Planescape: Torment, Baldur's Gate, Fallout 2, Icewind Dale, Baldur's Gate II: Shadows | ||
Black Isle Studios was a division of the computer and video game developer and publisher Interplay Entertainment that developed role-playing video games. It also published several games from other developers.
Contents
Black Isle was based in Irvine, California. The division was formed in 1996, adopting the name "Black Isle Studios" in 1998. The idea for the division's name came from the Black Isle in Scotland - founder Feargus Urquhart's ancestral country. Black Isle Studios is most famous for working on the first two games in the popular and influential Fallout series as well as the critically acclaimed Planescape: Torment. They also achieved success with the Icewind Dale and Baldur's Gate series of role-playing video games, though they only published the Baldur's Gate series. In 1999, IGN's RPG Vault gave it the award for a Developer Of The Year.
Founding
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, but rather a key portion of the original studio came from the team that made Fallout. When developing Fallout 2, the studio's first official game, 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 Fallout 2, Planescape: Torment, Icewind Dale and produce the critically acclaimed Baldur's Gate and Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn in conjunction with BioWare.
Closure
In the years leading to the closure of Black Isle, Interplay's financial difficulties would worsen, leading for the team to cancel anticipated games 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.
Developed
Published
Compilations
Two compilations bearing their name were also released:
Canceled
Canceled projects include: