John Deiley Interview at GameBanshee
Posted Thursday, January 8, 2004 - 1:30 CET by chevalier

GameBanshee have posted an interview with John Deiley, one of the laid off Black Isle employees. They speak about the atmosphere at BIS in the last days before the big lay-off and the state of BIS's projects at that moment. Here's an excerpt:

GB: What do you feel prompted Interplay's decision to close Black Isle Studios?

John: Technically, BIS has not been shut down. Black Isle Studios is a *brand* name that is owned by Interplay Entertainment Corp. As such, Interplay has the right to put the BIS *brand* name on any product it produces.

The fact that there are no original BIS employees working for Interplay is irrelevant.

Anyway, to answer your question, it was done for purely financial reasons. The company could no longer afford to pay us.

GB: Were you aware that such a decision might be made during the final days of the studio, or was it entirely out of the blue?

John: It was always a possibility. The company was in dire financial straights. Direct payroll deposit had been canceled and employees were being paid with live checks. A few of those checks bounced but were later made good on. However, we had reason to believe that we were fine and that the company would pull out of its slump.

Read the rest at GameBanshee.