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Black Isle Studios is a division of the developer and publisher Interplay Entertainment formed in 1996 that develops role-playing video games. It has published several games from other developers.

Black Isle is based in Irvine, California. 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 its work on the Fallout series as well as the critically acclaimed Planescape: Torment. They 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. The company was closed in late 2003 due to Interplay's financial troubles.

Interplay briefly revived the Black Isle name in August 2012 with the intention of producing new role-playing games under that label. Black Isle Studios released Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance remastered in May 2021.

Mid to late 1990s: Founding and critical success
In the 1990s, Interplay Entertainment became a prominent developer within the PC game market. Interplay was rapidly expanding, and chief executive officer Brian Fargo decided to split the company into separate divisions. Each division would function as a small game studio that specialized in specific video game genres. Black Isle was founded as the role-playing game (RPG) division in 1996, although the studio's original name was DragonPlay. Developer Feargus Urquhart found the name to be too "nerdy", and instead suggested the name Black Isle in 1998, based on the Black Isle peninsula in the Scottish Highlands where the Urquhart clan reside. Black Isle appropriated numerous games in development, and Urquhart was initially tasked with either cancelling the games that could not be completed within a reasonable time or allocating staff to help finish the games that could be completed, such as Descent to Undermountain. One of the earliest games Black Isle contributed to was Fallout, a post-apocalyptic game set in the aftermath of a devastating nuclear war. Although some journalists credit Black Isle as the developer of Fallout, Adam Barnes of Retro Gamer disagrees with this notion, and asserts that the studio only had minimal input in what was largely an Interplay production.

The first game that can be solely credited to Black Isle was Fallout 2. The original Fallout was an unexpected critical and commercial success, and Interplay gave the sequel a significantly larger budget. Most of the staff that worked on the first Fallout joined Black Isle to work on Fallout 2. During its development, key staff members Jason D. Anderson, Leonard Boyarsky, and Tim Cain left due to their opposition of Interplay's overbearing management, and the three cofounded Troika Games. In their absence, Urquhart took over as lead designer, and became Black Isle's de facto leader. Fallout 2 was well received by critics, and sold over 123,000 copies by March 2000. 1998 also saw the release of Baldur's Gate, a Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) game based on the Forgotten Realms campaign setting. Interplay had recently acquired the rights to publish D&D games, and asked Black Isle to work on such a game. Urquhart instead suggested that the game should be made by the Canadian developer BioWare, who at the time were working on what would become the Infinity game engine. BioWare took on development, while Black Isle provided feedback and suggestions. Black Isle published Baldur's Gate, which was well received by critics and sold over 2.8 million copies by 2015. Black Isle heavily relied on the Infinity game engine for most of their subsequent games, and as a result, players and journalists sometimes confused Black Isle and BioWare for one another.

After Interplay acquired the D&D license, Black Isle began work on three different games within the Planescape campaign setting: a PlayStation game by Colin McComb; a Microsoft Windows game by David Cook; and another Microsoft Windows game subtitled Last Rites by Chris Avellone. Between 1996 and 1997, Black Isle canceled McComb's game, reassigned the team working on Cook's game to the development of a sequel to Stonekeep, and renamed the third to Planescape: Torment. According to Avellone, Interplay did not pay as close attention to the development of Planescape: Torment as they did for Baldur's Gate or Fallout 2. Avellone said this allowed for the game to have a stronger tone due to less publisher management. Planescape: Torment was released in December 1999, and received critical acclaim. IGN gave Black Isle the award for RPG Studio of the year for the second straight year. Commercially however, Planescape: Torment failed to replicate the success of Baldur's Gate or Fallout 2. By March 2000, the game had sold 73,000 copies. Avellone claims Planescape: Torment commercial struggles were likely due to its dark narrative themes and confusing box art. "It caught your attention, but I don't know if it held it enough for someone to shell out a good chunk of change to buy it" said Avellone.

Early 2000s: Game cancellations and closure
In the late 1990s, Interplay began a period of financial hardship, an issue that would persist for several years. Journalist Kat Bailey credits Interplay's financial struggles to the increased cost for game development, and the industry shift toward console gaming. As a result, layoffs and project cancellations became commonplace for Interplay affiliated studios. The company's uncertain future directly affected the initial development of a third Fallout game. After the release of Fallout 2, Black Isle decided the next Fallout game should feature 3D graphics, and its development coincided with the development of Planescape: Torment. Black Isle worked with the game engine NDL, but due to their inexperience with the 3D engine, development was slow. Interplay canceled the project due to monetary concerns, and moved the team over to the development of what would become the 2000 game Icewind Dale. Set in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting, Icewind Dale was well received by critics, and sold over 400,000 copies by April 2001. Black Isle also published the BioWare developed Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn in 2000. Much like its predecessor, Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn received general acclaim from critics.

Between 2001 and 2003, three Black Isle games in development were canceled by Interplay: Torn, Baldur's Gate III: The Black Hound, and a game codenamed Van Buren. Torn was about a wanderer who was cursed to bring pain and misfortune wherever they traveled. The game would have featured a cooperative where another player could control a companion character, and could bring equipment over from their own game to use. Black Isle decided to use the LithTech game engine, but as the engine was constantly being updated, the developers needed to update the game's code to match. According to Urquhart, Torn was canceled in 2001 because Interplay did not believe it could be finished in time to earn enough money to keep the publisher in business. In the wake of its cancellation, 5 of the 56 Black Isle employees were laid off.

Meanwhile, development was underway on a game known within the studio as Jefferson – The Black Hound. Although it would have been set within the Forgotten Realms campaign setting, it was not intended to be a part of the Baldur's Gate series. In 2002, Interplay retained the rights to publish D&D games, but a contractual stipulation mandated that the games needed to be within either Baldur's Gate or Icewind Dale. Thus, Jefferson – The Black Hound turned into Baldur's Gate III: The Black Hound. During development, Interplay lost the license to publish D&D games on computers due to what Avellone claims was an "accounting error", but retained the rights to publish games for consoles. As a result, Baldur's Gate III: The Black Hound was canceled in 2003. In response, Avellone and Urquhart resigned.

After the cancellation of Baldur's Gate III: The Black Hound, Interplay instructed Black Isle to retool the game engine and focus on making a new Fallout game, codenamed Van Buren. The plot of Van Buren revolved around an escaped prisoner who would explore the American Southwest while being chased by robotic prison guards. Josh Sawyer took over as lead designer, but he too resigned due to mismanagement from Interplay. Sawyer made multiple attempts to get Interplay to evaluate the work that had been done, but he never received a response. According to Sawyer, "It basically made me think, 'They have either no interest or no care for what we're doing'." When Interplay moved one of the remaining character artists for Van Buren onto a different project, Sawyer resigned. In December 2003, Van Buren was canceled, as Interplay's parent company Titus Interactive wanted to focus on console releases like Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel.

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.

2012–present: Revival
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.

Design philosophy
Black Isle is regarded by video game journalists as a seminal RPG studio.

Developed

 * Fallout 2 (1998)
 * Planescape: Torment (1999)
 * Icewind Dale (2000)
 * Icewind Dale II (2002)
 * Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II (2004)

Published

 * Baldur's Gate (1998)
 * Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn (2000)
 * Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance (2001)
 * Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader (2003)

Cancelled
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)
 * Project V13 (2012)