Commenting on the announcement, Interplay Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Herve Caen said, "In the interest of our company and its shareholders, we had no choice but to terminate this agreement. After several notifications to Vivendi of its failure to perform in accordance with the terms of our agreement and in particular, in refusing to pay Interplay certain monies due following our latest release, Lionheart, we still did not receive the payments owed to us. We are currently evaluating several other distribution options. We fully expect to release two of our strongest titles, Baldurs Gate: Dark Alliance 2 and Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel for Xbox and Playstation 2 in the fourth quarter."
Interplay also announced it is considering legal action against Vivendi to recover the payments it believes it is owed, as well as to address various other claims as a result of the alleged failure of Vivendi to perform under the terms of the agreement.