In light of recent events - the lawsuit opposing Bethesda and Interplay - there's little doubt that a Fallout MMO is in the making. Interplay has released some concept art to prove it, in part obliged by the lawsuit itself. The MMO is codenamed codenamed Project V13.

The art can be viewed at the Interplay forums for the game, but only by registered users. For everyone who doesn't want to register, GameSpot has the artworks.

Here is the post in the Interplay forum:

"Hi everyone! Some of the concept art for the game has been released due to the lawsuit. This forum will be a place where we can post high quality versions of the same art and you can give us some feedback on it at the same time. Keep in mind that this is concept art. It's not finalized art, but it will give you a feel for what we are aiming for with V13. (And I'll keep bugging the lawyers to release more art when we can... I'm pretty excited that we're finally able to show you some of the work that we've been doing up until now.)"

Interplay sold the Fallout rights to Bethesda in 2004, but retained the right to develop a MMO, as long as full production started at a given date. Bethesda claims it didn't happen, and are demanding the remaining rights. Now Interplay is also countersuing Bethesda, claiming merchandising rights debts.

With this struggle going on, it's unlikely we'll see a Fallout MMO in the near future. It remains to see if Interplay will indeed develop one be forced to give the rights to Bethesda.