Black Isle Studios

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 it 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.