Van Buren and Meantime trademarks filed by inXile

InXile Entertainment let slip last week that, with Wasteland 2 recently released and Torment: Tides of Numenera deep in development, it has begun preliminary work on another "passionately demanded" RPG. My guess (and hope) at the time was that a new Bard's Tale would soon be revealed to the world, but now it looks like the project might be something else entirely.

The sharp eyes at RPG Codex caught sight over the weekend of two recent trademark filings made by Roxy Friday, one for Meantime and one for Van Buren. Meantime, according to Wikipedia, was being developed in the late 80s as a follow-up to Wasteland before it was canceled; Van Buren is well-known as the code name for the originally-planned Fallout 3, before the wheels fell off at Interplay and the development team was laid off, effectively killing the project.

The applications were both filed by Roxy Friday LLC, a company previously linked to InXile Entertainment founder Brian Fargo, who also happened to be the head of Interplay during the development of Meantime and, presumably, at least some of Van Buren. Roxy Friday is also the company that filed for a Torment trademark in 2012, prior to the announcement of Torment: Tides of Numenera.

All of this could mean nothing, of course, but given the success of Wasteland 2, and the genetic connection between Wasteland and Fallout, it may well mean something, too. We've reached out to inXile for comment and will update if and when we receive a reply, but in the meantime, consider this: In 2012, Fargo wrote, "I commend the sleuthing abilities of the Codex" in regard to its discovery of the Torment trademark filing; earlier this week, in response to the Meantime discovery, he tweeted, "The codex investigative unit strikes again."

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.