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.[1] The idea for the division's name came from the Black Isle in Scotland – founder Feargus Urquhart's ancestral country.[2] 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.[3] The company was closed in late 2003 due to Interplay's financial troubles.[4]