Long-in development MMO Fallout Online will launch in the second half of 2012, Interplay has promised.

In an interview with Edge magazine Interplay president Eric Caen said 2012 will also see a Fallout Online beta.

Caen's comments will no doubt reassure fans troubled by the legal dispute between Interplay and Fallout 3 creator Bethesda over the game.

As the tussle continues, we've still not seen an actual screenshot or video from Fallout Online.

The company has so far refrained from showing much from the game because "anything we show will help Bethesda in their fight", Caen said.

"I can't say too much. What I can say is that everyone who is registered is getting a newsletter every five or six weeks.

"The content is not a typical newsletter with a lot of technical information; it's letters from NPCs about what they're experiencing. We're giving a lot of hints about the future of the game. We have a beta scheduled for 2012, with the commercial launch in the second half of 2012.

"We have 90 people working on it. Even in January 2009, you were already able to move across the world." Caen also commented on Bethesda's Fallout 3.

"What I can say is that of course we're playing what Bethesda is doing. We appreciate some portions of it, and we're not necessarily fans of everything. I think they miss a lot of the humour, and the fans seem to agree with that.

"Fallout 3 was a little bit too serious  that's definitely not where we're going. Our Fallout MMOG will be extremely funny. At the same time, an MMOG must be a lot deeper than a standalone game. It's not a shooting game we're making. You can shoot, but it's a very small portion of the game. The game itself is about reconstructing the world.

"What is unique about our project is how we're trying to get it into many communication systems. This is a big problem for World of Warcraft, because the fantasy universe is not compatible with modern communication systems. It would be odd to receive an SMS from a troll. But in a post-apocalyptic world..."

Interplay plans to have a million subscribers, Caen revealed.