‘Gate’ Crashes Sales Records

A new role-playing game by Interplay Entertainment Corp. is setting sales records for PC games, and helping to boost the struggling Irvine game publisher’s stock price.

“Baldur’s Gate”--a fantasy multi-player game in a medieval setting--allows people to create fictional characters and chat, engage in trade and do battle against other players on the Internet.

Developed by Black Isle Studios, an Irvine-based division of Interplay, “Baldur’s Gate” has been selling well in the United States--and topping the PC game retail charts in Britain, France and Germany, according to industry analysts. The game, released in late December, has sold faster than any of Interplay’s previous titles: 175,000 copies worldwide in its first couple of weeks on the market.

The good news helped propel the company’s stock price, which had been hovering around $1 a share. On Friday, Interplay’s stock rose 31 cents, closing at $2.69 on Nasdaq.