hellgatelondon posts

UPDATE: Gamasutra has received word from Flagship Studios that the company "has seen significant staff cuts."

ORIGINAL STORY: A source close to Flagship Studios contacted Big Download to report that nearly everyone in the development studio has been laid off. The studio, responsible for the development of MMO-lite Hellgate: London, was founded by several notable ex-Blizzard North employees such as Bill Roper and Max and Eric Schaefer.

Nothing is known regarding the fate of Hellgate: London, nor the in-development action-RPG Mythos. Expect official word from the development studio to be released within the next several days.

During a recent interview with Eurogamer, Flagship Studios COO Max Schaefer admitted that not only did Hellgate let down more than a few gamers, but the developers weren't exactly thrilled with it either. "When you're starting with a brand new game studio with very limited budget and no existing technologies, that was probably biting off too much," Schaefer said.

Schaefer also touches on a variety of other subjects in the interview, including initially planning to use Mythos as nothing more than a test for Hellgate.

"We decided that we wanted to go back a little to a gameplay style that we were very familiar with, so we could pretty quickly and easily generate a compelling experience for people to actually test this stuff, and in a way that was efficient to make. A lot of Mythos is about efficiency of production. Computer games, especially MMOs, cost so much to make and take so long, so anything that you can do to increase the efficiency of the process is just going to help you out. So since it was just going to be a test first, we thought we'd stay relatively simple, use a Diablo-style camera, relatively simple, cartoony graphics and concentrate on gameplay and features, more so than complex graphics and the latest technologies."

While the gate (presumably in London) to hell was open, swarms of demons poured out and ravished the earth. Unfortunately, quite a few unwanted bugs slipped through as well. A teaser for Flagship Studios' Hellgate London Abyss Chronicles has been released, demonstrating some of the new features and fixes players will find in the upcoming Patch 2.

The trailer contains ruin, devastation, and fire, lots of fire. In short, it's pretty much everything you'd expect of a demonic invasion in London or anywhere else.

Download the HD Hellgate London Abyss Chronicles trailer from Big Download.

As we learned with the recent shut down of Titan Quest developer Iron Lore, having a well received PC game is no guarantee that you will have enough money to stay afloat. Hellgate London developer Flagship Studios has decided not to wait for publishers to hand them money; the San Fransisco developer has announced it has gotten a funding deal with Texas based Comerica Bank.

Using the sales and distribution rights to Hellgate London, Comerica has created a "multi-million dollar facility" that is said to be similar to funding used to invest in independent films. Flagship will use the money to continue to provide content updates for its games, which includes both Hellgate London and their more casual-themed MMO title Mythos.