Hellgate Layoffs Confirmed, Doors Closed
The stave from Flagship Studios has been severely cut, potentially due to the company's closure and the loss of the Hellgate franchise to its Korean publisher in a potentially lengthy legal battle.
A source some the Hellgate: London development team gave Gamasutra word that large numbers of faculty from Flagship and its online subsidiary Ping0 were recently released. For its part with, Flagship did non give details as to the extent of the axing, but it did validate the rumors.
These personnel problems have reappeared a month after a frustrated staff member blogged close to internal upheaval at the studio. Flagship was fast to react, "Some our studios are currently fully staffed, with our San Francisco studio working on ongoing content for Hellgate: London…. Complete our Directors and Founders are static working at Flagship, and all of them are working on Hellgate: Jack London operating room Mythos. The team size for Hellgate is as big today equally when we shipped."
According to IGN's Voodoo Extreme, Flagship Community Manager Joseph Deems Taylor Balbi revealed that the company will before long follow shutting down. Three of the studio's administrator were able to dip into their own pockets to ante up another month's salary to whol employees.
Korean games distributor and Hellgate half-possessor HanbitSoft offered to invest in Flagship. Their American lawyers stated, "IT is unfortunate that Flagship turned down additive investments HanbitSoft offered to make that would bear allowed it to keep its doors open."
HanbitSoft claims to be the controller of the Hellgate and Mythos serial. Using an in-domiciliate team up, the Peninsula company expects to "properly manage and develop Hellgate: London into a good game with prudish content."
Flagship refuted, "We have no idea where they are acquiring their information from and have asked assemblage counsel to quest after the issue. We are mystified by Hanbitsoft's conclusions and any attempt to repeat the IP will be met with a beardown and Dean Swift answer. … We are outraged that Hanbitsoft would attempt to completely tarnish the repute of its nigh vital developer. Hanbitsoft's young direction clearly does non understand the terms of its relationship with Flagship."
Legal representation for HanbitSoft sent a five-point account of its ownership concluded Hellgate:
Please understand that the facts are (1) HanbitSoft is an exclusive licensee of both Hellgate and Mythos in Asia, with rights to sublicense the games; (2) in addition, HanbitSoft is a secured creditor who has been pledged the Mythos (but not the Hellgate) intellectual property as collateral for a loan; (3) Comerica, another secured lender, has been pledged the Hellgate intellectual prop as its collateral for a loan; (4) Flagship Studios does not presently own the intellectual properties to either game, which are held in separate companies dependent to the security interests of lenders, and Flagship Studios' interest in those companies is also pledged to its lenders; (5) it is unfortunate that Flagship sour out additional investments HanbitSoft offered to make that would have allowed it to keep its doors open, merely HanbitSoft hopes to work with Comerica and some of the team at Flagship to see if there is a way to continue to generate content to hold back Hellgate online in Asia and to finish the ontogeny of Mythos.
Source: The Games (Korean) via Hellgate Guru
https://www.escapistmagazine.com/hellgate-layoffs-confirmed-doors-closed/
Source: https://www.escapistmagazine.com/hellgate-layoffs-confirmed-doors-closed/