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Flagship Studios Closing?
12th Jul 2008 02:56 AM GMT | Flux | 23 comments
Rumors are flying today that Flagship Studios, creators of Hellgate London and Mythos, founded by the creators of the Diablo franchise, and (at one point) staffed almost entirely by ex-Blizzard North employees, is soon to close due to financial difficulties. Staff cuts are confirmed, and we've personally heard from people involved, who confirmed that things look very grim.
Wrangling over their game properties and legal issues will dominate the news in the days to come, but however those matters shake out, this is a say day for the gaming community. Flagship was staffed by very talented guys (and girls) who had a dream to create great computer games. I was lucky enough to be invited to their offices for business and for pleasure, and everyone there was invariably kind and helpful to me and the other webmasters in the HGL and Mythos gaming community. Let's wish them all the best of luck in landing on their feet, and coming back with future titles as good as their past work.
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Comments
81 days ago
I hope they are able to pull this out somehow but I'll be surprised if they do.
84 days ago
Let the Legal wranglings ensue. Hope it doesn't drag on, quicker they get it resolved the quicker they can move on. I'm hoping their next project doesn't make the same mistakes.
84 days ago
Doesn't sound like they are willing to throw in the towel quite yet.
84 days ago
official from FSS
84 days ago
From what I heard Flagship used the Hellgate rights and such to "refinance" the thing. This would mean that if things go bad they loose their rights as you would loose a house if you can't pay the bank.
Its clear that news like this, even if its just rumours, hurts the company quite a bit.
Its clear that news like this, even if its just rumours, hurts the company quite a bit.
85 days ago
I realize I'm saying this on a Hellgate fansite and I'd be lucky to not get flamed into oblivion for it, but Flagship shutting down is no surprise at all. Hellgate London is a really bad game, and I say this as a person who loves a wide variety of games and have loved some sub-par-rated games myself. The demo left me disappointed and heartbroken because these guys were ex-Blizzard. But it's easy to see they're EX-Blizzard for a reason. They really lost their touch.
Sorry if this offends the gazillion people here, I just thought this story needed another perspective.
Sorry if this offends the gazillion people here, I just thought this story needed another perspective.
85 days ago
I realize I'm saying this on a Hellgate fansite and I'd be lucky to not get flamed into oblivion for it, but Flagship shutting down is no surprise at all. Hellgate London is a really bad game, and I say this as a person who loves a wide variety of games and have loved some sub-par-rated games myself. The demo left me disappointed and heartbroken because these guys were ex-Blizzard. But it's easy to see they're EX-Blizzard for a reason. They really lost their touch.
Sorry if this offends the gazillion people here, I just thought this story needed another perspective.
Sorry if this offends the gazillion people here, I just thought this story needed another perspective.
85 days ago
Any official statement from FSS?
85 days ago
Let the rumors flyyyyyyyyyyyyy!
:D
:D
86 days ago
Actually the Japanese PC game market is very small - consoles are king in Japan, so a #1 sales rank could easily be in the low tens of thousands of copies.
86 days ago
Good points Mythor, makes me wonder if the investors are pulling the plug premature or if they really did lose a tonne of money. The game is only what...9 months old and still breaking into new markets. I have to wonder if you are right about the 2nd,3rd week and so on, if their sales don't sustain. With the new content in the TC right now the game is better so maybe they should have just found a better group to market the game. I've played other new MMO's and they are inferior to this in a lot of ways so if Investors want miracles they will be looking far and wide and discovering disappointment along the way.
86 days ago
Hey people, I heard the news and I thought I would head back over here for a visit
I haven’t played since the alpha. I just found that Hellgate wasn’t the type of game I was hoping it would be.
Its just a bit sad to hear what has happened to Flagship. I enjoyed all the pre release anticipation back then, I kinda got to know some of their names and faces during that time and I hope everything works out for them all
I haven’t played since the alpha. I just found that Hellgate wasn’t the type of game I was hoping it would be.
Its just a bit sad to hear what has happened to Flagship. I enjoyed all the pre release anticipation back then, I kinda got to know some of their names and faces during that time and I hope everything works out for them all
86 days ago
A lot of newly released games will hit #1 in their first week, the better indicator is often the second week/second month sales. The really good games will maintain their #1 spot for a second week and then usually either still be top 10 second month or at least within a few spots of top 10.
That's not to say Hellgate won't do great figures in Japan, I just wouldn't read too much into it yet, particularly in a week with no other big competition. (That I'm aware of, anyway.)
It did do alright in most places around the world, I think the issue is more that it was in development for a very long time, meaning it cost a lot of money to make, plus they also had ridiculous sums of money thrown around for promotional events and gimmicks.
That's not to say Hellgate won't do great figures in Japan, I just wouldn't read too much into it yet, particularly in a week with no other big competition. (That I'm aware of, anyway.)
It did do alright in most places around the world, I think the issue is more that it was in development for a very long time, meaning it cost a lot of money to make, plus they also had ridiculous sums of money thrown around for promotional events and gimmicks.
86 days ago
This kinda news is confusing. They have posted news articles about succesful launches around the world. Now HGL is the #1 game in Japan for PC so how could they have financial difficulties? Then again we don't know the details, if the games sales are fine really makes you wonder if this is just a rumor or they had some deep seeded problems that we will never know. I hope this is just a rumor, especially for all the new players who bought the game.
87 days ago
FSS was a privately owned company, so there was no 'stock drop'. Lack of confidence amongst shareholders perhaps, but with no publically traded stock they could not have a stock value dropping.
87 days ago
FSS was a privately owned company, so there was no 'stock drop'. Lack of confidence amongst shareholders perhaps, but with no publically traded stock they could not have a stock value dropping.
87 days ago
sigh... i just got a new comp and was finally going to install hellgate and give it anouther good blast.. founder sub wasted... well theres always D3 to look forward to at least... i think perhaps the announcment of D3 might have shoved any hope of hellgate london becoming populer at a later date down the drain and therefore massive stock drop
87 days ago
No, I never even bought the game. I mean it was obvious that founders was a waste of money, to me, even while I was in the alpha.
Check out flagshipped.com, they have a full run down on all of it. It is definitely true that FSS has been shut down. There's a slight possibility that a majority of the staff might come together at another company in the near future, but otherwise it's all toast (including Mythos).
Check out flagshipped.com, they have a full run down on all of it. It is definitely true that FSS has been shut down. There's a slight possibility that a majority of the staff might come together at another company in the near future, but otherwise it's all toast (including Mythos).
88 days ago
You paid for Founders while in Alpha? :P
I meant that while the game was still running the Founders could still justify their expenditure via the larger stash and the couple of extra areas they have access to for "free". But that was always predicated on the game remaining active for 15 months.
If it all goes to pot this week then that's out the window and the Founders ought simply have subscribed for the same period. It's impossible to justify a $150 expenditure for what was only $80-90 if "sold seperately".
Still no official statements forthcoming. You have to figure if it wasn't true there would have been a short statement to that effect by now though.
I meant that while the game was still running the Founders could still justify their expenditure via the larger stash and the couple of extra areas they have access to for "free". But that was always predicated on the game remaining active for 15 months.
If it all goes to pot this week then that's out the window and the Founders ought simply have subscribed for the same period. It's impossible to justify a $150 expenditure for what was only $80-90 if "sold seperately".
Still no official statements forthcoming. You have to figure if it wasn't true there would have been a short statement to that effect by now though.
88 days ago
Mythor - that seemed obvious to me as soon as I was in the alpha.
88 days ago
I am aware that it's the same Flux, it was a joke, sorry. ;)
Dii.net has been in his sig as long as I can remember and I actually found this site from there originally.
Mythos is supposed to be in development at Flagship Seattle, so if they've set things up correctly it shouldn't affect them...
I wonder if we'll have to wait till Monday for an official statement though.
Dii.net has been in his sig as long as I can remember and I actually found this site from there originally.
Mythos is supposed to be in development at Flagship Seattle, so if they've set things up correctly it shouldn't affect them...
I wonder if we'll have to wait till Monday for an official statement though.
88 days ago
Flux is one of the admins of Incgamers, the company who owns these sites.
That sucks. Too bad for those guys. I wonder what this means for HGL and Mythos.
That sucks. Too bad for those guys. I wonder what this means for HGL and Mythos.
88 days ago
Some dude called Flux posted on diii.net that it's a done deal and the studio is closing down. clicky
So I guess the Founders have now, officially and unequivocally, wasted their money?
So I guess the Founders have now, officially and unequivocally, wasted their money?
