ADVERTISEMENT
Release Date
From Hellgatewiki.com
See the timeline below for more details.
Contents |
When it's done
The Hellgate Team has a ready answer for people who ask when Hellgate: London will be released. "When it's done." That was their motto at Blizzard, and while their games were seldom early, they were always good. That attitude continues with Hellgate: London, and the game will be released when the team is satisfied with it. They don't rush things out just to meet some distributor's schedule.
Release date estimates
"We have an internal window we are working towards, and while it is looking good at this point, it is still too early to talk about when that is. You hit the nail on the head when you mentioned not wanting to disappoint fans. We know that there is a lot of excitement over the game and that expectations are high - and that goes for both our community and us here at Flagship Studios! We're definitely playing it on the safe side in regards to the release date because we want to do everything we can to meet and exceed the expectations we set. We're still far enough out where a release date, or even a window, would be educated guesswork. Trust me - as soon as we have a handle on a date we think we can honestly hit, we'll announce it."
--Bill Roper, January 2006
"The development of the game is coming along very well. We are dedicated to releasing the game when it is ready as this was such a big part of our success at Blizzard. Since this is our first game with our new company, we know we can't take forever."
--Bill Roper, February 2006
In January 2007 Flagship authorized their distribution partner, Electronic Arts, to announce that Hellgate: London would hit stores in Summer 2007. Summer officially means July, August, September, so if they make the date, we'll see Hellgate: London on shelves by late September or very early October, at the latest.
Summer 2007
In mid-2007 Amazon.com and Gamestop.com both changed their Hellgate: London presale pages to say October 30th would be the release date. That is not official, but at around the same time both sites added the supposed box cover artwork as well.
Fall 2007
At E3 in July 2007, Flagship designer Tyler Thompson gave the first official word that the Summer 2007 deadline might not be met, in a video interview with Gamespot.
At the start of the year we said it would be out this summer. If it takes a couple of more months that's okay.
--Tyler Thompson
This pushes the release window back to November 30th, 2007.
October 31, 2007
The official press release, issued August 6, 2007.
EA AND NAMCO BANDAI GAMES ANNOUNCE NOVEMBER 2nd RELEASE DATE FOR HELLGATE: LONDON
The Next Benchmark in Action Role Playing Games will Start Lighting Up PCs this Halloween
August 6, 2007 – Get ready to hack, slash, and shoot your way through a demon-infested London this Halloween! Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) and NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc. today announced that Hellgate™: London, the premier title from Flagship Studios, will start hitting retail stores in North America on October 31, 2007 and in Europe on November 2, 2007 for the PC. Hellgate: London represents the next leap in the evolution of the action RPG genre, combining the depth and addictive gameplay of traditional RPGs with the visceral action of first-person shooters.
“We wanted to hit the sweet-spot for release in terms of the development schedule and delivering the highest-quality game to our players,” said Bill Roper, CEO of Flagship Studios. “Halloween was the perfect fit as it ensures that Hellgate: London will have an appropriate amount of beta testing, while also being an incredibly fun time to unleash the game.”
One of the most anticipated PC games and RPGs of the year, Hellgate: London offers infinite re-playability with dynamically generated levels, items, enemies and events. The player creates a heroic character, completes quests, and battles through an innumerable amount of demons to advance through a deep, rich story-driven campaign. A robust, flexible skill and spell system, highly customizable appearances, and a massive variety of randomly generated equipment allow each player to create his or her own unique hero.
While some may prefer to slay demons solo, players will also be able to take the fight online*, teaming up with friends to save London in a secure, client-server environment and playing through the entire story-driven campaign for free. For those players who want to extend their Hellgate: London experience, Flagship is offering an optional subscription service which will give players access to huge amounts of content on an ongoing basis in the form of quests, character classes, demons, items, etc. More details about Hellgate: London’s online options are coming soon.
