http://ve3d.ign.com/articles/news/39866/Flagship-Studios-Closure-Confirmed-All-Staff-Fired-All-I-P-Lost

Ouch!  That's harsh news to all the HG:L players.  Looks like all development will stop, but does this also mean that the game's multiplayer servers will be coming down?

Man, if I'd bought a lifetime account, I'd be pissed. I almost did too.

That sucks badly. Mythos looked promising. Most of the staff will probably go back to Blizzard.

BLAHAHAHAHAHA

Once agian, None of this is official. Although FSS haven't come out with an official response (which means all this is can be true, and no matter what something fishy is going on), all the sites that claim FSS has gone down all pretty much link to eachother, leading back to one post from VE3D that states Taylor Balbi (FSS Community Manager) told VE3D that the studio closed. Taylor Balbi, on the other hand, states that he never talked to VE3D.

The hellgate official forums are obviously on fire, but continuous playful postings from Forum Manager Scapes and Ping0 official Tiggs seem to be sending good vibes (or deceptive vibes) to the players. An official statement is said to be released monday.

It seems we will know more on Monday. The best guest I can make is that some of FSS is going to be hired by Hanbit. If the servers won't be active in NA, as a founder I would be happy if they included Stonehedge and Abyss in the SP game. I think that is equitable. Of course if the game continues his Hanbit in charge and I keep my account I would be even happier.

a whole company just  gone?

thats weak =[

Originally posted by rawrxbrad

a whole company just  gone?

thats weak =[

That's the problem when your first project fails. There is no room for error. EA and SOE make mistakes all the time but have the resources to overcome it.

Will hellgate be closed?

I wasted 50 bucks on it...sad to hear. but diablo 3 is coming out. Im fearing the same for FC AoC is a great game but FC is in all the wrong places.

so that explains the comic...

Korean news website TheGames.co.kr got in touch with HanbitSoft chief executive, Kim Ki-young regarding the recent reports of Flagship Studios’ demise and asked him to clarify the situation with Hellgate: London and Mythos.

As it’s known to the general public that Flagship Studios dismissed developers of ‘Hellgate: London’ and closed down the office, HanbitSoft is trying to prepare countermeasures.

According to game industry news on the 14th, HanbitSoft is checking whether the rumor is true that Flagship Studios has determined to dismiss employees. HanbitSoft announced that this incident is totally unrelated with ‘Hellgate: London’ and ‘Mythos’ services.

HanbitSoft owns intellectual property rights of ‘Mythos’, and ‘Hellgate: London’ is also provided to investors of Flagship Studios and HanbitSoft, so it’s impossible that Flagship Studios receives investments from third parties, or sign contracts with any other companies regarding these products.

HanbitSoft said they have been preparing various business models, required game development and other improvements to compensate for Flagship Studios’ crisis.

According to Kim Ki-young of HanbitSoft, he said that ‘if we can take intellectual property rights of relevant products from Flagship Studios, we have confidence to develop the games ourselves based on T3 Entertainment’s advanced technology’ and ‘we believe we can service fresh and interesting games to online gamers by getting intellectual property rights and development. This crisis could be an opportunity for us’.

HanbitSoft is about to start thorough examination to get intellectual property rights for ‘Hellgate: London’ and ‘Mythos’ once Flagship Studios petitions for bankruptcy

HanbitSoft said although they have suggested mutual conditions regarding investments in Flagship Studios, Flagship requested that HanbitSoft provide better terms, leading to hesitation on HanbitSoft’ part in aiding Flagship.

Originally posted by Zorvan

Korean news website TheGames.co.kr got in touch with HanbitSoft chief executive, Kim Ki-young regarding the recent reports of Flagship Studios’ demise and asked him to clarify the situation with Hellgate: London and Mythos.

As it’s known to the general public that Flagship Studios dismissed developers of ‘Hellgate: London’ and closed down the office, HanbitSoft is trying to prepare countermeasures.

According to game industry news on the 14th, HanbitSoft is checking whether the rumor is true that Flagship Studios has determined to dismiss employees. HanbitSoft announced that this incident is totally unrelated with ‘Hellgate: London’ and ‘Mythos’ services.

HanbitSoft owns intellectual property rights of ‘Mythos’, and ‘Hellgate: London’ is also provided to investors of Flagship Studios and HanbitSoft, so it’s impossible that Flagship Studios receives investments from third parties, or sign contracts with any other companies regarding these products.

HanbitSoft said they have been preparing various business models, required game development and other improvements to compensate for Flagship Studios’ crisis.

According to Kim Ki-young of HanbitSoft, he said that ‘if we can take intellectual property rights of relevant products from Flagship Studios, we have confidence to develop the games ourselves based on T3 Entertainment’s advanced technology’ and ‘we believe we can service fresh and interesting games to online gamers by getting intellectual property rights and development. This crisis could be an opportunity for us’.

HanbitSoft is about to start thorough examination to get intellectual property rights for ‘Hellgate: London’ and ‘Mythos’ once Flagship Studios petitions for bankruptcy

HanbitSoft said although they have suggested mutual conditions regarding investments in Flagship Studios, Flagship requested that HanbitSoft provide better terms, leading to hesitation on HanbitSoft’ part in aiding Flagship.

Hanbisoft may turn out to be sadly mistaken regarding their "intelectual property" ownership. The IP was used as backing for a loan they provided to Flagship. Flagship did not sell the rights to Hanbisoft or other creditors. The IP was used as colateral. Depending on how Flagship closed and what sorts of bankruptcy proceedings are started Hanbisoft may be hosed.

It is a safe assumption that Flagship will file for some form of bankruptcy, if just to protect the principals from outside action. The IP will be considered an asset of the company, to be disposed of by the court in order to satisfy creditors. Chances are a private investor such as Hanbisoft will not be at the top of the heap for disbursement of funds and resources. So there is a good chance  that Hellgate:London will be tied up in court and ownership battles for awile.

In other words, stick a fork in it, it's done.

Stay tuned for the Blizzard announcement that Bill Roper is welcomed back with open arms. 

That would mean of course that Blizzard would have to fire Jeff Kaplan, since Roper hates the  ground the guy walks on.

Originally posted by todeswulf

Stay tuned for the Blizzard announcement that Bill Roper is welcomed back with open arms. 

 

That would mean of course that Blizzard would have to fire Jeff Kaplan, since Roper hates the  ground the guy walks on.

or they  could approach NC Soft  and develoop a new mmo 

I heard Funcom is working hard on there AOC xbox-360 and a new MMO he might help them out there.