Flagship Sunk?

[Furiously]

Communication with their fanbase has always been a huge strongpoint with Hellgate.

[Cadaverine]

Communication with their fanbase has always been a huge strongpoint with Hellgate.

In their defense, it's highly probably that they weren't aware that they had one.   

[Frax]

Oh, and yesterday this guy:

Zack "Ozuri" Karlsson
Sr. Director, Business Development
NAMCO BANDAI Games America, Inc.

made this post:

Hello Hellgaters,

I know everyone is looking for an announcement, and we'd love to make one -- but right now, many things are in flux and we don't have all the information yet. As soon as we do, we'll post here on the forums, on the website, and anywhere else we can find you.

In the short term, please do not worry. The game is up, the servers are not going away in the short term and any major changes to status will be communicated in advance.

I'd like to ask for your patience as we try to figure it all out and chart a new course. We value your community, your commitment, and your passion for Hellgate and we will make sure that any solution that we architect will support all of you as best as we are able.

Thanks again. We hope to have a real announcement shortly.

I don't know who he is but Scapes posted after him so I guess he's legit.  Doesn't mean he's not talking rubbish, though.  I guess they must have a business plan since he's the business plan man.

Ozuri was the 'business plan man' at Sigil Games as well, or something similar.

edit: that fact shouldn't condemn him alone, he seemed like a decent fellow during the beta!

[Signe]

The name did sound familiar but I was tired and couldn't be arsed to look it up.  Thank you for your attention to detail!   

[stu]

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=19658

Report: T3 To Continue Hellgate, Mythos Development In SF Office

According to new job posting-related information, Asian publisher T3 Entertainment is setting up a San Francisco development studio to carry on work on Hellgate: London and Mythos, following developer Flagship's recent layoffs.

The postings, which have appeared on multiple sites including DICE.com and Gamasutra, reveal: "T3 Entertainment is searching for creative minds to passionately continue development of Hellgate: London and Mythos, along with other new games, which are being published by HanbitSoft Inc."

According to the call for programmers: "A development studio has been established in San Francisco, CA, with hopes of gathering those who wish to join us in starting a new chapter of history in the game industry."

T3 Entertainment, the Korean-headquartered creator of popular Asian online music game Audition, recently acquired a controlling stake in HanbitSoft, Hellgate's Asian publisher and a company that has claimed rights in the fallout of Flagship's layoffs.

In particular, HanbitSoft's U.S. lawyers previously revealed that the company was looking to continue work on Hellgate in association with Flagship lender and potential Hellgate IP holder Comerica. HanbitSoft also claimed that the Korean company had been pledged the Mythos intellectual property as collateral for a loan, potentially making the continuation of both properties under T3 Entertainment possible.

In early July, Hellgate/Mythos developer Flagship itself saw significant layoffs, and the vast majority of its developers are no longer working with the company.

It is unclear whether the San Francisco studio will include core Flagship staff members such as Bill Roper and Max Schaefer, or whether it is a wholly independent entity with no former Flagship staff. Gamasutra has contacted HanbitSoft PR representatives for more information.

edit to add:

T3 Entertainment recently acquired a controlling stake in HanbitSoft.

[Signe]

I read about that the other day and just sort of dismissed it, mostly.  Didn't the owner of HanbitSoft sell 2/3 of it to T3 months ago and then retire.  I think it might just be new spin on an old story in light of the FSS news.  I wonder if they'll set up an office at all, or possibly just buy an old Fotomat booth and put a telephone and a girl in it.  Don't forget, FSS has denied that HanbitSoft owns their IPs.  It might even be a case for the courts, who knows?  Maybe saying they're opening a US office to do this stuff is just a way of trying to appear to own something that's still in dispute.   If T3 does find itself holding the rights to this stuff, it could be they'll just scavenge it for some other game.  I don't have much confidence that either game will make some dramatic, wonderful come back.

[Ratman_tf]

[UnSub]

A long interview with Bill Roper about HG:L, Flagship and what's currently going on.

The "do more with less" is a very good lesson, as is "if you have to sell your IP to keep your studio open, don't be surprised when that turns around and bites you".

[Furiously]

GFW: So let me ask you one question about the office right now. Is there still a Flagship office that has employees in it?

BR: Sort of? I know it's a weird answer, but, yeah, we do. We announced [on July 11] that we had to lay off the vast majority of the employees, but there's still a small handful of the founders working on things. Really, our focus now has been on how we best take care of the guys that aren't there anymore and help them find jobs with other teams. We handpicked everybody, both on the game-content side and the online-technology side. So we're really working to get those guys placed. Then, past that, we've been spending a lot of time trying to take care of our creditors and other fiscal challenges. But it's definitely at the point where we're not exactly trying to plot a gigantic turnaround with a bright, rosy future at Flagship. It's unfortunately more the other side of the coin.

I see one very important group he isn't taking care of.... (That would be paying customers)

[Velorath]

GFW: So let me ask you one question about the office right now. Is there still a Flagship office that has employees in it?

BR: Sort of? I know it's a weird answer, but, yeah, we do. We announced [on July 11] that we had to lay off the vast majority of the employees, but there's still a small handful of the founders working on things. Really, our focus now has been on how we best take care of the guys that aren't there anymore and help them find jobs with other teams. We handpicked everybody, both on the game-content side and the online-technology side. So we're really working to get those guys placed. Then, past that, we've been spending a lot of time trying to take care of our creditors and other fiscal challenges. But it's definitely at the point where we're not exactly trying to plot a gigantic turnaround with a bright, rosy future at Flagship. It's unfortunately more the other side of the coin.

I see one very important group he isn't taking care of.... (That would be paying customers)

What would you expect them to do for the customers at this point?

[UnSub]

GFW: So let me ask you one question about the office right now. Is there still a Flagship office that has employees in it?

BR: Sort of? I know it's a weird answer, but, yeah, we do. We announced [on July 11] that we had to lay off the vast majority of the employees, but there's still a small handful of the founders working on things. Really, our focus now has been on how we best take care of the guys that aren't there anymore and help them find jobs with other teams. We handpicked everybody, both on the game-content side and the online-technology side. So we're really working to get those guys placed. Then, past that, we've been spending a lot of time trying to take care of our creditors and other fiscal challenges. But it's definitely at the point where we're not exactly trying to plot a gigantic turnaround with a bright, rosy future at Flagship. It's unfortunately more the other side of the coin.

I see one very important group he isn't taking care of.... (That would be paying customers)

They aren't paying any more.

[Ratman_tf]

These guys are going down swinging, facing the task of getting it all shut down. That's more than some have done.

We knew before we launched. There was enough feedback from people where we realized, yeah, we probably made a mistake. But at that point...the train had left the station. We didn't have enough initial content in there to [switch directions]. We might have been able to back off and go to a free-to-play-only model, but we didn't have anything in place to roll right into doing an expansion. Everything from the development side to the business side was set to this model that we'd put together. We hoped that it was going to actually work, and we told ourselves that maybe it'll work better than we think it's going to work, right? But there was just a lot of confusion.

Sadf. 

[WindupAtheist]

Sadf. 

The company really was at steak!