Hellgate: London is promised to be regularly updated after its released, to offer worthwhile exclusive content for those who opt into its $9.95 subscription fee, and to still be a fully-featured online experience for those who do not. It's a tall order. How does developer Flagship Studios plan to pull it off?
In the final days before the game's release, Shacknews met with Flagship Studios' Bill Roper in a small San Francisco sandwich shop to discuss just that. Roper briefed Shacknews on the immediate Halloween content and the seasonal content that will immediately follow, the first major content expansion for subscribers coming in December, responses to criticisms of the beta, plans for other near-future additions, the possibility of a full retail expansion, and the team's attitude towards incorporating fan feedback.
Before Flagship Studios, there was Blizzard North. Originally known as Condor, the Redwood-based studio was acquired in 1997 by Blizzard Entertainment. At the time, Blizzard North was hard at work on the development of the game that would be the cornerstone of everything that came after: Diablo.
IGN : Remember Hellgate: London? The dark fantasy action role-playing game came out in 2007 for PC, a year before developer Flagship Studios went bankrupt. Since then, various free-to-play and online revivals have come and gone. Now, 17 years after the release of Hellgate: London, it’s back.
I remember some friends and I all bought Hellgate: London day one because it was made by some original Diablo devs. We had fun playing it, good memories.
PC Invasion: Hellgate: London is back on Steam, but it's not what you expect it to be. It's a single-player game in the vein of Asian MMOs.
