This is a more interesting dev chat than it sounds like. Sure, it isn't Bill Roper, or Max Schaefer, but David Glenn (Art Director for Flagship Studios) talks more about the launch, bugs and subscriptions than art! Among other things, the suspicions Hellgate: IncGamers mentioned two days ago, about Flagship wanting to polish the game more before release, seems to be concistent with David as well as Bill. Apparently, he even has to hold back, as to not be seen as bashing the publishers.
"Trying not to overtly bash their publishers, David mentioned that many of the initial problems with the game's release stemmed back to some elements of marketing - and development - being rushed. Most of the major dramas were fixed with a Day 1 "Patch 0", but this of course came out on the day of release, leaving many game reviewers and media types in the lurch, with unpatched preview copies... of course, unfortunately, that came through in the media coverage".
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.
I think its funny that they denied it so fervently at launch that they were pressed, but a pair of months after release, frustrations seems to come to the surface and, in so many words, they seems to admit to it.