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Hellgate developer addresses "sinking" morale concerns
Leo Chan - Thursday, June 12th, 2008 | 11:35AM (PT)


Are employees really ditching Flagship Studios like it was a sinking ship?

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Hellgate: London
in: Sci Fi RPG (PC)
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Hellgate: London hasn't exactly been tearing up the charts in North America since launch, and that's before we talk about any of the issues which the game shipped with. A now-deleted personal blog posting from an employee with Hellgate's developer Flagship Studios claimed the company is feeling the heat of lackluster morale, facing an exodus of employees going separate ways left and right. However, Flagship still has vested interests in current projects, as CVO David Brevik quickly counters the claims made by programmer Guy Somberg.  Brevik explains that Flagship's San Francisco- and Seattle-based studios are still staffed with over 100 employees, and the team behind Hellgate itself should be about the same size as it was in spite of "natural" turn-over.

"Everyone has good days and bad days. Guy was having a bad day. ... He vented, exaggerated, and posted information that was inaccurate.

"As is typical in the industry, after a game is released some people naturally want to work on something else and they leave the company to do so. But in total we have had less than 10 percent turn-over and have rehired for all needed positions."

Brevik seems to have caught on to the malaise which surrounded Hellgate and now provides the backdrop for this recent development, conceding the game should have been tweaked more before release. To be sure, Somberg did express delight in how well Hellgate did in South Korea. Then again, Flagship gave the game's launch in the country a little something extra, setting hearts and souls ablaze with passion.


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Comments:

June 12th, 2008 11:40AM(PT)
chautemoc
Heh, I always find it funny when they try to delete posts like that, cause it always gets out anyway. You can't stop the internetttttttt.
June 12th, 2008 11:44AM(PT)
kspiess
Check out www.flagshipped.com for the funny and sad whole story.
June 12th, 2008 12:09PM(PT)
bruceleethree
Anyone ever wonder if Flagship ever asked themselves, "Why did we over hype, delay and lie about a game that ultimately was so underwhelming, buggy and boring?

Hellgate is probably the most over hyped game I've ever come across and it was like a FPS Diablo with no story and repetitive, linear maps.

EPIC FAILURE.
June 12th, 2008 2:33PM(PT)
x_revenge
so the guys have fallen into depression just because one of their games isn't doing so well? oh please, it's just one game...
June 13th, 2008 1:50AM(PT)
DeathMonkey
Hellgate: London could have been so much more than it was. Some of the ideas behind could have made it really cool, its a shame it didn't turn out like we thought it would.
June 13th, 2008 5:45PM(PT)
OmegaFury
I didn't like the engineer class all that much =( I wish the droids were a bit more.... innovative... maybe closer to mechs or something, not huge ones, but human sized like a body suit maybe.

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