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Flagship sinks; everyone fired, IPs lost

Category: PC, Posted: 07/12/2008 at 11:20PM CDT by Demetri Kouvalis, Features Editor

hellgateFlagship Studios, the makers behind Hellgate: London and Mythos, have officially closed their doors and are letting go of "nearly everyone" on the payroll. According to VE3D, Community Manager Taylor Balbi initially confirmed the news, something he himself denied. Since the initial rumor it seems to have become confirmed left and right, as various sources from Flagship and Ping0 have reported that the entire staff has been fired with a 30-day pension, paid for out of the pockets of the studio's higher-ups, and most of Flagship's employees are now listed as no longer working with Flagship on LinkedIn.

The studio's intellectual property has been turned over to two companies who had invested in Flagship throughout its short lifespan, with Mythos going to Korean gaming developer HanbitSoft, and Hellgate: London going to Comerica, a financial services company based out of Dallas. It's expected these two companies will work together to continue Asian development for these two titles -- though it's unclear now whether Mythos will ever hit North American shores. As of right now 13 staff members have lost their jobs. Hopefully there are developers out there that recognized their talents and are willing to take them in.

In the meantime, with their staff fired and their IPs lost, this looks like it's officially the end of Flagship Studios.

[via VE3D

Posted by KindGalaxy on 07/13/2008 at 12:45AM

Yeah, I was kind of surprised they lost the IPs but then read that whole thing about HanbitSoft and Comerica loaning money to Flagship Studios and the IPs were used as collateral, really want to hear what Bill Roper and the Schaefer brothers have to say on the matter, or Ken Williams; their CFO.

Posted by Wasabi on 07/13/2008 at 12:55PM

Whoa, I didn't think it had done that badly... Ouch.

Posted by Imonfire on 07/13/2008 at 10:32PM

No Mythos? :(.

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