Flagship Responds To Hellgate: London Concerns News
Gwynne Dixon
12/06/2008
Flagship Studios has defended Hellgate: London following a damning blog post from a Programmer on the project...
Flagship: Studios has defended its Hellgate: London project following damning testimonies from one of the game's Programmers, Guy Somberg.
Somberg posted a blog entry last month suggesting that staff were leaving the Hellgate: London project "in droves", and expressing how depressing it is that "the forums are totally populated by people who do nothing but complain and talk about how much the game sucks."
Flagship Studios has now released an official comment to TVG on the matter with the studio's Chief Visionary Officer, David Brevik, stating: "Everyone has good days and bad days. Guy was having a bad day. It was his friend's last day of internship and he found out another friend was thinking of leaving. He vented, exaggerated, and posted information that was inaccurate.
"We will be the first to admit that Hellgate: London did launch with some problems. The game would certainly have benefited from a couple more months in the oven, but as an independent developer we didn't have the ability to delay our ship date. It can be difficult to stand by and see something that you put your heart and soul into, week in and week out, get the initial reception Hellgate got. It can put a strain on any developer and some days it can get to you. Thankfully, after some very hard work by all the people here, including Guy, the game is much better now and we believe in the future of Hellgate."
Brevik went on to debunk suggestions of a mass departure of Flagship staff. He noted that there are over 100 employees working for both of the company's studios (San Francisco and Seattle), while there has been less than 10% turn-over of staff and all needed positions have been re-hired for.
He stated that all the company's Directors and Founders are still on board and working on either Hellgate: London or the studio's upcoming free-to-play MMORPG Mythos.
According to Brevik, the Hellgate: London team is as big now as it was when the game shipped and he also commented that their continual efforts will shine through in the upcoming second update for the title, Abyss Chronicles.