Register Lost Password?  Cookie?
  The time now is 04:09 AM GMT -6.  
Banshee Network
 
Site Features
Submit News
News Archives
Join Our Staff
Forums
Community Blogs
Reviews
Previews
Interviews
Editorials
About GB
Advertise With Us!
Advertisement
 

Hellgate: London InterviewComments:
Posted on Monday, August 18 at 4:08 PM GMT -6

Bill Roper answers seven pages of questions over at 1UP about Flagship Studios' final days, the mistakes they made with Hellgate: London, and a whole lot more. It's definitely worth a read.
GFW: So let me ask you one question about the office right now. Is there still a Flagship office that has employees in it?

BR: Sort of? I know it's a weird answer, but, yeah, we do. We announced [on July 11] that we had to lay off the vast majority of the employees, but there's still a small handful of the founders working on things. Really, our focus now has been on how we best take care of the guys that aren't there anymore and help them find jobs with other teams. We handpicked everybody, both on the game-content side and the online-technology side. So we're really working to get those guys placed. Then, past that, we've been spending a lot of time trying to take care of our creditors and other fiscal challenges. But it's definitely at the point where we're not exactly trying to plot a gigantic turnaround with a bright, rosy future at Flagship. It's unfortunately more the other side of the coin.
(...)
GFW: It has got to kill you, I think, because you took a lot of hits in the press and from the public about Hellgate, but Mythos was different. You had made this kind of critical turnaround, at least as far as the beta was going, and then to have the rug pulled out from under you...

BR: It really felt like Flagship was on that verge of turning a corner. Hellgate came out, and it wasn't as good as it should have been. There's a myriad of reasons for that. Some of them were just bad timing in the PC market. The PC market was lousy last year. Some of it was the fact that we were an independent studio. We didn't have unlimited money, and we had to ship when we had to ship. Part of it was because we overreached, and that was a design problem that was totally our fault. We tried to do too much. We tried to be a standalone game and a free-play game and an MMO and an RPG and a shooter. We were trying to be something for everybody and ended up really not pleasing many people at all...



Message Board
Banshee Forums
If you're looking for a little extra gaming help, stop by our forums and exchange strategies, tips, and spoilers with 50,000 other members!
GameBanshee Swag
Good Old Games
RPG Store
Fallout 1/2/Tactics
All three classic Fallout games are now available for $5.99 each (100% DRM-free!) via CD Projekt's Good Old Games service.
Fallout 3
There's only one way to find out how Bethesda's version of the wasteland compares to Black Isle's classics.
Diablo III
Blizzard Entertainment's massively popular action RPG franchise continues.
The Witcher
Find out firsthand why CD Projekt RED's The Witcher earned our 2008 RPG of the Year award.
Fable II
Microsoft and Lionhead Studios' Fable sequel seeks to top the original with a co-op multiplayer component and more.
Storm of Zehir
The second expansion pack for Neverwinter Nights 2 includes several "old school" RPG features, including the option to fully customize your entire party of characters.
Mask of the Betrayer
The first expansion pack for Neverwinter Nights 2 improves upon the original game in almost every respect.
Mass Effect
BioWare took what they learned developing Star Wars: KotOR and applied it to the first in what will be a trilogy of sci-fi RPGs.
 
 
      Copyright ©2000-2009, GameBanshee.com