Speaking on the demise of Flagship Studios, CEO and founder Bill Roper attributed the closing, in part, to lackluster performance of the action-RPG Hellgate: London (PC), which he admits was "not great."

"The Hellgate game came out, and it wasn't great," Roper told 1UP. "We also had a lot of players who enjoyed the game. And it's not like the game didn't sell at all. But it should have been a lot better. We really take responsibility for not being better. But we can just sit around saying that really sucked, or we can do something about it, and so we were working really hard."

Roper added that he felt like the studio was "on that verge of turning a corner," and further noted a number of reasons for the game's poor performance... Read more

Though Flagship Studios CEO Bill Roper previously stated that the Hellgate: London and Mythos developer was not shutting down despite having laid off most of its staff, ex-COO Max Schaefer has revealed that it is only open to take care of "final affairs."

"It's barely open," Schaefer explained to GameCyte. "It's just open enough to take care of the final affairs, but for all intents and purposes it's closed down."

Left, Hellgate: London. Right, Mythos.

"We don't exactly know the proper way to close down a company," added former Mythos executive producer Travis Baldree. "We're just trying to take care of the debts and the employees in an orderly fashion, so Bill [Roper, CEO of Flagship Studios] and one or two other people have stuck around and are doing their best to get that done."

Schaefer, Baldree and the rest of the Mythos development team has since reformed under a new company, Runic Games, which hopes to continue creating action-RPGs.

However, Badlree is fairly confident that Runic will not be able to resume development on the action-RPG Mythos, which is now in the hands of another company.

"We're proceeding under the assumption that we're not going to... Read more

With Hellgate: London (PC) and Mythos (PC) developer Flagship Studios having laid off most of its staff and halted work on the free-to-play action-RPG Mythos, those responsible for Mythos have formed a new development company, Runic Games.

The team "intends to continue to use their expertise in the Action-RPG MMO genre to create the best games in this market," according to the press release, with more details due "in the coming days."

As with Flagship, the Runic staff involves numerous action-RPG veterans, including Fate (PC) creator and Mythos project director Travis Baldree, as well as Max Schaefer, co-founder of Diablo creator Blizzard North and Mythos executive producer.

While Flagship is essentially shut down, work on Mythos and Hellgate: London support are expected to continue through Korean publisher T3, which holds a controlling stake in former Flagship business partner HanbitSoft.

Following significant layoffs at Flagship Studios, new job listings posted by Korean publisher T3 Entertainment seem to indicate that the company has picked up Flagship's Hellgate: London and Mythos properties, Gamasutra reports.

"T3 Entertainment is searching for creative minds to passionately continue development of Hellgate: London and Mythos, along with other new games, which are being published by HanbitSoft Inc," the job posting reads. The listing further notes that the publisher is staffing up a newly opened studio in San Francisco, California.

According to the report, T3 Entertainment recently acquired a controlling stake in Hellgate's Korean publisher HanbitSoft, which claimed rights to... Read more

Amidst massive layoffs and word that it will remain open, Hellgate: London developer Flagship has ceased production of its next project, the online action-RPG Mythos (PC).

"We regretfully announce that on Friday, July 18, 2008 at 11:59 CST the world of Uld known as Mythos will be going on hiatus," reads the game's official site.

"We want to thank you to everyone for their support and assistance with Mythos Alpha and Beta testing and we hope to see you soon."

While some reports have indicated that Flagship's properties are now owned by external parties, the studio claims it still retains ownership of both Hellgate: London and Mythos.

Thanks to Pluto69 for the heads up.

Flagship Studios today denied recent stories that is has closed, saying that it is still in business - though it did have to lay off most of its employees.

In a statement, CEO Bill Roper had this to say, "It is with deep regret that I must announce that Flagship Studios has laid off most employees. However, the core management and founding team members are still at Flagship. The past five years have been an incredible experience for us, but unfortunately, we couldn't sustain the size of the company any longer."

The company also notes that it still owns the rights to Hellgate: London and Mythos, something that is being disputed by Korean partner and investor HanbitSoft.

Because of its current situation, Flagship will no longer bill Hellgate: London players, nor will it take on any new subscribers for the game. No update was offered on the status of Mythos.

Update: Flagship community manager Taylor Balbi has denied Voodoo Extreme's report that he confirmed the studio's closure.

"I didn't say this at all, and I have never spoken to [Andrew Burnes at Voodoo Extreme] or recall ever speaking to [Andrew Burnes at Voodoo Extreme] about anything ever," Balbi wrote on the company's forums. "I'm sorry, but this news article is just not from me."

Meanwhile, multiple Flagship staff members--including Guy Somberg, Patrick Harris, Amol Deshpande, Chris Schillinger, Jesse Jones and Ray Li--have updated their LinkedIn accounts to show they are no longer with the company.

In curious related news, Hellgate: London subscribers have been unable to cancel their subscriptions for the past day, according to Flaggshipped.

Original Story: Following up on word of significant layoffs at Hellgate: London (PC) developer Flagship Studios, multiple reports are now circulating that the studio has shut down and all employees have been let go.

Left, Hellgate: London. Right, Mythos.

A Kotaku report on the studo's closure cites an anonymous source, while Voodoo Extreme sources Flagship community manager Taylor Balbi. Balbi apparently claimed that three of the studio's executives used their personal funds to provide employees with 30 days of pay.

Formed by the ex-Blizzard North staff responsible for the acclaimed Diablo series, Flagship released its first title, the action-RPG Hellgate: London, last fall... Read more

New at play.tm this morning is a Mythos Q&A, asking Flagship Studios Seattle's Phil Shenk about this free to play online action RPG.

Flagship Studios Seattle's upcoming free MMORPG Mythos has ended its closed alpha test period, and the studio sent along several new screenshots. The game was announced as going into alpha testing last month. It will be released in North America and Europe later this year.

Last December, California-based Flagship Studios announced that it had established a subsidiary studio, Flagship Studios Seattle, whose first project would be an massively multiplayer online roleplaying game entitled Mythos. This week, Flagship and Mythos distributor Ping0 revealed more details about the game, which is currently entering an alpha testing period.

Mythos will be available only via digital distribution, and will be free to players. The massively multiplayer technology in Mythos is partially being used as a testbed for the multiplayer components of Flagship Studio's upcoming title Hellgate: London (Hellgate: London interview). Like that heavily anticipated game, Mythos draws inspiration from Blizzard's Diablo franchise, on which many Flagship developers worked. With its isometric perspective and fantasy environments, Mythos shares more in common visually with Diablo than does Hellgate: London. Flagship sent along a batch of Mythos sccreenshots.

"For Mythos, we started with the revolutionary style of gameplay we pioneered in the Diablo franchise. Then, by offering it free to download and play, we make it even more accessible to players," said creative director Phil Shenk. "By designing the Mythos world from the ground-up to be an ever-changing place, we can quickly and seamlessly implement new ideas from a variety of inspirations. Through the continued support of the Flagship community, we are striving to create what will be one of the most innovative role-playing games of recent years."

The fairly traditional fantasy world of Mythos is heavily instanced, and is said to cater to both solo and group play. Players may choose to play as a Human, Elf, or Gremlin; specific classes were not named.

Mythos is slated for North American and European release later in 2007.