The Gate to Hell Closes Next Year
We all knew this moment was coming earlier this year when Flagship Studios closed their doors. Hellgate: London servers are shutting down forever on January 31, 2009. Namco Bandai, the distributer of the game here in the United States originally stepped in back in July and took on the costs of the servers and maintenance of the game after it became apparent that Flagship was folding, with the failure of Hellgate: London.
Namco Bandai also announced that from now until the end of January the servers will be available for free to those users who haven’t moved on to greener MMO pastures. If there is anyone out there thinking of launching an MMORPG, make sure you study the case of Hellgate and Flagship, so that you too don’t make the same mistakes.
In the spirit of full disclosure I was one of those lifetime subscribers. My brother and I bought this game with high expectations and high hopes, we were going to play it as the action alternative to trolling through Azeroth. To say we’ve been nothing but disappointed since the launch of Hellgate is an understatement. Hopefully others, like my brother and I, have moved on to better things.
Of course, the game comes with a sizable single-player game, so not all is lost.
(Thanks, Shacknews.)
Related link: GameStooge Hellgate: London review
November 3rd, 2008 at 10:03 pm
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