Flagship "still operating" but has no staff News • News • Eurogamer.net

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Roper says "core" team still intact.

Flagship boss Bill Roper has confirmed reports that the studio has fired "most employees".

However, a statement issued by the developer says it has not closed down and that it still owns the rights to both Hellgate: London and Mythos.

"It is with deep regret that I must announce Flagship Studios has laid off most employees," Roper told Voodoo Extreme. "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."

Hellgate will not be taking on any new subscribers (er), and those already in there will not be billed for the time being.

Earlier this week Flagship looked set to close its doors and lose Mythos to Korean company HanbitSoft and Hellgate to US money firm Comerica.

Perhaps it has since come into some money. The future of Hellgate: London and Mythos to follow, presumably.

Related games
- Hellgate: London
  
  PC
  
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- Mythos
  
  PC
  
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About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

Comments (17) Latest comment 4 years ago

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Kami #1 4 years ago

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So, they're carrying on but they're out of money to keep the staff that would update Hellgate... hmm...

This spin just makes a bad situation slightly worse I think.
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Xerx3s #2 4 years ago

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Wait, is this the same guy that said that it was smooth sailing all the way a month or so ago?
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DFawkes #3 4 years ago

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Indeed Xerx3s, right above the comments in the "Latest News" bit there's an article with the headline "Hellgate: London Worries 'innaccurate'". Either that, or as they call it in the trade "very accurate".

Has gems like "the game is much better now and we believe in the future of Hellgate.", whislt he thought "well, for a day or two anyway.
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Pirotic #4 4 years ago

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so they have enough money left to keep all the management, but no programmers, artists or developers. how do they expect to finish Mythos off like that or are they using the excel spreadsheet engine.
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neilka #5 4 years ago

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Don't be silly, management don't know how to use Excel.
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Asundai #6 4 years ago

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So do they have the staff for Mythos still or what? That's the only game of theirs people give a damn about. It actually looks pretty damn good so i hope they can somehow finish it.
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Whizzo #7 4 years ago

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The Mythos team were let go as well.
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PearOfAnguish #8 4 years ago

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Hmm, what is the point of carrying on with the company if you can't afford to pay anybody to develop games?

There's no petrol in the car, but the driver is still in his seat turning the wheel and making engine noises.

Edited by 1 at 16/07/08 @ 16:37
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Silvervein #9 4 years ago

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@PearOfAnguish
Well, it's a dream of any suit those days it seems. All the money just for them, without the need to pay all those programmers, artists and others. Only one small problem...where do they expect that money to come from?

Out of curiosity, some time ago I read that hellgate had enthusiastic reception in korea. Maybe they plan to hire people there and make it another korean grinder?
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Max018 #10 4 years ago

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I really hope Mythos comes out, and Fagship can pull though somehow.
My head tells me that won't happen but my heart still hopes for the best.
Max
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hoster #11 4 years ago

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somebody has to stay behind to steal the stationery and sell it on Ebay before the receivers get in.
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Feanor #12 4 years ago

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Valve should buy 'em and put Mythos on Steam.
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Max018 #13 4 years ago

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Yeah I hope someone like Valve takes them and says some to the effect of "we understand it's hard and we want to offer you a home in our company, we believe in Mythos as a product.
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MaxiSleep #14 4 years ago

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Will staff be added in a patch?
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lemonfist #15 4 years ago

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I just want to play Mythos. Make me pay for it if it has to be so, it just looks too fun not to be released.
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Laserbream #16 4 years ago

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I hope Mythos isn't bought by Twobitsoft and Asianised into a hard core grindathon. And yeah, it's a word. Your dictionary must be out of date.
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Markusdragon #17 4 years ago

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An empty flagship that's still floating?

Mary Celeste, much?
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