Although it is slated to stop operating in the West on January 31, multiplayer online title Hellgate: London will continue on here as a free-to-play game, according to comments from Korean publisher and developer HanbitSoft.
The announcement comes in spite of a decision by Namco-Bandai, which co-published the game through an agreement with Electronic Arts' EA Partners, to terminate the game's servers.
HanbitSoft has asserted that it owns the IP, engines and source code for the Flagship Studios title worldwide, and will maintain Hellgate: London for its global community. HanbitSoft had previously been responsible for only the game's Korean operations.
The switch to a free-to-play model was the first official announcement the company has made regarding the fate of the title, which during its lifetime suffered from perceived quality issues, and an insufficient userbase, playing a key role in the closing of Flagship Studios in July 2008.
HanbitSoft also says in an official press statement seen by Gamasutra that future updates for Hellgate: London are in the works, with a focus on "strengthening community features" while maintaining the core gameplay as is.
The next "large-scale" patch, according to HanbitSoft, will be released "soon," and will combine the game's two play modes to unify its communities. The company also plans class balance improvements and further distinction between the game's five acts.
Now granted I dont like Hellgate London all that much, BUT a huge part of it was the pay to play bullshit. With this looking like its going to be 100% free to play I could get behind this.
Also if Hanbitsoft actually updates this I can only hope they put some rad as fucking korean MMO-ish armor that they love to design in this bitch. The armor in this game is fairly bland.
Free to play you gotta buy it still but really its probalbly in the 5$ bin at EBstop and Bestbuy.
So this weekend, the copy of HGL that I've had for offer on Goozex finally get a match. I eagerly send it off, happy to get it off my hands before the servers go kablooey. And now I find this out. Dammit.
I always enjoyed Hellgate despite its flaws. You get to kill demons with a gun that shoots bees.
BEES!
GoodOmens on
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Olivawgood name, isn't it?the foot of mt fujiRegistered Userregular
Hey, this is great news. Can't wait for when they combine the content. I recently uninstalled the game, but that might be something to get me back into it.
I had a friend who bought the lifetime membership for this.
Worse yet: I talked a friend into getting the lifetime because I was going to do it as well. But I ran out of money and couldn't do it........ And he did.
urahonky on
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The_SpaniardIt's never lupinesIrvine, CaliforniaRegistered Userregular
I had a friend who bought the lifetime membership for this.
Worse yet: I talked a friend into getting the lifetime because I was going to do it as well. But I ran out of money and couldn't do it........ And he did.
Reminds me of a guy that convinced a friend into investing 12 grand into a hot stock tip, but didn't invest himself. The economy tanked and that 12 grand turned into 250 bucks.
Do I have to create a new account? Will I get to continue playing my old account? As soon as the new patch comes out I'll reinstall!
I'm curious about this as well.
I don't think I could be assed to re-level a character from scratch again, but if I had access to my old Engineer, I might mess around a bit, especially if they have the Stonehenge content open for everyone. I never actually got to fight the final badguy in that area, because I wanted to get to 50 for the best drops on my first time. I think my Engineer is level 48 or something like that. I ended up cancelling my account payments for spare cash, and then the game collapsed like a week or two later.
Forar on
First they came for the Muslims, and we said NOT TODAY, MOTHERFUCKER!
Oh man oh man... if my character doesn't go poof and if they get some competent peeps to finish up abyss chronicles I would be all over this like stink on poo poo.
corin7 on
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Descendant XSkyrim is my god now.Outpost 31Registered Userregular
edited January 2009
They're practically giving this game away in Canada. I may have to go pick it up and give it a try because of this.
Descendant X on
Garry: I know you gentlemen have been through a lot, but when you find the time I'd rather not spend the rest of the winter TIED TO THIS FUCKING COUCH!
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The_SpaniardIt's never lupinesIrvine, CaliforniaRegistered Userregular
Do I have to create a new account? Will I get to continue playing my old account? As soon as the new patch comes out I'll reinstall!
I'm curious about this as well.
I don't think I could be assed to re-level a character from scratch again, but if I had access to my old Engineer, I might mess around a bit, especially if they have the Stonehenge content open for everyone. I never actually got to fight the final badguy in that area, because I wanted to get to 50 for the best drops on my first time. I think my Engineer is level 48 or something like that. I ended up cancelling my account payments for spare cash, and then the game collapsed like a week or two later.
I also have some subscriber only gear I'd like to try out.
I submit to you that the company in fact deserved to go out of business due to releasing an unfinished product and attempting to gouge the consumers for as much money as possible as quickly as possible as they knew there game was a flop!
But it is nice to see the game is staying up/going free for those that actually enjoy it and want to keep playing.
You got a warm fuzzy feeling that you were providing a company with much needed funding that kept it alive for as long as it did.
Noone ever expects the game to tank and people to loose their money, but I mean, seriously, the risk IS there and you know it before you go for it.
Give me back mythos.
edit: oh boy, terrible totp!
Man I had almost pushed Mythos out of my head until I saw this post. What a lovely game that was. I'd pay full retail price for it.
Anyway, like I said before I think I'm going to get back into this. I never really played it multi-player, mostly just single-player, and when they started patching things in multi but not in single I knew things were in trouble. I always was a fan of the game though, for about a month it was all I would talk to my friends about. Sadly, I could not convince anyone to try the game.
brynstar on
Xbox Live: Xander51
PSN ID : Xander51 Steam ID : Xander51
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Judge-ZTeacher, for Great JusticeUpstate NYRegistered Userregular
edited January 2009
The game should have been free to play from the get-go, with pay as you go upgrades. Both this and DDO online could have learned a lot from the Guild Wars business model. I'll be checking Hellgate out again when it goes free.
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shanisLCDR, US NavyMaryland, USARegistered Userregular
edited January 2009
From a gameplay standpoint, is the prevailing opinion for this game that of a "salvagable" nature? It must be for them to suddenly turn around and start supporting it (however limited it might be at first).
shanis on
Origin(BF4) - hunter28100 / Steam - Shanis
"Uh, I have never said that you are not good at what you do. It's just that what you do is not worth doing." -S.C.
The game should have been free to play from the get-go, with pay as you go upgrades. Both this and DDO online could have learned a lot from the Guild Wars business model. I'll be checking Hellgate out again when it goes free.
Wait...am I not understanding what's happening here? I thought it WAS going free.
FireWeasel on
AC:CL Wii -- 3824-2125-9336 City: Felinito Me: Nick
The game should have been free to play from the get-go, with pay as you go upgrades. Both this and DDO online could have learned a lot from the Guild Wars business model. I'll be checking Hellgate out again when it goes free.
Wait...am I not understanding what's happening here? I thought it WAS going free.
It is. They should have made it free from the beginning. DDO too, apparently.
The game should have been free to play from the get-go, with pay as you go upgrades. Both this and DDO online could have learned a lot from the Guild Wars business model. I'll be checking Hellgate out again when it goes free.
Wait...am I not understanding what's happening here? I thought it WAS going free.
It is. They should have made it free from the beginning. DDO too, apparently.
Oh, I agree there shoulda been no paid model especially given how fubar buggy it was.
It was just the "I'll check it out again when it goes free" comment that threw me off.
Also: this is great news! I love the hell out of Hellgate, despite its intense headache-inducing screwiness. I aaaaaaaaaaaaalmost got the lifetime thang, too.
Either way, this is aces.
FireWeasel on
AC:CL Wii -- 3824-2125-9336 City: Felinito Me: Nick
I'm interested but I'm not getting my hopes up quite yet.
I don't know if things are changed over with the Korean servers, but I have this unfortunate itch that some maple story style money sink will be there. Maybe not exactly like that, but cash is going to be shoveled at them for enjoyment of the upmost quality.
If they could actually finish the Abyss patch, get some more tweaks and stablize the engine more, well they could very well clean this thing up and go guild wars on everyone.
But this is korea.
Anyone know anything about Hanbit outside of the epic drama known as Flagship?
I wonder what it'll look like on my rig with new upgrades.
WillisIVIIX on
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TL DRNot at all confident in his reflexive opinions of thingsRegistered Userregular
The game should have been free to play from the get-go, with pay as you go upgrades. Both this and DDO online could have learned a lot from the Guild Wars business model. I'll be checking Hellgate out again when it goes free.
Yeah, if you want to compete with WoW then don't start off with such an obviously flawed payment scheme. You have to be a better deal, since it doesn't matter if you're the better game.
I am curious to find out what the Koreans have been doing with the game. As far as I know they never got the Abyss Chronicles rolled out even in testing over there. They were starting up a studio in the US to take over the development void left by Flagship or some such.
I figured since today was the final day for the US servers (and the entire website apparently) to remember what could have been. Alas gamasutra ammended their article a little later and said Hanbit's statement didn't necessarily mention global support, only unspecified regions.
So here's to Hellgate: London, so miss managed yet so much potential.
WillisIVIIX on
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The_SpaniardIt's never lupinesIrvine, CaliforniaRegistered Userregular
I figured since today was the final day for the US servers (and the entire website apparently) to remember what could have been. Alas gamasutra ammended their article a little later and said Hanbit's statement didn't necessarily mention global support, only unspecified regions.
So here's to Hellgate: London, so miss managed yet so much potential.
I figured since today was the final day for the US servers (and the entire website apparently) to remember what could have been. Alas gamasutra ammended their article a little later and said Hanbit's statement didn't necessarily mention global support, only unspecified regions.
So here's to Hellgate: London, so miss managed yet so much potential.
I agree! Hellgate, you were so much fun, and you could have been so much more awesome.
brynstar on
Xbox Live: Xander51
PSN ID : Xander51 Steam ID : Xander51
Yeah, if you want to compete with WoW then don't start off with such an obviously flawed payment scheme. You have to be a better deal, since it doesn't matter if you're the better game.
Is your low-flying insinuation here that this has already come to pass, and an objectively better game exists? Because a quick metacritic lookup of the biggest contenders in the market says the opposite. Guild Wars is, by far, the closest -- but as soon as you add in expansions, it drops off.
Yeah, if you want to compete with WoW then don't start off with such an obviously flawed payment scheme. You have to be a better deal, since it doesn't matter if you're the better game.
Is your low-flying insinuation here that this has already come to pass, and an objectively better game exists? Because a quick metacritic lookup of the biggest contenders in the market says the opposite. Guild Wars is, by far, the closest -- but as soon as you add in expansions, it drops off.
Yeah because more people pay for it doesn't mean it's inherently better. More people paid money to see Titanic than The Dark Knight, does that make Titanic a better movie?
Posts
Granted, i never picked this up, but at least i can be the bearer of good news to my friends that have.
Now when they say free, do they mean entirely free, or will I still need to buy a copy of the game?
Free to play you gotta buy it still but really its probalbly in the 5$ bin at EBstop and Bestbuy.
Critical Failures - Havenhold Campaign • August St. Cloud (Human Ranger)
Wahahahaha.
Did he get any sort of refund?
I always enjoyed Hellgate despite its flaws. You get to kill demons with a gun that shoots bees.
BEES!
IOS Game Center ID: Isotope-X
Yeah that's absolutely hysterical
PSN ID : DetectiveOlivaw | TWITTER | STEAM ID | NEVER FORGET
PSN ID : Xander51 Steam ID : Xander51
Worse yet: I talked a friend into getting the lifetime because I was going to do it as well. But I ran out of money and couldn't do it........ And he did.
Reminds me of a guy that convinced a friend into investing 12 grand into a hot stock tip, but didn't invest himself. The economy tanked and that 12 grand turned into 250 bucks.
It seemed like a good idea at the time.
I recently threw my CD out, I had a mid-level marksman in green/white armor.
Critical Failures - Havenhold Campaign • August St. Cloud (Human Ranger)
I'm curious about this as well.
I don't think I could be assed to re-level a character from scratch again, but if I had access to my old Engineer, I might mess around a bit, especially if they have the Stonehenge content open for everyone. I never actually got to fight the final badguy in that area, because I wanted to get to 50 for the best drops on my first time. I think my Engineer is level 48 or something like that. I ended up cancelling my account payments for spare cash, and then the game collapsed like a week or two later.
I also have some subscriber only gear I'd like to try out.
My poor roommate who bought the lifetime membership... :P
3DSFF: 5026-4429-6577
Noone ever expects the game to tank and people to loose their money, but I mean, seriously, the risk IS there and you know it before you go for it.
Give me back mythos.
edit: oh boy, terrible totp!
But it is nice to see the game is staying up/going free for those that actually enjoy it and want to keep playing.
Man I had almost pushed Mythos out of my head until I saw this post. What a lovely game that was. I'd pay full retail price for it.
Anyway, like I said before I think I'm going to get back into this. I never really played it multi-player, mostly just single-player, and when they started patching things in multi but not in single I knew things were in trouble. I always was a fan of the game though, for about a month it was all I would talk to my friends about. Sadly, I could not convince anyone to try the game.
PSN ID : Xander51 Steam ID : Xander51
"Uh, I have never said that you are not good at what you do. It's just that what you do is not worth doing." -S.C.
Wait...am I not understanding what's happening here? I thought it WAS going free.
It is. They should have made it free from the beginning. DDO too, apparently.
Oh, I agree there shoulda been no paid model especially given how fubar buggy it was.
It was just the "I'll check it out again when it goes free" comment that threw me off.
Also: this is great news! I love the hell out of Hellgate, despite its intense headache-inducing screwiness. I aaaaaaaaaaaaalmost got the lifetime thang, too.
Either way, this is aces.
I don't know if things are changed over with the Korean servers, but I have this unfortunate itch that some maple story style money sink will be there. Maybe not exactly like that, but cash is going to be shoveled at them for enjoyment of the upmost quality.
If they could actually finish the Abyss patch, get some more tweaks and stablize the engine more, well they could very well clean this thing up and go guild wars on everyone.
But this is korea.
Anyone know anything about Hanbit outside of the epic drama known as Flagship?
I wonder what it'll look like on my rig with new upgrades.
Yeah, if you want to compete with WoW then don't start off with such an obviously flawed payment scheme. You have to be a better deal, since it doesn't matter if you're the better game.
I am curious to find out what the Koreans have been doing with the game. As far as I know they never got the Abyss Chronicles rolled out even in testing over there. They were starting up a studio in the US to take over the development void left by Flagship or some such.
So here's to Hellgate: London, so miss managed yet so much potential.
Here here!
I agree! Hellgate, you were so much fun, and you could have been so much more awesome.
PSN ID : Xander51 Steam ID : Xander51
Is your low-flying insinuation here that this has already come to pass, and an objectively better game exists? Because a quick metacritic lookup of the biggest contenders in the market says the opposite. Guild Wars is, by far, the closest -- but as soon as you add in expansions, it drops off.
Yeah because more people pay for it doesn't mean it's inherently better. More people paid money to see Titanic than The Dark Knight, does that make Titanic a better movie?