Okay, so who remembers this terribly managed, released far too early, buggy, unfinished, under-polished, overly hyped up, BRILLIANT GAME? If you don't then please allow me to take you back to 2007!
First, let's start off with possibly the best hype trailer even conceived:
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Wikipedia:
Hellgate: London is a dark fantasy themed action role-playing game developed by Flagship Studios, released on October 31, 2007. It was developed by a team headed by former Blizzard Entertainment employees, some of whom had overseen the creation of the Diablo series. In 2008 Flagship Studios filed bankruptcy and all intellectual property was seized because it was used as collateral for funding received from Comerica Bank. Subsequently, development of the game halted. Namco Bandai Games provided free ongoing US/EU server support in the fall of Flagship Studios until 31 January 2009, when the US/EU multiplayer game servers and websites were taken offline. HanbitSoft has since acquired properties to the game and it is being developed and played in Korea to date
Multiplayer:
In Korea, Hellgate: London is now using a free-to-play business model. The following is an account of the US/EU subscription model Flagship Studios while it was in effect:
There were two types of multiplayer accounts: free and subscription accounts. Subscribers had access to ongoing content updates.
The US subscription plan cost $9.95 (USD) a month and an offer to pay a one-time fee of $149.99 for a lifetime subscription was available for up to 100,000 people who pre-ordered the game and ended on January 31, 2008. The UK subscription is £6.99 and EU subscription is €9.99.
Additionally, subscribers would have access to a Hardcore mode, special PvP arenas and a PvP ladder, the ability to bypass server queues, a shared storage space with room for 40 items instead of 20, the ability to create guilds, the ability to achieve officer status in guilds, and 24-hour customer support. Subscribers and non-subscribers will be able to interact in all ways in the game. Non-subscribers can join guilds, but not create them. The level cap is set to 50 and up to 24 character slots are available for all players.
As of July 2008, all subscriptions were suspended and players could neither subscribe nor unsubscribe at that point, although they were no longer billed, see Flagship Studios. Since Flagship Studios went into receivership US & Europe multiplayer gaming ceased (January 2009).
So that's Hellgate! Another brilliant game let down by dumb decisions. You can still play it in single player and there's a special revival mod for it still being developed today with loads of fixes and improvements to the game. http://www.hellgateaus.net/ So here's hoping that one day it will get re released properly.
