HanbitSoft CEO claims ownership rights to Hellgate:London and Mythos
Filed under: Fantasy, Sci-fi, Events, real-world, Interviews, MMO industry, News items, Mythos, Legal
We're still reeling over the news that Flagship Studios has met its demise. Seeing any hard working development studio with loads of potential go belly-up isn't easy considering all the real people affected from the fallout. Bill Roper hasn't made a public announcement yet, but the closure of Flagship Studios was confirmed. What will happen to Mythos and Hellgate:London is a question that remains on many minds. The HanbitSoft CEO, Kim Ki-young chips away at that answer in a response to an inquiry by TheGames.co.kr seeking clarification about the situation surrounding Hellgate:London and Mythos. In a translation provided by Hellgate Guru, Kim Ki-young of HanbitSoft states: "If we can take intellectual property rights of relevant products from Flagship Studios, we have confidence to develop the games ourselves based on T3 Entertainment's advanced technology' and 'we believe we can service fresh and interesting games to online gamers by getting intellectual property rights and development. This crisis could be an opportunity for us."
Kim Ki-young reaffirms that HanbitSoft owns the rights to both Mythos and Hellgate:London, but cannot legally acquire these rights until Flagship files for bankruptcy or HanbitSoft otherwise receives legal confirmation regarding the default on loan agreements on Flagship's part; however, HanbitSoft saw the default coming as preparations started long ago for this crucial moment.
Kim concludes with, "It is unfortunate that Flagship turned down additional investments HanbitSoft offered to make that would have allowed it to keep its doors open." The two parties couldn't come to an agreement leaving Flagship Studios to sink and its corpse to be looted later.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Lianne said on 9:45PM 7-14-2008
I am SO glad I didn't subscribe to HG:L. It's bad enough I spent $100 on the game (a copy for me and a copy for the BF as a gift). It was buggy and rushed, but it had potential. I hope we don't lose online play, or if they must close the servers, at least let us download our characters to play offline!
Oh and give us LAN play! =D A bunch of my friends didn't buy the game SPECIFICALLY because it lacked that feature.
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Blake said on 10:37PM 7-14-2008
Sadly I'm a founder, and also purchased two copies. :( Here's to hoping that whoever owns the IP keeps the servers going and continues development.
Lot of potential, of course, but that word is usually the death to games.
Daniel Delorme said on 10:00PM 7-14-2008
its a cris-a-tunity
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recursive said on 6:43AM 7-15-2008
There was some mention of the devs getting their jobs back at a newly formed company which'd further develop the IP, wasn't there? Hope that goes through, I don't really see HanbitSoft pick up where Flagship left off with a new team, especially since Flagship really did seem on track to building something good with Mythos.
Must say that regardless of how often the "additional investments" line gets repeated it smells rather like a planned takeover, but we'll likely never know the truth.
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derella said on 7:20AM 7-15-2008
I'm surprised some other publisher hasn't paid off Flagship's debts, and secured Mythos. HGL is a mess, but Mythos seemed to be well-received even in beta.
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ScytheNoire said on 8:42AM 7-15-2008
The properties do have value, and while saving Hellgate's tarnished reputation could be very difficult, the technology behind it could be useful. Mythos on the other hand, is a great asset to acquire and has a huge potential for growth.
Hopefully those working on the projects get a chance, because I don't think the developers were at fault as much as poor leadership and planning.
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PeterD said on 1:16PM 7-15-2008
The comments by the Hanbitsoft rep kind of concern me. It sounds like rather than fund continued development of Mythos by the existing development team they want to take full rights to the game and finish (or restart) development on it themselves. Mythos is essentially a massively multiplayer evolution of Fate, and cutting the original creator of both games out of its continued development would pretty much kill it.
I'd hate to see what a grind happy korean development house would do to Mythos :(
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karl said on 8:57AM 7-16-2008
Flagship still alive
http://ve3d.ign.com/articles/news/40030/Flagship-Studios-Still-Alive
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