Flagship: we're not sinking

Hellgate: London developer Flagship Studios has countered comments made by one of its own staffers that suggested a mass exodus of employees from the studio.

Guy Somberg, a programmer at Flagship, said in a recent post on his personal blog that "People are leaving. In droves, they're leaving" the company.

But Flagship on Wednesday swatted away Somberg's comments, which circulated the Web this week.

"Everyone has good days and bad days. Guy was having a bad day. ... He vented, exaggerated, and posted information that was inaccurate," stated Flagship CVO David Brevik in a statement issued to Next Generation.

Brevik said that both Flagship's San Francisco and Seattle studios are fully staffed, with the former working on Hellgate content, and the latter working on the free-to-play MMORPG Mythos.

He said that over 100 employees currently work for both studios, and that Hellgate's team is as big now as when the game shipped.

Brevik added, "As is typical in the industry, after a game is released some people naturally want to work on something else and they leave the company to do so. But in total we have had less than 10 percent turn-over and have rehired for all needed positions."

Somberg's comments came months after the October 2007 release of Hellgate: London, a highly anticipated game that fizzled with critics and consumers when it launched.

Brevik said, "We will be the first to admit that Hellgate: London did launch with some problems. The game would certainly have benefited from a couple more months in the oven, but as an independent developer we didn't have the ability to delay our ship date.

"...The game is much better now and we believe in the future of Hellgate."

Courtesy of Next Generation.

Jun 12, 2008

CATEGORIES
Latest in RPG
Pillars of Eternity
10 years later, in a post-Baldur's Gate 3 and Avowed world, Obsidian is giving its own throwback CRPG Pillars of Eternity a turn-based combat mode
Kingdom Come Deliverance 2
Reclaiming their crown, pacifist Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 player beats the whole RPG as "Merciful Henry": 1,741 strikes blocked, 472 knockouts, and zero kills
Top-down screenshot of Monsterpatch, showing a grid-based town with Pokemon-like creatures, GBC graphics and vegetations sprinkled about.
This cozy RPG promises a Pokemon and Stardew Valley mashup with "limitless customization," 208 monsters, and more, so no wonder its Kickstarter was funded in just 16 minutes
Dragon Age: The Veilguard art showing the RPG's companions grouped together
Dragon Age: The Veilguard director is leading an unannounced game for Wizards of the Coast, which recently hinted at more Baldur's Gate
A large, muscly bloke eating noodles at a bar while two people point pistols at him from behind in Cyberpunk 2077.
The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 developer enters into partnership with Pokemon Go owner to create a new game "set within one of CD Projekt's IPs"
The Witcher 4 screenshot with Ciri using sword and sorcery to fight an ancient monster
The Witcher 4 and Naughty Dog's Intergalactic are reportedly skipping 2026 and won't be ready until at least the year after
Latest in News
Pillars of Eternity
10 years later, in a post-Baldur's Gate 3 and Avowed world, Obsidian is giving its own throwback CRPG Pillars of Eternity a turn-based combat mode
Destiny 2 Lightfall
When Destiny 2 "weekly active users dropped lower and faster than we'd seen since 2018," Bungie assembled an A-Team to put out some fires: "We needed to do something"
Velma, Daphne, Fred, Shaggy, and Scooby-Doo looking at a giant key which is also a clue
Netflix is rebooting Scooby-Doo as a live-action series from the producer of Supergirl and The Flash centered around a "supernatural murder" at a summer camp
Astro Bot
Astro Bot went through 23 pitch iterations before its director promised PlayStation "happy gameplay" and "overflowing charm," though it did once end with robot decapitation that made "some people really upset"
Tomb Raider
5 years after Avengers, 2 years after its last layoffs, and who knows how long before Perfect Dark and Tomb Raider return, Crystal Dynamics announces another round of layoffs
AI Limit
"AI is not as effective as it might appear": Dev of AI-focused Soulslike RPG says they didn't use any AI-generated content and it can't match "genuine creativity"