Former Flagship CEO Bill Roper Now Designs Champions; Legal Champ Hanbitsoft Now Develops Hellgate

Mon, Nov 3, 2008

Two-and-a-half months after GameCyte confirmed the studio's closure, it seems that the last light at Hellgate: London developer Flagship Studios has finally been snuffed out. Cryptic Studios announced today that they've hired on former Flagship CEO Bill Roper as their design director for upcoming MMO Champions Online.

But it also seems that Flagship's projects will live on. Via corporate blog, former Flagship partner Hanbitsoft has revealed that they have resumed work on Hellgate: London.

Thursday, Hanbitsoft Global PR Manager Janelle Ha relayed the following letter:

To the fans of Hellgate: London,

We wish to express our gratitude to all the fans for showing your passion and dedication to Hellgate: London.

Since acquiring the intellectual property rights, HanbitSoft Inc., the publisher and distributor of Hellgate: London in Asia, has concentrated on the development of Hellgate: London, and has received many inquiries regarding new updates. Our US development studio is currently working on an update that is to surpass “The Abyss Chronicles.” This game will be available through our Web site. We thank you once again for showing your interest and ask for your continuous support for Hellgate: London, as we hope to bring good news shortly. In the meantime, we will continue developing the world’s best game!

Sincerely,
Hellgate: London Product Manager - also a fellow user that loves to play Hellgate: London

When Hanbitsoft parent company T3 Entertainment set up a San Francisco studio three months ago, their plans to resume work on Hellgate and Mythos were incredulous; at that point, Hanbitsoft didn't own the requisite intellectual property. But as Gamasutra today notes, that has since changed -- in a Hanbitsoft release dated October 26th, they stake claim to both games.

However, given Hanbitsoft's minimal presence in the U.S. -- and a variety of other factors, like Namco Bandai's scheduled shut down of U.S. Hellgate: London servers on Feburary 1st, and the words of Hanbitsoft CEO Gi-Young Kim ("Service in Asia, including Korea, is in good hands") we're not convinced this news means anything for western Hellgate fans. We'll be investigating the possibility in more detail shortly.

Surprisingly straightforward press release announces the addition of Bill Roper to the Cryptic team:

Los Gatos, CA – November 3, 2008 – Cryptic Studios™, one of the leading independent developers of massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs), announced today that Bill Roper has joined the company as Design Director and will be working on Champions Online™.

“Bill brings a ton of creative energy to the Cryptic office and we’re thrilled to have him join our team,” said John Needham, Chief Executive Officer for Cryptic Studios. “His years of gaming and online experience are huge assets to all of our projects, and Bill will assist us in furthering our studio’s vision to create innovative, exciting MMO gameplay.”

“Cryptic has experienced huge growth over the past year and has exciting opportunities ahead of it,” said Bill Roper, Design Director, Cryptic Studios. “The company knows how to choose compelling IPs that have rich histories such as Champions and Star Trek. I’m looking forward to working with the team.”

As a 14-year game industry veteran, Roper has worked directly on numerous top selling titles, including the Warcraft, Starcraft and Diablo series. He joined Blizzard Entertainment in 1994 to work in sound, music and voiceover, eventually being appointed as Vice President of Blizzard North and a Director of Blizzard Entertainment where he managed all external projects and coordinated internal development teams. In 2003, Roper co-founded Flagship Studios and Ping0 where he held the role of CEO for five years and oversaw the launch of Hellgate: London and development of Mythos.

Cryptic Studios, headquartered in Los Gatos, is currently in production of two highly anticipated MMO action games, Champions Online and Star Trek® Online. Champions Online, based on the popular Champions™ pen-and-paper RPG and published by 2K Games, will give players the power of total customization for their hero experience while they explore a vast comic book universe. Set in the year 2409, Star Trek Online will allow players to immerse themselves in the future of the Star Trek universe, exploring strange new worlds, seeking out new life and new civilizations in an ever expanding vast universe.

Image Credit: GamersGate.com, under Creative Commons 2.0 Germany