Games:Uncommited a look at Sci-Fi FPS/RPG

A quick look at Hellgate:London 

The Game: Hellgate:London 

Classified:

Action/Adventure/RPG

The Key Players:Flagship Studios, Flagship CEO Bill Roper, Namco Bandai,Hannbitsoft, Comerica and Travis Baldtree

WTF Happened: Bill Roper rushed game and lack of business sense put forth a decent game with a confusing subscription model; eventually the public revolted against and left to play the Mythos Beta that was A) Hella more fun and B) Free. Eventually he couldn't pay his loans and lost all the IP (Intellectual Property) to his publishers, Hannbitsoft and Namco Bandai. There was a claim that Hannbit changed hands which changed his business relationship with the company.

Why game-fail?: Lack of commitment to a certain genre and bad communication with the public, that's where the popular Travis Baldtree steps in. He was an all around nice guy and tried his best to attend to the needs of the HGL community. Unfortunately they were as rowdy as a bunch of rednecks at a sober picnic and it was too far gone to really fix PR, the forums at the end turned into a wild west show of flameposts and lolcat pictures. It was fun, however it was sad to see it die. 

Revival?: NAWT!, no. Sadly that HGL:revival is stuck in the red tape maze of eastern business bureaucracy, Namco Bandai who owns the IP is blocking Hannbit due to publishing rights. 

My take on the situation: If you are going to be a shooter, be a shooter; If you are going to be an RPG, be an RPG. Pick your poison, stay true to your roots and take care of your people (fans). This is the mantra that I've heard from professional sports athletes, movie stars and even rap artists alike say to stay focused on where your going in your career. OK, they were a game company that wanted to do something different and do it online because they were all the old blizzard north throwbacks that developed Diablo. Now in my humble ass opinion I would of just made it an open world shooter with PVP and PVE zones. If you want to instance something either make it a dungeon (ala WoW-style) and make certain towns private, or give some type of housing. I had a locker! All that work for a locker that didn't hold anything unless you bought a sub. And just commit to either A) a cheaper sub with a trial period or B) make it free to play with a cashshop (that alot of smaller game companies are turning to that seems to be working).

People either want to frag or they want to make believe they are someone else, thats why some players don't like HGL. You can't shoot the daylights out of someone and then pretend to like them.

- HGL Forums.

In hindsight: Yes, some games don't make the cut and it seems to be games that are stuck in this dual-identity dilemma comparable to Tabula Rasa, that suffered the same fate. Well not really because NC Soft just boooooooted Richard Garriot, who comes across as a eccentric British billionaire. I think they fired him while he was in space, well not much you can do about that eh, Richard?

Play safe,

Ink