- This article is about the American company. For the Japanese company, see Flagship (company).
| Flagship Studios | |
|---|---|
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| Type | Private |
| Founded | 2003 |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, California, USA |
| Key people | David Brevik (CVO and co-founder) Bill Roper (CEO and co-founder) Erich Schaefer (CCO and co-founder) Max Schaefer (COO and co-founder) Kenneth Williams (CFO and co-founder) |
| Industry | Computer and video game industry |
| Products | Hellgate: London Mythos (computer game) |
| Slogan | N/A |
| Website | FlagshipStudios.com |
Flagship Studios is a computer game company founded by Bill Roper along with Max Schaefer, Erich Schaefer, and David Brevik, the original developers of Diablo and former high level Blizzard North executives. The core of Flagship Studios has been collaborating as a team since 1993 when they founded Condor Studios (later bought out and renamed Blizzard North) and in addition to the Diablo franchise were key high level executives in the development of Warcraft, Starcraft, and World of Warcraft. Flagship Studios was formed following the en mass resignation of Blizzard North management following a dispute with Blizzard Entertainment parent company Vivendi. Flagship Studio's primary target platform for their games is the PC. Flagship Studios has a partnership with Namco and HanbitSoft to cover an international market for game marketing and distribution.
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Titles
Hellgate: London
In March 2005, following months of teasing concept art for an unknown game, Flagship Studios' first title named Hellgate: London was announced via an exclusive article in the computer magazine PC Gamer. It was formally released October 31st, 2007 as an action role-playing game (RPG) in the same vein as the Diablo games, but with the twist of being played in 3D, primarily from a first-person perspective. The game takes place in a post-apocalyptic demon-infested London, following a great battle between demons and humans. The developer is careful to point out that the game experience will be nothing like that of regular first-person shooters, but with much deeper RPG content in the form of e.g. random quests, and where a character's combat efficiency is more determined by statistics than player reflexes. In addition, the game features random levels, Sometimes a point of criticism, nigh unheard of in games of similar perspective and scale. Expectations from the game were high, as earlier games the developers have been involved in, especially titles from Blizzard Entertainment, have become best sellers with few exceptions. However it has received scalding reviews, and complaints by many gamers that the game was released in an unfinished state, due to pressure from EA, the publisher. The Flagship team are currently developing patches and fixes to remove the bugs and crashes in Gameplay as of 25 November.
Mythos
Mythos is currently under development by Flagship Studios, specifically the recently-formed Flagship Seattle. An online RPG, again very similar in style to the Diablo, the game will be used to test the networking technology behind the multiplayer component of Hellgate: London. The game will not be sold in stores but rather digitally distributed by Flagship Studios subsidiary Ping0 in North America and Europe some time in 2008. It is expected to be free to play and download, though it will likely include some source of revenue-generation for Flagship as well.
Major staff
- David Brevik (CVO, Co-Founder)
- Bill Roper (CEO, Co-Founder)
- Erich Schaefer (CCO, Chairman of the Board, Co-Founder)
- Max Schaefer (COO, Co-Founder)
- Ken Williams (CFO, Co-Founder)
- Dave Glenn (Art Director, Co-Founder)
- Peter Hu (Director of Technology, Co-Founder)
- Phil Shenk (Art Director, Co-Founder)
- Tyler Thompson (Director of Technology, Co-Founder)
