"I think that people had incredibly high expectations that we simply didn't meet", Flagship boss Bill Roper has admitted in an interview with PC Zone on Hellgate: London.
Looking back the RPG was surrounded by hefty anticipation due to it hailing from the team responsible for the Diablo series, but it ended up experiencing a rocky launch last year, blighted by major bugs.
"...we simply tried to do too much with the game", Roper says in retrospect. "Vista, DirectX 10, being both a single-player boxed product and a multiplayer online game, a simultaneous launch in seven languages across Europe, the US and South East Asia, and creating our own fully-featured online destination on top of all that."
Rather than try to shove responsibility for the rough launch onto others, the CEO says Flagship will take the blame for not getting enough testing done while working towards its committed ship date for Hellgate.
However, he adds that the issues when the game launched were less to do with the total months of testing - "which were numerous" - and more to do with the vast number of issues that came up right at the end.
"The game would certainly have benefited from a couple of more months in the oven," Roper admits, "but we didn't have the ability to do so.
"The challenges of an independent game studio are drastically different than those owned by a publisher," he continues. "We're fortunate that the online nature of the game has allowed us to continue to fix bugs, add content, and respond directly to our players' wants and needs.
"We'll keep pushing on all fronts with Hellgate: London", Roper promises in conclusion.
PC Zone magazine's full interview with Bill Roper can be read in its latest issue, #192, which goes on sale this Thursday, February 28.
The only thing that nadges me off here, is that this interview is in the latest issue of PC Zone, which only came out the other day.
With C&VG covering pretty much every article in the mag, it's making me think: what point is there in buying the magazine nowadays if it's going to cover everything online...
The only thing that nadges me off here, is that this interview is in the latest issue of PC Zone, which only came out the other day.
With C&VG covering pretty much every article in the mag, it's making me think: what point is there in buying the magazine nowadays if it's going to cover everything online...
The only thing that nadges me off here, is that this interview is in the latest issue of PC Zone, which only came out the other day.
With C&VG covering pretty much every article in the mag, it's making me think: what point is there in buying the magazine nowadays if it's going to cover everything online...
Well stop buying it immediatly if too much is put online but to tell the truth it's nice to have something to read when releasing the chocolate hostages.
I don't understand all the fuss about Hellgate being so s**t because I never understood the excitement about it prior to release. It always looked s**t.
Ironically, the mood in the Hellgate fan forums is now pretty good.
All bugs (so far) were squashed back in Patch 1, and the first extra content release, Stonegenge, went off without a hitch. The second extra content release, Abyss, has been announced, alongside two new feature patches (for mail, group PvP, etc) and everyone is happy. (Which is probably why Bill Roper decided he could come clean ).
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